Southland Harriers eNewsletter

Race 2-Shoe Clinic Series Winton

53 Runners and 9 Volunteers Participated

It certainly looks like Ashby is having a good time out on the Winton course, and I don't think he was the only one. A big thank you to the Douglas Family for hosting the Southland Harriers It was a fantastic course, enjoyed by all.

In all honest there was a few nerves pre-event as most of our regular gold star volunteers were away. No Ian, no Grant, no Lillian and Henry, could we possible pull the event off??????

Well we did and I think we all passed with flying colors. Lauren Hawkes helped to set off all our junior runners, Jason Russel's daughter was happy to help with timing and didn't miss a beat, Mrs. Sanginiti as always put up her hand to help, Mrs Stout decided she would not only cheer on her husband but hand out finishing line numbers as well, Momma Bear Dunlea didn't even hesitate when asked to help at the finish line, and Carla Gilmour took on the hardest job of all trying to work out websecorer timing. We made one heck of a team!!

With the new start and finish line team assembled the runners were off. Juniors and Seniors started off together at go time, with a few choosing Winton as their debut Harriers event. Bobby's well designed course sent both juniors and seniors across the paddock and down the bank of Winton stream in the sunshine. At the first bridge crossing our Juniors separated heading straight into the hay bale fence jump, and into a loop of the Douglas paddock through mud, across streams and over more fences. Seniors continued down the Winton steam banks to what we have officially named the Allison turnaround before circling back and joining the juniors course. Two laps of the 900M course for the juniors and two laps of the 3.76km course for the seniors.

The sun shinning down on runners, volunteers and supporters was a big win for the day (we have been lucky this year with some stunners), and we had all runners cross the finish line with no wrong turns. A giant in the sport once told me that cross-country is the thinking runners sport. A challenge was put out to all runners to stay on course, look ahead and think about there were to next. It looks like no one needs remedial classes this week in how to run cross-country,

Spot Prize Winners: Bryan Stout and Lily Wiegersma

Who gave that man a mic?

For those of you who do not know Shuan Cantwell he is the man behind the mic, and a Southland Legend. Shaun has been designing the SISS cross-country course in Te Anau for 26 years. Alongside his team he has created a space where young Southland runners can don their school singlet and test their metal against their peers, up, down and around Ivon Wilson Park. Shaun also contributes to many of our Southland Harrier events throughout the season. Shaun is leaving us this year, and we will miss him, and his sense of humor.

On the course Southland Harrier (Athletic) runners dominated the fields this year, with a plethora of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place medals across their fields. Congratulations to you all.

Year 9 Girls- 1st:Lily Wiegersma, 2nd:Freya Gilmour

Year 9 Boys-1st:Cj Iversen

Junior Girls-1st:Charlotee Hawkes

Junior Boys- 1st: Hunter Flowers, 2nd: Mahe Braaksma, 3rd:Flynn Webber

Senior Girls- 1st: Millie McFadzien, 2nd: Ianthe McMillan-Armstrong

Senior Boys- 1st:James Weber, 2nd: Hudson Roy, 3rd:Cayden Sanginiti

IMPORTANT REMINDER

With Championship season not far away……

Masters, ensure your registration is up to date. Masters registrations end on the date you registered last year. If you have too many grey hairs to remember when your registered, please double check.
Everyone else, registrations are yearly (April-March) and expire at the end of March. Please ensure you have a current club membership.
Singlets, to win medals and trophies at Championship events you need to wearing your club singlet, so if you haven't got one, please chase up your club.
Any questions please get in touch, southlandharriers@gmail.com

Link to Athletics Southland Athletics Page: https://www.athleticssouthland.co.nz/

Oreti Sands Cross-Country Community Event

The Southland Harriers invite all Southland Runners to join us for a Fun Cross-Country Run at the Oreti Links Golf course at Sandy Point. Come out and run our 1.6km loop course, the same course that will see 100's of South Island Secondary students testing their metal on Sunday the 24th.

The event will start at 2pm, sharp. Please arrive early for a warm up, and 1:45 briefing.

Mass start, with runners choosing how many laps they want to complete within the 1 hour time window. Your fun run, you choose how many laps. Lots of space for spectators to cheer you on. Elevation, trees, twists and turns, Oreti Links is an excellent cross-country course. Also a great chance for any primary school students competing at the Southland Primary Schools at Waimumu to get a bit of cross-country practice in.

1lap=1.6kms

2 laps= 3.6kms

3 laps= 4.8kms

4 laps= 6.4 kms

5 laps= 8kms

6 laps= 9.6kms (this is a tough course and 6 laps in an hour will not be easy!!)

No registration needed. Just bring along a donation for the Southland Food Bank.

We will have our big clock stopwatch running, so take your time as you cross the finish line. No results will be posted.

ALL WELCOME