Weekly NewsLetter
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Club day - a chance for everybody to choose something which meets their
current state of fitness, and to enjoy the glorious Wellington
sunshine. The options were a run for the children, the walking group, the 7km
"slow" pack. the 12km "medium" pack or the 15km "fast" pack

Brendon Flanagan lead the large medium pack around the back of the zoo
at a hot pace, while Mark Bourke restrained himself to look after those
having trouble keeping up. Past the hockey stadium, a quick check on
the views from the trig point, then Derek de Lisle showed us a lovely
new track taking us out onto the Buckley Road Reserve. Temperature levels
went up and conversation levels down as the pace became a little more
serious to Lyall Bay, round the airport and back to the clubrooms.
Barry had the plunger coffee ready for the seniors, while the juniors
interrupted pool and table-tennis to see who had won the contents of the
lolly jar.

Marathon Efforts.
* The best of good luck to our finely tuned representatives
(Gordon, Peter, Dave,...) for next Saturday's Rotorua marathon. We hope your
injuries will have recovered in time for the road relay.
* A top run by Gabrielle in the Boston marathon to take second in
her age group in a huge international field.
* Bad luck to ex-Wellington harrier Jonathan Wyatt whose trip to
Europe seeking an Olympic games marathon qualifying time (a week after
taking the NZ Mountain Running title) was unsuccessful.
* And on the subject of marathon efforts, we were introduced to
Susan, a new club member who recently swam Cook Strait. By my calculation,
an battle lasting about triple the time of our marathoners!!


Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Squally showers and a blustery southerly wind - the harrier season must
be beginning.

Saturday marked the "competitive" start of the season with the annual
Donaldson Relay. This is a great way for club members to get to know
each other with teams a mix of senior men and women with the club's
children and veterans.

There were some excellent runs by the younger brigade with Barbara Roy,
Anna Roche and Kieron McDonald all showing the benefit of a summer
track season; and by club new-comer Nick Lucie-Smith who showed he is just
as good on land as he is in the water. Tim Cornish did the fastest
lap, then showed he wasn't tired by running again. The over 50s came with
all sorts of excuses for not running (Duncan Matthews was the best by
twisting his ankle in the warm-up), but a blistering run was noted from
David Green. Well done timekeepers getting the results posted so
quickly. And who was that slim young fellow who looks like John Barrance?

Finally a quick thank you to those club stalwarts who have obviously
put considerable effort into sprucing up our beloved club rooms. They are
looking just great; lets all make an effort to keep them this way