Gasping shadows silhouetted by flickering lights rushed out of ancient kauri trees at the finish of Athletic Whangarei's night-owl run at A H Reed Park on Saturday night.
Mike Gowing emerged first, completing the pitch-black 6km course in 22min 30sec - to the surprise of waiting officials who had predicted a
winning time of around 25 minutes.
Like most of the runners, Gowing wore a light on a headband as well as carrying a torch.
Pamela Latter finished among the second rush of shadows, taking honours in the women's race and third place overall, just behind Brian Barach and ahead of Max Thomas.
Having recently recovered from injury, Latter was pleased with her run.
"It was great fun, just loads of fun," she said.
One unexpected moment in the night run occurred as she was negotiating a muddy patch on the route, following close behind Barach, who stopped abruptly yelling something about a cow.
"It was all sloppy along there and I was looking down, then there's this cow right in front of me, with Pam just behind me," he said.
Despite recent rain and the rivers being in flood, conditions were good with some puddles to negotiate but not too much mud.
"The track is very, very runable because of the work the council has done," race organiser Jimmy Kettlewell said.
Runners started at AH Reed, ran up to and across the Canopy Walkway, then headed off around the Whangarei Falls and back to AH Reed Park to complete the 6km course.
Nine-year-old Haka Corkery - running with youngsters Andrew and Lewis Miller and masters' runner Denise Limby - enjoyed the run, finishing the 6km looking fresh.
"The falls were beautiful - it was quite nice running at night, refreshing and cold - I did have a little bit of trouble where the big bridge (the swing bridge) is, I just about tripped up coming down the steps," he said.
Seventy-one-year-old Ian Douglas, noted for his agility and dogged toughness, was the oldest runner competing.
Results: 1 Gowing, 2 Barach, 3 Latter, 4 Thomas, 5 Lewis Miller, 6 Limby, 7 Corkery, 8 Andrew Miller, 9 Kettlewell, 10 Douglas, 11 Kate Allen, 12 Robyn Allen, 13 Cameron Allen, 14 Polly Barach, 15 Cole Edwards, 16 Tina Maher, 17 Jenna Smith, 18 Max Smith.
