John Williamson: The rains came but the Xrace carried on

We'd been building to a storm all week. Cyclone Oma was threatening and we knew that when the rains came there would be a spate of road accidents, says John Williamson. Photo/Supplied

ON THE ROAD

It rained on Friday and we needed it. The grass and garden were getting parched. The avos needed a drink. The tanks needed filling and country roads needed to settle the dust. But the sealed roads had become flushed and the Xrace was on.

We'd been building to a storm all week. Cyclone Oma was threatening and we knew that when the rains came there would be a spate of road accidents. Many sealed roads had been bleeding during the minor heatwave and had become flushed as the asphalt binder worked its way to the top. These parts of the road became hazardous with the subsequent rain.

The Xrace though, was not going to be cancelled. Xracers are not made of sugar, the website said, and everyone was going to get wet.

Shane Hooks and his crew from Brand New Day, have, over the past six years, put together an amazing family event with child and family member teams. Kids aged from 6-14 years can team up with their mum or dad and race together, side by side, to complete 10 mystery challenges, helping each other, racing the clock and all other family team members. The race is 3-4km long and average time is around an hour.

The organisation of the event is incredible. It is run at 12 different locations throughout the country between mid-February and the end of March. This year, last Friday, it was at Barge Park and it was raining steadily.

Members of our family had competed since it started six years ago and this year, five kids and their respective parents were registered. One dad, however, had an important business meeting and arrangement which involved him being at Auckland Airport at 3pm and back in Whangārei for the start at 6pm.

It was always going to be touch and go. Grandma was shoulder tapped as the back-up. There was no great enthusiasm and some real trepidation about that, but the thought that her 7-year-old grandson might miss out was not an option either.

The traffic, the weather, the time of day and the state of the road meant that dad was never going to make it, and driving safely, however long it took, was always the priority.

So, 70-year-old livewire grandma lined up with the 7-year-old in the first wave of the race in the rain. There were more than 500 other competitors, all trying to figure out the mystery challenges, running the course, jumping over or running through the horse jumps, rolling down the hill and doing the eight Fortnite dance routines at the very end. They finished in just over an hour in remarkable condition, and dad had arrived to see them cross the line.

Dad described the drive home. The road was wet and slippery in places, particularly in the Dome Valley. He had heard of a couple of run off roads on the radio so he just concentrated on driving.

He was mindful of the recent increase in windscreen damage on this road and consciously reduced speed to the prescribed temporary 70km/h limit on identified newly sealed roads. He noted that cars always passed him on these sections. It is never the at-fault driver who cops a broken windscreen, and fortunately the trip ended without incident.

So Grandma got the T-shirt and coincidentally dad got his name on the results board as the name registered on the chip timer. No accidents or injuries either way, and a great day out.

■ John Williamson is chairman of Roadsafe Northland and Northland Road Safety Trust, a former national councillor for NZ Automobile Association and former Whangārei District Council member.