Pak'nSave ready to take on Country2Coast

Piripi Hohaia, Divesh Chawla and Janie Anderson from Pak'nSave Hastings are set for The Hawke's Bay Today Country2Coast this weekend. Photo/Glenn Taylor

Pak'nSave Hastings staff are gearing for hearty competition at Hawke's Bay Today Country2Coast on Sunday.

The fun family event used the Rotary Pathways between Farndon Park in Clive and Clifton Bay Cafe in Te Awanga, event organiser Kevin Longman said. Participants could enter for a 7km or 15km walk or run. There was also a competitive running event, The Clive to Clifton Dash, with a trophy awarded to the first placegetter.

Sports Hawke's Bay's Jeanette Cooper. said local businesses could register teams to participate and the biggest company team was from Pak'nSave Hastings. The team's WorkFit organiser, Hannah Young, had registered two teams of 10 from the supermarket to participate in Country2Coast.

"People love it," Mrs Young said. "It's good for their health and it's a good way for us to attract new staff.

"It's an attractive part of recruitment."

There was healthy competition between staff members.

"There are definitely some departments trying to outdo others. They're hearty little rivalries. The security department is quite competitive."

Mrs Young and her co-workers were looking forward to "getting out there and doing something fun and social".

Event organiser Kevin Longman said workplace teams were the "perfect formula" for the event.

"The whole point is to get people out exercising, enjoying the atmosphere and having a whole heap of fun with their workmates."

Mr Longman expected up to 800 runners and walkers in this year's event. Online registration would be open until tomorrow evening. People could also register at the Havelock North Function Centre from 10am to 2pm on Saturday.

Mr Longman was pleased the weather forecast for Sunday was fine and urged people to register as individuals or as a workplace team.

If you haven't already registered, you can do so online at country2coast.co.nz.