2001 Fletcher Challenge Forests Relay
Rotorua 22
September
75 teams from clubs and schools throughout the North Island
took part in the popular relays through the trails of the redwood forests at
Rotorua on Saturday. The relays offer a traffic free mix of challenging trails
through redwood forests, flat fast road and grassy sections to provide an
attractive environment for distance runners to test their fitness.
This year the Napier Harrier Club fielded four teams at the
event, one each in the Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Senior Men and Veteran Men�s
grades. The juniors race over a 3200m lap with four runners per team while the
Seniors and Veterans race over a 5000m lap and consist of five runners per
team.
As has become the norm this year, it was the juniors who
showed the way, with the Junior boys placing 4th and the girls
5th. It was a particularly satisfying result as both teams were
fielding runners considerably younger than some of the schools teams present.
Both teams lead runners, Kane Green (10:55) and Laura Smidt (12:55), recorded
second fastest times for the first leg. Stefan Smith (11:57), Ben Barry (12:18),
and Hogan Green (12:55) backed up Kane Green.
Smidt was forced to run 2 laps after the girls second runner
was forced out through injury. Smidt�s second lap was 15:58, Alanna Hambleton
(14:03) and Shayna Heywood (14:15) made up the team.
The Senior Men placed a hard fought 7th, thanks to
the gutsy running of Brent Jones (17:55) and Cliff Fellingham (17:53) and the
very strong last leg effort Peter Handcock (16:34). Mark Speakman (18:47) and
Peter Gillies (18:56) were the other member of the team.
The Veteran Men had a bit of disaster from the word go, with
one of their members pulling out at short notice. Unfortunately his replacement,
who was found on the day, pulled a muscle half way into the leg and cost the
team considerable time. Despite this, the team�s individual results were quite
pleasing, particularly the run of Trevor Fulton, keeping the seniors honest with
a 17:55. Times are not yet available for the rest of the team (John Craven,
Steve Armon, Wayne Smith and Craig Anderson).
