More Hillary Trail runners
Turns out Dan Roberts and a few others also ran the full Hillary Trail with Ties and HRBR. Dan was in the opening ceremony running group, this time last year. He also ran the trail in the middle of winter with a group involved with the 7in7 Challenge. He might have the record for most completed Hillary Trail runs??
I heard from Dan today - here’s an abridged version of his email:
”Huia Runners put on an awesome day for their Hillary Trail relay. I loved every bit of it!
I think moving the start to Horseman Rd to include Goldie’s bush worked well - nice to start downhill! Te Henga coming over to Bethells was particularly good just before 8am - not much wind and the sun just rising over the hills. From Karekare I knew the pace could increase quite a bit as Alan Moore was starting here. I stuck with him, just kept up for a difficult 10mins then found that I could happily keep up with his speed :) We motored though Pararaha and down Gibbons, which is one track I usually dislike, but in the dry and downhill it was amazing! We did the Karekare to Whatipu section in under 2 hours :)
Everyone finished under 13hours. A couple of the HRBR guys really stepped up from their 10-12km runs and ran 3 sections joining the 30km+ club. It was really exciting seeing new people turn up for each section, perhaps a bit too fresh and fast at certain points..! As you know Ties flew through it and he didn’t stop smiling! Excellent support and humour from the Huia Runners at every stage then beers and chips as usual at the finish :) That first beer did not last long and tasted so good!
Just like Midnight Madness I’m keen to run the whole trail again, already :)”
Too much Dan - great effort. Congrats to you, Penny Kirkwood, Colette Maier & Michael Rodliffe!
