Gowing stars in night run

Wildlife already settled for the night in the wetland alongside Kioreroa Rd would have been startled to hear the pitter-patter of 17 Athletic Whangarei runners racing through their habitat, battling cold wind and driving rain.
Mike Gowing led the way three times around the 3km-plus circuit on Saturday, winning in 40min and 5sec.
"It's different at night. But some of the metal's too big and it's quite rough [on the tracks] and it hurts your feet a bit - a fine chip would make it better," he said.
He is used to running at night. "Quite a bit of my training's at night in the winter."
Behind Gowing, Max Smith ran second in 47m 21s, Max Thomas was third in 48m 35s and Tony Langton fourth in 51m 49s - heading off the first woman, Janice Powell, in 51m 51s.
Powell found competing at night exhilarating. "It was nice to keep moving. It was pretty dark and my headlight wasn't enough, but it was good having somebody with a torch nearby."
Other competitors chose to complete one or two laps, with two - Antoinette Smith and Maureen Kettlewell - taking a walk in the dark over one circuit.
Natsuko Fushida-Hardy revelled in the adverse conditions winning the one-lap race in a fast 12m 45s, ahead of Patrick Winton second in 17m 32s and the older Winton, Roger, third in 17m 36s, with Kate Milina fourth in 20m 42s and Jenna Smith, who ran on gamely despite losing her way, fifth in 31m 14s.
Shintaro Fushida-Hardy ran strongly finishing first in the two-lap race in 29m 56s, heading off Rachyl Edge, second in 31m 26s, and mother and daughter - Lucy and Sue Shand - in 38m 26s and 38m 27s for third and fourth respectively, while the oldest runner - 73-year-old Ian Douglas - was fifth in 43m 54s.
Still agile and very fit, Douglas said he loved running and mountain biking at night.
Organiser Jim Kettlewell, who pioneered off-road night racing in Whangarei, might have wished for better weather, but was impressed with the number of runners.
"I'm pleased with the response - 19 people (17 runners and two walkers) on what was a cold, wet and windy night is good," Kettlewell said. He was pleased with the course. "The wetlands are very interesting with wildlife around - hazards of the course, but people seemed to be able to avoid the possums, wild cats and birds that were out there - or the wildlife avoided the people."