Rain or shine, Whangarei's Ady Ngawati will be donning her winter woollies at the 20th running of the Kerikeri Half Marathon.
While many competitors have been training specifically for the 21km road race, it is just another training session for Ngawati as part of her build-up to next month's Xterra Trail
Run World Championships in Hawaii - hence the thermals.
"I want to try and simulate the same kind of race conditions I will have in Hawaii, where it will be at least 30C and 80 per cent humidity," she said.
Following her second Auckland Marathon win in 2008, Ngawati switched her focus to off-road running, and she has been training specifically for the 21km world championship race at Kualoa Ranch, Oahu.
During her build-up to Worlds, the NorthTec tutor has contested events, including the Arthur Lydiard Legend Marathon, which she won, and most recently, the Xterra National Off Trail Championships, where she finished second.
Tomorrow's Kerikeri event will be Ngawati's last hard training session before heading into a two- week taper period ahead of the December 6 world championship race, and with worlds looming, it would depend on how she was feeling on the day, as to how hard she would race, she said.
"My legs won't be fresh but I'll be aiming for a sub-80 [minutes]. Obviously I'd like to be up there ... but I'll see on the day."
Last year, Ngawati was second in the Kerikeri half, in a time of 1hour 18minutes and 51 seconds, behind winner Hanny Allston (1:17:45).
She will be favourite this year alongside triathlete Sam Warriner.
