April 2009: EyeDeal Opticians Hastings half Marathon and TUMU ITM 10km run/walk
By Joff Hulbert
Sunday the 5th April 2009 proved again to be an eye deal day for a half marathon. The weather was perfect, cool start, extra hour’s sleep as day light saving finished, no wind (though there was some hot air from some!!!), good cloud cover and good support. I like this course; it is scenic, has a hill or two and is a fast course. It is also a well organised event. Of course being a Club event it is one I like to target.
Unfortunately this year, with the Easter date the event “clashed” with the Levin marathon, ½ marathon. Despite that “clash” the late flurry of entries resulted in a good number of entries, but a tad down on last year’s record.
As I mentioned last year, it is a rare day indeed when race conditions are perfect; or to use our sponsor’s name, Eye Deal.
My build up for this event had been rather patchy, some might say erratic. Certainly it took quite a bit longer to recover from the New Plymouth marathon this year and to find my lost posture. Apparently it was in an unwashed sock in the wardrobe.
So I decided to start a tad slower than normal and see how it went. My new coach, the man who uses a slab of Tui cans as his calculator, yes, you guessed it, Stu Gourdie, had to castigate me for having my arms to high. My other coach, star of the opera world, Mike Sheely, had to castigate me for having my arms (well, I think he said arms, perhaps it was ars*?) too low.
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Julie Gourdie |
Bob Hopkins and Robyn Galloway |
Thus with good advice, eye deal conditions and perhaps a slightly more relaxed approach to the event, I had a good race. Finished in 2:08 ish, a few minutes slower than last year; but I was pleased.
The course was very well marked out (thanks Higgy), good having assertive marshals, the drink stops were well organised and the support and coaching on the course was amazing. A big thank you to all those involved with the organising, particularly John, Roger and Tavia.
Let’s hope we can keep this event alive and ensure it carries on; to do that we will need others to begin taking lead roles. It certainly is an event we as a club can be proud of.
