Brave run from injured Butcher

Second placing was a bonus for Masterton athlete Graeme Butcher in the New Zealand ultra-marathon championship raced over 100km around Lake Taupo last Saturday.
Butcher, the defending champion, had been plagued by a hip injury for three weeks leading into the event and only confirmed his entry just two days prior to the race.
Little wonder then that his main objective was simply to survive and make it to the finish line with a repeat of his 2004 success seen as a very remote possibility.
Up to breakfast at 3.30am to prepare for the race start two hours later Butcher discovered that finding the actual start line was something of a mission in itself. It was some 60km from Taupo and Butcher arrived there with less than two minutes to spare, and basically no time to stretch or warm up.
However, once the runners set out on their long journey the nerves soon settled and he was part of a lead bunch which included two regular visitors to the Wairarapa country marathon., Albie and Jane Stratford.
By 20km a hamstring twinge troubled Butcher and 10km later a thigh muscle problem developed and stayed with him for the rest of the event.
Despite these concerns Butcher spent the next 50km battling with Aucklander Jack Koenen for the lead and it changed up to six times over that period.
Both runners managed to open up gaps of between two to four minutes but had difficulty maintaining their advantage.
At the 80km mark, with temperatures around 25 degrees, Butcher's legs "refused to work" and Koenen was quick to capitalise, turning a then 200m lead into a winning margin of around 15 minutes.
He took the title in a time of 8hrs 51mins 37secs with Butcher second in 9hrs 6mins, a time which compared favourably with his 2004 winning effort of 9hrs 26mins.
Third went to another Wairarapa marathon regular in Ashley Smith from Waitara in 10hrs 49mins 6secs.
Butcher was quick to pay tribute to his support crew Sandy and Elizabeth Butcher who provided him with drink and food at regular intervals, and helped with mid-race stretches and massages.
He was grateful too for the help from many of the teams taking part in the annual Lake Taupo relay which was held in conjunction with the ultra-marathon. The relay attracted some 5000 runners-including several fom Wairarapa- and they offered Butcher and company additional water and sponges along the way.
In fact, Butcher even managed a wry smile when one team lined up at around the 85km mark and performed a Mexican wave!