Athletics: Round the Lake Relay highlights Rotokawau Virginia Lake’s beauty

The Round the Lake relay has been held in Whanganui for 40 years.

OPINION

It was the quiet after the storm on Saturday at Rotokawau Virginia Lake. Instead of over 500 runners and many more spectators like there were on Monday at the Round the Lake Relay, there was a peaceful scene, with families and a few walkers and runners enjoying our world-class city park on a glorious sunny day and a chance for personal reflection.

There is a special magic about the lake. This year’s relay was the 40th at the lake, and an average of 120 teams participating yearly (four runners per team) means that over the last four decades, over 19,000 laps have been run around the lake.

Many may have run in more than one year, but this still represents the large number of young people who have shared our iconic lake and our city. Two or three years ago a couple in their late 20s walking ‘round the lake asked if I was the guy who used to organised Round the Lake.

They were passing through Whanganui on their way to Taranaki, and the young woman wanted to show her partner where she had run as a schoolgirl from Wellington. I wonder how many more have done just that and lingered a little longer in Whanganui. It has been a privilege over many years to show the best of Whanganui to enthusiastic young runners.

Whanganui does provide a wonderful training environment for athletes, especially distance runners.

We have an equitable climate and a wide variety of training venues that are all close to the city, which includes our world-class all-weather track at Cooks Gardens, recognised by World Athletics with the award of an Athletics Heritage plaque.

It is hardly surprising that the Japanese marathon team who made the city their training base as part of their preparation for the 2000 Sydney Olympics a couple of years later so enjoyed Whanganui.

I feel lucky to have spent most of my coaching life in Whanganui. Over the years, I have enjoyed our many venues and continue to add to the list of regular training sites.

These newer training areas include the mountain bike trails by Lake Wiritoa, where the many tracks and trails so close to town have been a popular running venue for my cross-country squad - similarly popular has been crossing the bridge at Ūpokongaro and runs of various lengths along the walkway on the opposite bank.

The Bason Botanical Garden provides another park venue, while the Whanganui Parkrun has popularised the riverbank walkway. Parkrun has, like the Round the Lake Relay, drawn visitors, and both have been popular and show the best of our city.

The jewel in the athletics crown is Cooks Gardens. There are few, if any, cities in the world which have an all-weather track only metres from the CBD.

Cooks Gardens, of course, came to the attention of the world in 1962, with Peter Snell’s world record set on the old grass track.

Since then, there have been a series of major track and field meetings held at the famous venue.

After becoming all-weather in 1995, there have been many major events attracted and held at Cooks Gardens.

This includes over and above the annual Cooks Classic and biannual Masters Games, three Athletics New Zealand Championships, three New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships, three Athletics New Zealand Combined Event Championships, four North Island Secondary Schools Championships and two Colgate Games, which have brought thousands to Whanganui - and with them, a major boost to our economy.

The Cooks Classic date has been confirmed as Saturday, January 27, and it is pleasing that once again, the Athletics New Zealand Mile Championships will be held in conjunction with the Classic.

It is with some relief that both the Classic and the Mile Championships were confirmed for Cooks Gardens Whanganui this January. Dispensation from World Athletics concerning the certification of the track was required as it was due to expire in December because of the time since it was last resurfaced.

The World Athletics extension is for three months, highlighting the need to resurface if such major events are to continue at Cooks Gardens.

One athlete who, as a young athlete, reaped the benefits of the Whanganui training environment while boarding at Whanganui Collegiate School was 26-year old George (Geordie) Beamish, who has had a stellar season, finishing as our best-placed track athlete ever at the World Track and Field Championships when he nabbed fifth place in the Budapest Steeplechase.

He added another significant performance over the weekend when he finished third in the prestigious 5th Avenue Mile in New York City (3 minutes, 50 seconds) adding to his growing CV.