Southland Harriers eNewsletter

Race 5 Shoe Clinic Series-Oreti Sands

28 Runners Participated In This Event

9 Volunteers Assisted In The Set Up And Running Of The Event

Thanks to Craig Iversen for this weeks Race Report

Saturday's Handicap Race at Oreti Sands was run in pretty close to perfect conditions, a reasonably calm day, nice and warm. A small but zippy group of juniors were the first away and all seemed to have no trouble navigating through the trees, grasslands and short sharp rises. Charlee Miles ran well and was the first junior home.

Running in the senior race I was impressed with how many other senior runners were moving around the circuit very quickly, conditions under foot were the best of the season so far, allowing runners to drive up a little hill or open up on the straights without any real concerns at all.

Some good close racing in the last lap made for some exciting finishes with Cassie Horton and Evan MacIntosh both crossing with the same time, CJ Iversen battling his sister Kimberley and Cayden Sanginiti throughout the race for a narrow win there. This season's strong improving Bob Douglas pulled off a tough double with a very quick parkrun in the morning and followed up with a good strong race with Oliver McLean in the final lap of Oreti Sands!

It was nice to see our returning NZ Cross Country Gold Medalist Debbie Telfer out for a good run herself and enjoying the scenic, fun course. First seniors across the line were Saige Malmstrom and Taylor Le Breton, well done to both!

Finally, I'd like to mention the course itself. I spoke to several others and we all agreed it was a brilliantly fun new variation of previous Oreti Sands events. This was a cross country race where you could put the hammer down and test the lungs with secure footing up or downhill. Very well put together by Grant Baker and Ian Densie, it sits along with Kew Bush early in the season as one of the fantastic exciting new challenges, that have expanded the range of course options for Southland Harriers. Definitely looking forward to next year.

Shoe Clinic Voucher Winners- Junior: Hudson Garrett and Logan Jordaan. Seniors: Lachie Watson and Bruce Thompson.

Bills, we’ve got bills to pay!

We note a few people entering on the day, or who have run in past races or entered for the series but are lacking in payments. We do have bills to pay, venue rentals, spot prizes, medals, etc. If you are unsure if you have paid flick us an email and we can have a look for you.

Races are $5/juniors, $10/seniors
Or pay for the season $20/juniors, $40/seniors
Note Championship events are separate to this
And St Pauls Street Mile is $5 cash on the day

Please pay your entry fees to: Southland Harriers 03-1750-0096798-000

One of the committee members has brought up the idea of fundraising in the future to keep costs down over the winter series, and this is something we will explore for next season. As always if we are to do this we will need volunteers.

Race 6 Shoe Clinic Series- Wyndham Race Course

Date: 17th August 2024

Where: Young Quinn Raceway, Wyndham

Time: 2pm start, please arrive early for sign in.

Registration: only if you have not already registered for the series https://www.webscorer.com/register?raceid=347739

The entrance to the racetrack is the Oamaru stone Entrance off Memorial Drive, in Wyndham. This is about a 40 min drive from Invercargill.

The track is 1498 meters, but let’s just call it 1.5km. Juniors can choose to run 1, 2 or 3 laps. Seniors can choose to run 1, 2 3, 4 or 5 laps. We would like to see runners choose an appropriate distance for their age and abilities please.

EVERYONE will start at 2pm in one mass start.

Please arrive early enough to check in and let us know how many laps you are doing, warm-up, go to the toilet and attend the race briefing.

There is plenty of parking behind the grandstand, toilets will be available and we’ll have grandstand shelter if we need it.

A special thanks to Bathan Muir, President of the Wyndham Harness Racing Club for organizing us permissions to run at this unique venue.

Tuatara Teretonga Ten K update.

The committee has settled on distances for this years Road Champs. There was alot of discussion around this, and we have sought out and received feedback from members as well.

One of the visions of the current committee is to try and attract new members to the Southland Harriers, and we think that our 5km champs and our Road Champs are two events which we could in the future advertise to a larger audience, encouraging community participation.

However to do this we do need to simplify the events as much as possible. For those who have belonged to Athletics for years the different age groups and distances are easy to understand but for those who are new, or who have never attended an event it is confusing, and can be overwhelming.

So first off, we would love all our members to invite a friend. At $5.00 for under 18's and $10 dollars for adults, this is a very affordable event.

We are focusing on a safe, fast, family friendly event. So juniors, seniors and master please get out there and recruit a friend!! We may even be able to organize a reward or two to those who manage to convince a friend to come and join them.

All Under 14's will run 2.5kms. Club runners and the public.

Club Runners 15 to Under 18, and Over 60's 5kms. No public for this distance.

Everyone else 10kms.

If you run outside of your category distances you will not be eligible for medals or trophies. The committee is okay with this, but please email us early and let us know.

I understand this may shake a few feathers, and is not what has been done in the past. So the committee ask that you let us try something different for a year or two and see how it goes. We still have plenty of events that cater to runners running national championship events, including out Shoe Clinic Series. All distances are within the Southland Athletics Distance vs Age Policy.