It was pretty good to get Anzac day falling on a Wednesday this year. I was looking forward to getting out for run in the daylight for a bit of respite early in the Winter…So last minute change of plans saw Tim, Riki, Stephanie and myself heading out to do a fun run in Waikari about 1hour north of Christchurch.

Some roadworks slowed us down a bit but we got there just in time for the briefing and the start. I was keen not to have to run too hard after the hard weekend of racing just gone. The 16th Century starting pistol was a bit of a failure but luckily Robin Judkins was there with his coast to coast starting hooter. All the kids raced off super fast at the start, I just cruised behind a little bit unsure of where to go to begin with but eventually it became clear. All so what became clear  is that I was going to have to run a bit harder than I thought… The local favorite was going out hard…so being the competitive person I am I had to go and get in front of him! So I did then once out the front I was already up to full speed so I continued. It was a long way out the front on a long and dusty gravel road on a nice dry sunny day….but eventually I caught back up the half course runners and hooned back into the finish, and was almost missed by the officials crossing the finish line to take the win.

Once finished I soon learned that I had caused a bit of an upset. I second place getter and the guy that shot off out the front at the start, had come second to his younger brother the last seven years and because he wasn’t turning up this year it was his big chance to take it! Unfortunately for him I turned up smashed the course record (135% of Olympic time – which was the measure of time for the race, ~10.7km) and took his trophy back to the big bad city which I felt just a little bit bad about!  I guess I should stay away from Waikari for a while until the heat dies down a bit!