Flay beats wind, sand for 13th crown in beach challenge

Awanui long distance runner Lilac Flay reckons completing ultramarathon events comes down to the power of the mind.
"Getting through these long runs is all psychological, and I enjoy the challenge of doing them. Everybody has to have a challenge - some people climb mountains, whereas I wonder what run I can do next," she said.
On Saturday, the 54-year-old lifestyle block manager won her 13th Te Houtaewa Challenge 60km ultramarathon title. It was the 17th running of the event, starting at  the Bluff and travelling along  Ninety Mile Beach to Ahipara,
 which honours the Maori legend of  great athlete Te Houtaewa.

 Flay has  missed only two events in her time due to injuries. She nearly missed last year's race due to a "blown" knee but, despite not training for three months, she ran it anyway.
 She said  this year's event was particularly testing, taking the experienced runner five hours 57 minutes and 18 seconds to complete the 60km.
"The sand was very soft for about the first hour, which was trying, and I had to change my running style. I chose to run in the tyre tracks of the  four-wheel drives up ahead  and it was like running on a piece of board. You really had to concentrate, so I slowed right down."
When the sand finally turned firmer, the wind picked up and hit runners head-on, slowing down the race again. "It can't all be a piece of cake," Flay quipped.
Every 3km the support crew in the vehicle in front of the competitors stopped and set up essential drink and feeding stations. A few years back the drink stations used to be every 6km, making it impossible to do without your own support crew, Flay said.
 "This year having the 4x4 guys  were just great. They did a bloody good job."
Apart from the wind, conditions were ideal with the sun, which can really zap the runners,  appearing through the clouds only late in the day, she said.
The 60km was essentially a training run for Flay, who is in the process of planning a run from Maunganui Bluff to Poutou, which she estimated to be around 90km.
Ninety-nine competitors entered the Challenge. Twenty of those were ultramarathon runners, while the rest contested the marathon, half marathon and half marathon walk events.
Collette Read of Nelson and Sophie Anderson placed second and third behind Flay in the women's ultramarathon, while Waiheke's Mark Bright returned to race after a three-year absence, and claimed his fifth title, winning the men's 60km in 5.21.15, ahead of Steve Flaus and Barnaby McBride.
Lyndon Dahlberg won the men's marathon, clocking  3.41.52, while Kiri Price took out the women's 42km race in 4.08.09. In the men's half marathon, Mike Parris was successful with a time of 1.40.02 and Judith Bradshaw was first across the line in the women's half, with her time of 1.58.37.