They met the challenge, overcame the odds, achieved podium finishes . . . Gisborne and Wairoa individuals and teams had reason to celebrate at the end of the 2009 Genesis Energy Lake to Lighthouse Challenge on Saturday.
The two-day, 184-kilometre race around Lake Waikaremoana and east to Wairoa, over rugged, breathtaking country, tested endurance to the max . . . and ended in a carnival atmosphere on the Wairoa riverfront.
New Zealand’s best multi-discipline athletes showed the Tuai-Wairoa community why they have few peers in this demanding sport. Five individual competitors from this district joined them to face the full eight-stage challenge alone.
Gerald Holden finished 11th in the individual open men in 17 hours 15 minutes 51 seconds, slipping one place on the second day after a strong first-day effort. The tough eighth stage, a 16km cross-country run, took its toll on a lot of the individuals and he struggled to take in nutrition, but pushed through the bad patch with the line in his sights.
John Redpath was 39 minutes behind him, holding his overnight 14th place by almost an hour on day two. After feeling shattered at the end of the first day, he found his rhythm again on the restart and finished in 17:54:24.
Wairoa’s long-time veteran campaigner Rod Kirwan was 10th veteran in 19:20:14.
Like the final run leg, the Panekiri Bluff section of the lake circumnavigation on day one hammered the legs of team runners and individuals alike.
Despite this, the performance first time up in a major race by Gisborne’s Sarah Wallace was inspirational. She was sixth open woman in 17:55:00, eight minutes from fifth and just half a minute behind Redpath.
On day two she had the fourth and fifth-placed women in her sights on the final run but could not quite close them down. Fourth place for the day was only a minute in front of her.
Jo Teesdale came back to defend her veteran title and finished second in 19:37:11, another great performance in a tougher contest. She was one of many who found the revised second day longer and more demanding, particularly the last run leg.
Two Gisborne-based teams joined Teesdale on the podium.
Rory McLoughlin, Tom Hyland, surf ironman Matt Sutton and, from Finland, Anna Junnila were second mixed four-person team in 15:28:32.
Less than 30 minutes behind them, a more senior crew of Jim Holden, Dave Conway, Harley Dibble and, from Taranaki, Jeremy MacAvoy were third male four-man team in 15:55:28.
Not in the top three but with a performance that was just as good were John Harris and Ian Hughes, who finished fifth out of 16 teams in the event’s largest category, the veteran two-person teams. They defended an overnight fifth place with a strong effort across all eight stages and, in finishing in 16:31:57, were only five minutes from fourth and 24 minutes from a podium finish.
Gisborne’s Pat Butler, Bob Dyer and, from Hawke’s Bay, Steve Gordon and Hamish Clentworth, were sixth four-man team in 17:47:01, ahead of Wairoa teams Michael Gunn, Jim Samson, Sam Luscombe and Darryl Gunn in 18:32:58, and Neil Cook, Jamie Cox, Timoti Lambert and Maea Lambert in 19:41:47.
Wairoa was well represented across the team sections and, most significantly, made the podium three times.
Colin Rafferty, Stu Golding and Phil Bailey were second in the three-man teams in 15:57:12.
Bruce Carter, Russell Dever and Chris Drew were second in the veteran three-man teams in 17:08:19.
Ian Brickell, Nathan Little, Grant Aplin and Hamish Anderson were third in the mixed fours in 15:30:45.
Jeremy Harker, Ben Anderson, Hemi Morete and John Yuile were fifth in the same section in 16:31:30, Jan Little, Rose Haynes, Ben Green and Sakari Turtinen were sixth in 17:43:15, and Nigel Pollock, Natalie Torrance, Carmen Sycamore and Peter O’Neill were seventh in 18:23:41.
John Hutchison, Karla Burton and Sonya Drysdale were fourth in the three-person mixed section in 20:32:58.