Event
Report: The Hard, The Tough and the
Dirty |
This will shock,
amaze and inspire you - read
on. |
|
The club
apologises that it could not get ready three new trophies. |
We will
endeavour to get the trophies to the winners as soon as
possible. |
|
The
nineteenth annual running of the Wayne Cretney memorial event
resulted in some tired |
and I hope
happy competitors on a wet winter's day in the Mikimiki Massey
University farm |
of Riverside
in the Wairarapa. It seems that we had real Cretney weather just to
make it a |
little
tougher because it may have been a little too flat, fast and easy
going than normal. |
|
In the
tradition of the event, the longest and toughest leg was run last by
all competitors |
involving
technical erosion river flats, hilly rocky areas and some
pines. |
I thought
that the 2nd to last control was relatively easy and I made it more
interesting |
by giving the
control description 'Herbie the car' which was painted on the side
of it. |
However, it
seems that pressure and tiredness can do funny things, and that a
few |
people got
temporarily lost. |
|
Having two
course 1 runners finishing almost within 1 minute, |
three
M50 within one minute and an incredible three M40 |
runners
finishing within 10 seconds of each other is what this event is all
about - trying to |
push the mind
and body to the limit. Fastest runner was Duncan Morrison |
who run
5.8mins per km for over 13 kms showing the top M40s a clean pair of
heels. |
Others of
note were Tim Robertson's 6.6mins per km and Laura Robertson's
7.1mins per km over 10km. |
Graham
Fortunes comment was apt when he asked his finish time and I said
'59 dead' |
and he
quipped 'Yeah, that's how I
feel.' |
|
These runs
were even more unbelievable when you consider the following. |
If I had got
my act together, I may have avoided the clash of this event with the
New Zealand |
Secondary
Schools held in Hamilton on the Friday and Saturday. |
However, the
clash has caused a situation which has flabbergasted me. |
Several
families actually competed in 3 events on the weekend - two in
Hamilton on Friday |
and Saturday
and then drove 6.5 hours overnight from Hamilton to Masterton to
start on time at 10.00am. |
To the
Morrisons, Robertsons, Turners, Highams and Goodwins my hat goes off
to you. |
|
Selectors
take note - these youngsters are ones to watch for the future - and
maybe |
one day in
the JWOC or WOC they will benefit from the Cretney gut-busting
events |
where they
will be able to call upon those last reserves and ounces of energy
to go onto glory. |
|
The
dedication and commitment of those who competed in the 3 events and
the sacrifices |
of the
parents I think is a wonderful tribute to Wayne - a competitor who
loved the hard, |
the tough and
the dirty. |
|
And a thank
you to all the other competitors who regularly keep coming back to
make this a special event. |
|
Bryan Teahan
- course
planner. |