Southland Harriers eNewsletter

Teretonga 10Km and Southland Road Champs 2026

Eighty runners took to the track and raced around Tertetonga at Sandy Point, Invercargill on Saturday, in “almost” perfect conditions. A dark cloud or two might have tried to ruin our fun, but the hardy Harriers and our social running friends were having none of it. Even the head wind down the northside straight wasn't holding anyone back.

Everyone was out there to do their best, and if the finishing chute antics (grunts, spews, sweat, snot, and high fives), were anything to go by, every runner out on the course gave it their absolute all. The shear amount of personal bests reported is a testament to this fantastic course, and the efforts of the runners, volunteers and supporters on the day. Thank you everyone who showed up and gave it their it all!!

The atmosphere around the track after the event was awesome!! Maybe it was the most excellent sausages and chocolate cake. It is heart warming to watch everyone hanging out, having race chats, catching up and catching rays, after all the running. It was great to be able to recognize the unregistered runners this year in the 5km and 10km distances. Of course we hope they understand we will be chasing them to drag on a singlet next year!! It really adds to the atmosphere having the extra runners on the track hopefully we will see them all again next year, especially our school relay team, all dressed in yellow.

This year the sea of Fiordland singlets at the Southland Championship events (and Gore) has added so much to the atmosphere and the club has consistently dominated the male race (20-49). Saturday was not any different with the mighty Fiordland runners Hunter Gough, Dwight Grieve, Sagar Khemani, Richard Ford, and Jared Graham out in the front except this time they were joined by a few of the St. Paul young bucks Cayden Sanginiti, Lewis Blay and Aiden Barlcay.

The cheers went up, amongst the strong St. Paul's finishing line support crew, as Cayden came into the view, leading the pack. It may have been only seconds but Congratulations Cayden first across the line over 10kms and definitely the most exciting finish of the day.

This exciting finish line moment was closely followed by two St. Paul runners Ella Densie and Chloe Hall, with Ella taking out the under 12 girls by an inch, maybe less. These two young ladies gave it their all, all the way around the track and should be very proud of their efforts. It takes a lot of guts to fight all the way to the finish line!

If the prize giving photo's show anything, its what a "stylee", fast and fun group we are. A few of the classic moments, hugs from Lillian, Dwight's dog, Aiden's little sister and Archie's big smiles finished off the day, and our last championship event of the season with laughs and banter. Rumor has it next year event may just be a combined Southland Athletics/New Zealand Athletics event, so watch this space, and we will see you all the Champs start lines next year!!

Congratulations to all the medal and trophy winners. This years team events both Male and Female have been won by St. Pauls.

Medal Winners

AWD: Hayley Webber

Under 10 Male: 1st, Kye Ah Kuoi, 2nd, Archie Davies, 3rd Ash Hall

Under 10 Female: 1st, Lace Gentle

Under 12 Female: 1st, Ella Densie, 2nd Chloe Hall, 3rd Dela Gentle

Under 14 Male: 1st, Sean Iversen

Under 14 Female: 1st, Freya Gilmour

Under 16 Male: 1st, Brodie McIlwrick

Under 16 Female: 1st, Lily Wiegersma

Under 18 Male: 1st, Cayden Sanginiti, 2nd Lewis Blay, 3rd Aiden Barclay

Under 18 Female: 1st Charlotte McVicar

Under 20 Male: 1st, Floyd Keach-Lowe

Under 20 Female: 1st,Kate Perkins

Senior Male: 1st, Hunter Gough, 2nd Sagar Khemani, 3rd Scott Underhay

Senior Female: 1st, Rebecca Vella-King

35-49 Male: 1st, Dwight Grieve, 2nd Jared Graham, 3rd Richard Ford

35-49 Female: 1st, Allie Mckay, 2nd Cassandra Horton

50-59 Male: 1st, Andrew Lienert

50-59 Female: 1st, Lisa Simpson

60-69 Male: 1st, John Wallace, 2nd Bruce Thomson

70 + Male: 1st Gary Kirkman, 2nd Evan MacIntosh, 3rd Barrie Sheehy

70+ Female: 1st, Linda Te Au

Full results: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=443746

More Photo's: https://www.facebook.com/southlandharriers