Southland Harriers eNewsletter

ST PAULS

Heather Skerrett Memorial/3 in 1 Day

Event Report from former chair and committee member Linda Te Au, thanks Linda.

The 3 in 1 event is based on the Coastal Five race in New Plymouth which began in 2021. It comprises five different races over two days that add up to the length of a marathon. I enjoy it so much that I'm planning to enter for the fifth time this year. Saturday's 3-1 is Southland Harriers version of this event.

Invercargill Parkrun welcomed us in the morning where a lot of Harriers were present, some like Ian Densie for the first time. Others attended Gore Parkrun where Tim Sutton discovered that running with a stroller isn't easy but it was good to spend time with his nephew.

For the first time in everyone's memory the sun was shining and the temperature was high at Elizabeth Park for the Heather Skerrett cross country. But there was still water and a few muddy patches to run through. The seniors enjoyed watching the juniors race first. While Craig Iverson jnr had a good lead there was an exciting battle between Baxter Tamariki and Sean Iverson for second and third.

I can't report much about the senior race. When you're at the back of the pack you have no idea who the leaders are until they lap you and I'm pleased to say nobody did. I really appreciated the encouragement I received when I finished.

Before the third event at the Surrey Park track we were able to watch the end of the football game where three goals were scored.

It was great to see everyone still had some energy left to do the 800 metres and the mile where Isaac Oudhoff timed his run well to finish first in the seniors.

Thanks to everyone for supporting this event and the fun thing is you can enter one two or all three races depending how you feel.

Thanks too for afternoon tea supplied by Ken Skerrett and St Paul's club. It was a great chance to chat about all sorts of things related to running.

Winners of this years age grade Heather Skerrett Memorial Trophies: Senior Men-Craig Iverson, Senior Women-Debbie Telfer, Junior Boys-CJ Iverson, Junior Girls-Freya Gilmour.

KINGS BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

As well all know this weekend is Kings Birthday and we get a day off to celebrate King Charles who will be turning 77 in November.

What some others in Invercargill know is that Evan Macinstosh a long time Harrier runner and Athletics Invercargill Club member will be turning 80.

We don't have a run planned for this weekend but we would like to invite anyone who wants to come for a social run with Evan and his friends and family from Southland Harriers to meet us at Cheeky Llama, in Queens Park, at 9:30am on Sunday. This will be an easy social run, everyone is welcome, finish off with a coffee and a yarn afterwards.

From the Chair: Its hard to believe we are almost a quarter of the way through the season and not far away from our first Championship event, the 5km champs at Kart Sport. I thought it was a good time to give a shout out to all the amazing people who volunteer and make the winter Southland Harrier season happen. Though I think that most of the time, we make the running of events look pretty smooth, and I acknowledge that the current committee stands on the shoulders of all the committee members who came before us, organizing and running the Harrier season is a huge undertaking. From Facebook posts, to course set ups, timing to results, results, results, newsletters to financials, we get it done oh and most of us committee members still want to get out and “race”.

So Please Remember To Say Thank You, and Be Kind.

Register for events early as this helps us plan, if you are not sure how to use Webscorer reach out to any of us or another Southland Harrier runner and get them to help you. If you have a few spare minutes help us pack up or maybe step back from an event and try being a timer or recording results. Every little bit helps, and I promise you will get back more than you give.

One of the things that the current committee has chipped away at over the last few years, is creating a separation between our Championship races (medals/trophies) and are fun and friendly events offered throughout the season. We want to show everyone that comes along that at the heart of the Harriers is a love for running, and that it doesn't matter whether you are first or last in the pack, as long as you are reaching your goals and hopefully getting your shoes a bit muddy. This is something we will continue to work on, and I do think we are seeing this idea come into its own this year, with record numbers attending all of our events so far.

The committee meets on the second Thursday of the month at 7pm at the Waikiwi Pub (after Pub Run), and we always welcome anyone who wants to help out.

Until next time, happy running and don't forget to hydrate!!