ADVENTURE RUNNING - Former NZ marathon champ turns into Cape'd crusader

Veteran runner Mark Bright showed true class as he headed home the 70-strong Cape Brett Challenge contingent by 20 minutes.
The 45-year-old former New Zealand marathon champion from Waiheke Island showed the rest of the field how the 37km off-road race should be done.
Bright led the pack from the get-go on Saturday, crossing the line in 4hr 48min 06sec.
"It was beautiful out there," he said after he was welcomed home by supporters.
'I had a good start and just hung out front, but the hills zapped me - they came at a hard time," he said.
The course went off-road after leaving Rawhiti township, and the mostly uphill terrain through the dry and fast bush-trails out to Cape Brett was a huge test for even the fittest runners.
It did not deter Bright, a first-time Cape Brett competitor, who is making a comeback following 12 months off due to a torn knee cartilage.
"The knee was fine during the race - but the rest of the body is shattered," he said.
While Bright was enjoying a celebratory beer on Saturday, Auckland's Tim Cochrane sailed in for second overall, winning the open men's division.
In the women's divisions, Auckland's Sonya Clark was too strong for Whangarei hopeful Ady Ngawati, powering home in a time of 5hr 22min 20sec.
An established adventure-racer, Clark said Cape Brett was part of her lead-up to the 24-hour Race in Whakatane on May 17.
The preparation was vital for Clark, 33, who was also making her comeback to endurance sport following months of illness after contracting Giardia while away in Brazil last year.
Twenty-one minutes later, the second woman overall and first in the veteran women's division was Wellington's Christine Carleton.
Two-time Auckland Marathon winner Ngawati was second in the open women's division, crossing the line side-by-side with sister Leigh Ruddock, who was second in the veteran women's section.
Using the event as base-training for the Xterra World Off-Road Championships in Hawaii, Ngawati entered the event for the first time, not knowing what to expect.
Chatting afterwards, the exhausted Northland runner said she had not quite realised how hard it would be.
"It's the hardest event I've done," she said.
Coming from someone who runs marathons and has dabbled with Ironman events, it said quite a lot about the event organisers rate the second most difficult off-road run in New Zealand.
"I was going well until Deep Water Cove at the 18km mark - and I hit the wall.
"It was exhaustion I guess, and just not being used to the terrain."
It was about that point where Ruddock caught up to Ngawati.
The sisters egged each other on for the final hour and a half, until they reached the welcome sight of the finish line.
"I don't have anything left now. But I'll definitely be back," she said.
Organiser Graeme Brown said the event's success means it can only get bigger and better from here.
Along with the 70 competitors running the 37km course, another 200 were out running and walking the shorter 17km Whangamumu Classic.
Auckland's Jourdan Harvey sped home in 1hr 41min 54sec winning overall and the open men's section, ahead of Amy Burke from Whangerei, who claimed the open women's division, finishing in 1hr 49min 20sec. Auckland's Matthew Paul was third, taking out the junior men's race in 1hr 51min 15sec, while Whangarei's Chris Seely won the veteran men's in 1hr 53min 50sec. Cromwell's Julie Stretch won the veteran women's in 2hr 5min 48sec.