Holdsworth Trail run no problem for Pawsey

Stamina won't be a problem for Fleur Pawsey when the ace Wellington endurance athlete attempts to repeat last year's success in the open women's section of the annual Jumbo-Holdsworth Trail Race on Saturday.
Pawsey is using the 24km event as preparation for the world's premier multii-sport event, the Speight's Coast to Coast, in which she is also the defending women's champion.
The Coast to Coast involves 140kms of cycle riding, 36kms of running (including a 33km stage that crosses the Southern Alps) and 67kms of kayaking so to say it's not for the faint-hearted would be a major understatement. Pawsey's winning time was 13hrs 20mins 47secs.
For Pawsey then the Jumbo-Holdsworth is pretty much akin to a walk in the park despite the mountainous terrain to be negotiated over tracks and hills in the Tararua Forest Park.
It sees competitors proceed from the Mt Holdsworth car park through Donnelly's Flat from where they head to Atiwhakatu Hut via the undulating Atiwhakatu track. From there a steep ascent commences via the rain gauge track to Jumbo hut and onto the Jumbo summit.
Once at the summit the runners make a left turn to head south along the main ridge to Mt Holdsworth Trig and from there they turn left again to commence the descent via Powell Hut and Holdsworth Lodge with the path to the finish being along the well-graded Gentle Annie track.
Pawsey's aim will be to better her winning time of 2007 of 3hrs 4mins 44secs and she has to be a strong chance of beating the race record of 3hrs 3mins 18secs set by Sarah Kleeman in 2006.
The main threat to Pawsey for the women's title could be Christine Carlton, also of Wellington, who won the veteran's section in 2005.
The open men's section has a "wait and see" look to it through last year's winner James Coubrough, who set a record time of 2hrs 20mins 39secs in the process, not yet having entered but likely to do so.
If Coubrough, from Wellington, does line up then not only should he repeat last year's success but he could also become the first runner to ever break the 1hr mark to Jumbo Hut. He failed by just over a minute to do that 12 months ago when unaware he was so close to achieving that feat through not wearing a watch.
An interesting participant in the men's section will be John Armstrong of the Rochdale Harriers in England whose background suggests he should give a good account of himself.
Organiser Helen Barber expects the total entry for the Jumbo-Holdsworth race and the Hooper Loop race, a 12km event held in conjunction with it, to at least match the 150 of last year.
A couple of promising 14-year-olds from the capital in Jack Wellington and Shaun McGrudden will be amongst the field in the Hooper Loop, the race records for which are held by Mike Wakelin (50mins 59secs) and Carline McDonald (60mins 23secs).
Barber said planning for Saturday's event had started in August with the last two weeks, especially, being hectic as entries started to pour in and administrative matters were checked and rechecked.
She said the safety factor was always a prime consideration with medics and other support staff there in good numbers to utilise their expertise if required.
Barber said a continuation of the recent hot temperatures in the Wairarapa would impact on the participants in the Jumbo-Holdsworth race as shade would be at a premium as they neared the summit.
"Obviously they will be wanting to guard against dehydration, that's something we will be stressing to them," she said.