Athletics
The Ruamahanga Ramblers held the first race in their winter series on flat ground at Clareville on Saturday. Highlights included:
Aidan Furkert arrived straight from pony club. Faced with a choice of running in riding boots or bare feet, he chose the latter. This nearly proved his downfall as the finish of the race was on a gravel track, and Kasey Cox, sensing Aidan was struggling with the stones, put in a strong sprint finish, only just failing to catch him (by 2 seconds).
Father and son Chris and Ben Van Gerven from Masterton made their first appearance for the Ramblers, and both gave John Ihaka a bit of a hurry-up in the walking section. Chris was over a minute ahead of John, who only just managed to hold off the fast-finishing Ben.
John Sage arrived late and missed the race briefing. The race was two laps of a 3.5km circuit, rather than the usual three laps of a 2km circuit. At the end of the second lap John was wondering why every one was stopping, whereas he had saved enough energy for another lap!