Fun, run and wine: Hundreds take on half-marathon
The most fun and fabulous – but not necessarily fastest – half-marathon saw almost 2000 people take to the vines in Marlborough at the weekend.
Saturday’s Saint Clair Vineyard Half Marathon saw 1900 people run, walk, drink and laugh their way through two courses as they sped towards a free bottle of wine at the finish line.
The event’s owner, Sharee Haugh, said the half marathon had been running for 16 years, and of this year’s competitors 80% were women and 80% were from out of town. It was less about competition and more about how much fun they could have on the 21km or 12km course, she said.
“It’s more of a women going away on holiday thing, they come in mobs.
“This was the best year I don’t know why, but each year keeps getting better. At the 12km every second person was dressed up, they were getting gin shots and whisky chocolate cakes before they even started.”
For Symone Hurley and her friends, coming together for a weekend of fun was not the only goal. Hurley and her team wore T-shirts representing the Dear Effie Charitable Trust, a support trust for grieving families she created last year after the sudden death of her 3-year-old daughter Effie. “When we lost Effie we had no idea where we were supposed to go or what we were supposed to do, so we were fortunate we had close friends to help sort things out for us.”
Hurely said the run wasn’t to raise money for the charity, but awareness for families and spark conversations.
“We wanted to go out and have a good time and I thought it would be a great opportunity to have a good talking point of what Dear Effie is all about, and it has worked,” Hurley said.
“A lot of people asked us throughout the run who Effie was so that’s our biggest goal, to spread the word about it.”
With participants spending up to $99 for their entry fee, the goodies they got seemed to offset the costs.
Haugh said participants received pure gels, a towel, $10 voucher for Shoe Clinic prior to the race’s start, with jelly beans, ice cream, crisps, biscuits, fruit leathers, juices being provided along the way, as well as receiving a $20 wine and bag of corn thins as they crossed the finish line. “I reckon they’ve probably got their hundred bucks worth back, it’s just so much fun.”
As they made their way through the vines, a brass band, a pipe band, Brazilian dancing, cheerleaders, stilt walkers and a drag queen were all working to build the entertaining atmosphere on the course.
Only one person didn’t make it over the finish line, but yesterday Haugh said most people seemed to make it to kick-ons after the race.