The good weather and nearly 1200 people turned out yesterday to make the fourth annual Hawke's Bay Today Country 2 Coast an outstanding success.
The event, which just gets better each year, saw participants take part in one of the following - the Clive-Clifton Dash, the Wattie's 15km Walk, the Wattie's 15km Run, the TSB Bank 7km Walk or the TSB Bank 7km Run.
I entered the 15km Walk, having done the 7km Walk last year, and I am pleased to say I finished. All the early morning walking I have been doing since October paid off. It was a good day to be out and the route, which hugged the coast for most of the way, was simply spectacular. It was good to see so many people of different ages, shapes and sizes attempting both distances. I was amazed more than 550 people did the 15km run or walk. On a map Clive is quite a distance from Clifton, but when you actually walk it, it seems further.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and some even had their dogs with them. For some you could see it was, literally, a walk in the park, while others had to work harder to get through it. I must say I was a little disappointed at the small number of men who participated. Officially, over all the events, 823 entries were women and a paltry 348 were men, with one participant's sex unknown. Come on men, you are letting the side down, but good on all the women and girls who made the effort.
As always, a very big thanks must go to Havelock North Rotary without whom this event would not happen. They are enthusiastic organisers of the event and the marshalls always have a friendly smile. Thanks also to all the sponsors and I know this newspaper, Hawke's Bay Today is very proud to be a sponsor. Any event that is bringing the community together and getting people exercising is something we will support.
