Course poses obstacles for runners

Cross-country

A testing cross-country course at Parkvale confronted the Ruamahanga Ramblers on Saturday, including fences, stream crossings, knee-high grass and steep hills.

And if that was not bad enough there were some "technical" hassles too, like a farm worker driving a tractor through a gate just before race start and replacing a course marker in such a fashion that the arrow on it pointed the wrong way. That left some of the runners heading towards a cowshed

There was also a slight problem with the measuring too, the so-called 2km circuit being 2.9km. Given the challenging terrain the extra distance wasn't popular with many of the participants.

The course included a couple of stream crossings, one of which looked shallow but deepened rapidly on the left side. That's what walker Bill Dolan - in his first outing with the Ramblers - discovered when he sank up to his waist in water.

Times were: 2.9km: Charlie Gordon 19.04, Fergus Pitney 21.14, Josh Price 21.21, Sarah Pitney 34.59, Irene Price 35.53, Clarissa Price 35.55, Stephen Yeats 33.59. 5.8km: Steve Britland 37.30, Vanessa Vermeulen 45.05, Kasey Cox 47.34, Ben Van Gerven 48.46, Chris Van Gerven 48.46, Lynne Birkett 60.17, Bill Dolan 60.20, Judy Rayner 60.20. 8.7km: Malcolm Macdonald 45.05, Michael Duthie 46.10, Derek Cox 47.34, Paul Furkert 49.07, Marty Sebire 50.14, Katherine Horsburgh 50.27, Teresa Reynolds 54.10, Chris Megaw 56.31, Steve Pitney 56.32, Wayne Hyman 56.33, Ray Haste 57.57.