Rotorua couple Bill and Adelai Skelton have been supporting marathon runners for 20 years. Photo / Stephen Parker
Rotorua couple Bill and Adelai Skelton have been supporting marathon runners for 20 years. Photo / Stephen Parker
Bill and Adelai Skelton love to cheer on marathon runners - and if you're wearing a Lake City Athletic Club singlet then all the better. This year is the Rotorua couple's 20th year as supporters and their daughter Robyn's 20th marathon to run.
Participants and supporters alike are bound torecognise their 1929 Austin 7, as the Skeltons cruise along the course to Oturoa Rd before turning back and heading to Mourea to cheer their daughter on. They will go as far as the end of Vaughan Rd before heading to the finish.
"The marathon is in our calendar every year," Mrs Skelton said. "The first couple of years we did it on our motorbike but now it's the car. It's much easier to carry stuff in - sometimes runners will ask us if we have something they can use."
The small back seat will be taken up this year with water, coke, jellybeans, bananas, emergency blanket and a first-aid kit.
"We have everything," Mrs Skelton said. "It's not just for Robyn but for whoever needs it."
She said they liked to give local runners a boost and the Lake City colours were easy for them to spot. "Even if Robyn wasn't running we would still go out," Mr Skelton said.
