Record numbers do Round the Bridges
Thousands of people – lean and large, young and old, fast, super-fast and fast enough – crowded the start line in Hamilton’s 73rd Lugton’s Round the Bridges fun run yesterday.
Runners in the 6km and 12km race leave first, ahead of a wave of joggers, walkers, rollers and baby strollers.
The course takes them down Victoria Street, across Fairfield Bridge, south along River Road and, depending on distance, across the Waikato River again at either the Victoria Bridge or Cobham Bridge before returning to the start.
Record numbers lined up for the run said event manager Michele Connell.
‘‘We hit maximum today,’’ Connell said. ‘‘There were 6500 running and it was the first time we had ever got down to the wire like that so it was fantastic.’’
Just minutes after the last of the walkers leave the start line, the fastest 6km runner rounds the last bend and crosses the finish line in just over 21 minutes.
Not long after, Hamilton City Hawks runner Russell Best, 27, finishes the 12km loop in 39 minutes. He’s just arrived back from Japan late on Saturday night.
‘‘It felt really good at the start and I pushed on a bit, a little too much,’’ Best said. ‘‘I’m still a little bit jet-lagged and my body is about five hours behind itself at the moment.’’
Best moved to Waikato in February and it’s his first Round the Bridges. He said he’ll be back for a another crack.
‘‘It’s nice to come and win something that means a lot to Hamilton, really, and to have such history.’’
Evette Hetet runs the 12km loop with a group of friends in commemoration of Sekope Fakalelu, who died earlier this year.
They wear T-shirts with Fakalelu’s picture printed on them. He was a regular runner of the race, Hetet said.
‘‘There are a few of us with these T-shirts. He is with us all of the time.’’
The day is overcast and there is a breeze. Just right, said Lugton’s Real Estate managing director Simon Lugton.
‘‘There are heaps of people out here. The weather was great and it’s turned out pretty decent for a run and a walk,’’ Lugton said. ‘‘I’m looking forward to getting across the finish line and having a cold drink and a sausage.’’