Kaitaia proves no exception to rule

Sometimes it seems everything happens in one place and certainly downtown Kaitaia was no exception to that particular rule over the weekend.

In perfect summer conditions, 230 people took part in the annual Juken Kaitaia Run Walk on Sunday while a high-profile treaty signing was witnessed at the nearby Te Ahu centre. The day before saw the annual junior cricket tournament beginning its second season at Arnold Rae Park, while the Kaitaia and Taipa dojos of the Kiaido Ryu Martial Arts Club held another end-of-year camp in the hall of nearby Kaitaia Primary School.

However, the deterioration in the weather forecast for Sunday pretty much failed to eventuate by mid morning proved to be probably more of a hindrance than a bonus for the participants of all shapes, sizes and species - if you include a three-legged dog in the walk, and a cat smartly crossing the route along Allen Bell Drive - taking part in the annual run walk run who, en masse, would have likely appreciated a deterioration from Saturday's sublime, early-summer conditions.

The runners, fast walkers and strollers marched up the short hill from Arnold Rae Park with two goals in mind: to complete either the 5km or 13km distances on offer. They continued west along Church Road, turned north on to Matthews Avenue then right into Allen Bell Drive, thumping over the bridge to begin the hard climb up Donald Road.

Details up to this point became vague before dispatches noted the course dipped down past the 5k entrants' mark at Oturu School then back gently up along and back down the unsealed section of Church Road before the 13km participants attempted their return to the finish line as warm zephyrs, accurate harbingers of later rain, blew across Arnold Rae.

The first man home was Grant Allerby from Kaeo, finishing in 57 minutes 45 seconds, followed by Kaitaia's Marcus Barker in 1 hour 24 seconds. Barker - who also possibly features in today's edition in the team shot on page 11 - was humble about his achievement by noting that several other high-profile local runners were conspicuous in their absence.

The first women home was Whangarei's Janice Powell in 1.02.45, followed by Hikurangi's DJ Gilming. The first Kaitaia woman home over the 13km course, and fourth overall in the women's field, was Shona Stevens, completing in 1 hour 8 minutes.

Other local athletes of note taking part included Lance Matiu, the Te Rarawa RFC senior team's influential playmaking first-five racing his sister to the finish line; and Northland senior football ref Jeff Kemp from the Bay of Islands who said doing the event in Sunday's humid conditions was certainly a lot harder than running a local soccer game.

Speaking of which ... As they relaxed on the grass, many spoke about the intensely hot and muggy conditions prevalent, which had made their ordeal harder than expected. Ironically, as the event wound down a mere half-hour after prizegiving had been completed (where some lucky sod won a bike), the sky clouded over, temperatures dropped and the first drops of a forecast damp spell began to fall. All unfortunately a tad too late to provide any relief .

Along with its more glamorous neighbour, the Kerikeri Half Marathon next month, and the unrelated Snapper Bonanza, the Kaitaia run walk event was part of a lucrative Sport Northland series - offering cars, bikes, running shoes etc as spot prizes to participants - so the event could lay claim to drawing one of the year's biggest turnouts for a one-off event in the Far North.