It was on a cool morning the Volunteers were out at 6 to prepare for the 43rd running of the King and Queen of the Withers. The cool did not stay as the heat arrived.
The Walkers were first off at 7.45am. 23 faced the 10km hilly course.
Next were the Hybrid at 8am over the same course. This section is for those that felt they could not run the event but comfortable running and walking. 56 took to the hills.
Next were the brave hearty souls at 8.30am taking on the hill work. 74 started and 74 finished.
In fact everyone who started finished for the first time for a while.
Conditions were not a cloud in the sky and got hotter as the morning progressed. Luckily all were off the hill by 10.30am which was before the real heat of the day reaching 33 degrees in the afternoon.
The Farm Manager co-operated very well in moving stock away from the main parts of the course and we thank him for that.
The course started off at Rifle Range Carpark taking competitors firstly on the farm road until Quail Stream then headed back across until they had to turn heading directly uphill to the Rotary Lookout. From there it was a matter of following the fence line along the skyline until they reached the peak then headed downhill past the line of trees and down the spur until they reached the farm road. It was then a matter of following the shady walk track until they arrived back at Rifle Range Carpark.
With the warmer temperatures no record was broken but still some very credible times were achieved.
Results are posted on www.harriers.net.nz but individual graded results are:
Running event
First Senior Man Jason Hunt 42:47
First Senior Woman Megan Craig 46.50
First Veteran Man Ian Thomas 47.03
First Veteran Woman Paula Oliver 53.58
First Junior Man Adam Forgeson 54.02
First Junior Woman Anna Barnes 71.40
Hybrid Event
First Man Patrick Dawkins 60.41
First Woman Catherine Snowden 61.45
Walking event
First Man John Baxter 88.08
First Woman Cathy Middleton 94.14
We ran a children’s event over a 1.5 course. Only 9 competed.
First Junior Male Fred Maher 13.04
First Senior Male Rory Thompson 7.43
First Senior Female Bella Rayner 8.33
King of the Withers 2019 Jason Hunt
Queen of the Withers 2019 Megan Craig
Winner of the Dennis Patchett Memorial trophy for the first Marlborough Harrier Club member home goes to Robbie Barnes in a time of 47.41.
Winners and Record Holders can be found here
A big thank you goes out to all the Volunteers on the course, timekeepers, recorders, Ron Adams for collating the results through the morning, Tail end Charlie making sure you all got home. Volunteers on the sausage sizzle and those who stayed to pack up.
Thank you to Marlborough District Council for allowing this iconic event to once again be a success and Rural Fire Service for attending as a just in case.
We look forward now to the 44th running of this event 2020.