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Showing posts from September, 2016

Marton to Wanganui Relay (or ultra)

There is a place in New Zealand's North Island called Marton. There is another place, 30-something kilometres away by a main road, called Wanganui. If you decide to take the country road between the two buzzing metropoles, the journey will take you a pleasureable 66km. And that is the prefered route of the Wanganui Harrier Club who organise a relay between the two towns.   Note; despite the joyous experience I had between these two villages, there really is no need to visit either town if you are a tourist in New Zealand.  I emailed the race organiser, Bill, on the Tuesday before the race asking if I could enter but would need to give him my entry form and payment on the day. I received a very friendly reply and was in the race. I wish all ultras would be this straightforward to enter. Pre race selfie Race Details Marton to Wanganui at a distance 66km. Flat road with some inclines and gravel. Ten relay legs with either ten person teams (we will call them big teams

St Cuthbert's Way

St Cuthbert's Way Ultra Trail Outlaws Saturday 16th July 2016 Holy Island to Melrose - 100km Fittingly for a cross border run, I have failed to write my blog due to being in several countries. There was a wedding in Seattle, a beer festival in Portland, some rock hiking in Vancouver, a sister's wedding in Wellington, some cockel collecting in rural New Zealand, a beach holiday in Fiji, some burger tasting back in Wellington and finally some volcano climbing in Vanuatu. I did write this originally sitting in a Fijian airport waiting for my friend Mareta to arrive. Unfortunately, my first effort got lost in the cyber ocean.  Initially there was some confusion over St Cuthbert's Way and St Oswald's Way. I was not actually sure which event I had entered, nor the difference between the two routes. I was after the July event. Fortunately, the event organisers can tell their religious dudes apart. We started at Holy Island and ran to Melrose. From my limited k