"I didn't look back. I just kept looking forward and hoped like hell he didn't grab me from behind."
A "terrifying" encounter with a naked man in a Tauranga reserve has left a woman fearful of walking alone and struggling to sleep.
Kara, 54, is speaking out about this week's incident to warn others who use the popular public park.
Gordon Carmichael Reserve is 60 hectares of stormwater reserverunning between Bethlehem and Brookfield.
The songs and calls of a variety of birdlife fill the ample areas of native bush, and its well-formed tracks are popular with exercisers from the surrounding leafy suburbs and beyond.
The reserve also features playgrounds, outdoor classroom space and ponds.
"I just ran. I tried to scream, but I couldn't," she said.
"I didn't look back. I just kept looking forward and hoped like hell he didn't grab me from behind.
"I just wanted to get away ... I found it quite difficult to run, my legs went quite heavy. It would have been all the adrenaline."
She said it felt like she was running for ages before she came across another person – a runner coming in the other direction – but she had lost all sense of time and it was probably not long.
"I was trying to tell the guy what had happened - and I kept losing my breath."
The location within the reserve where the terrifying encounter took place. Photo / Emma Houpt
She said he went running up the track to see if he could find the man.
Kara went straight home and immediately called the police.
Next, she went round to tell a neighbour who also regularly walked in the reserve.
The "shocked" pair went door-knocking to let other women on the street know.
"We have all been walking there for years. I have always walked by myself - and I have never ever felt concerned," Kara said.
She described the man she encountered as a "thick" and "heavy-set" Pākehā with dark hair, dark eyes and a tan complexion. He was in his mid-30s, about 172cm (5 ft 8) tall and also "really hairy", she said.
Kara said the man could have been hiding in the bushes for some time before he approached her.
"He obviously gets his jollies by exposing himself."
She feared his behaviour could escalate if he was not caught.
"It's just wrong - and what if a child had seen it?"
Gordon Carmichael Reserve is popular with runners and walkers. Photo / Emma Houpt
The experience had made her reluctant to walk the once-calming track alone.
"It is a really good stress reliever. He has taken that from me now. I'll have to figure out a way to get over that.
"I will probably always be looking over my shoulder now," she said.
Kara said she did not have her phone with her that evening but urged walkers using the reserve to carry one, stay alert and walk in pairs.
"I was walking, probably daydreaming. I wasn't really taking in my surroundings. It's sad, but that's what you have to do."
Three days after the incident, she said she was feeling "a little bit less shaken up" but was still having trouble sleeping.
Kara's neighbour, who asked not to be named, said she didn't plan on walking through the reserve solo any time soon.
"All us ladies who walk through there are angry that he has made it frightening for us now," she said.
"It is such a good walk - it is peaceful and it rejuvenates you. Something like this is a bit of a pain."
Police received a report relating to an incident in Gordon Carmichael Reserve just after 6pm on Tuesday, a spokeswoman said.
She said police would be making inquiries into the incident.
