Round the Bays photo galleryKEY POINTS:
They looked like just another father and son jogging over the race line in the Round of Bays annual fun run but young Matthew Munro had some hidden battery power buried in his chest.
Ten-year-old Matthew, who has a pacemaker, ran the 8.4km route from Quay St to St Heliers in a personal record time of 1h 3m.
The Pakuranga boy had trained by "running around at school lunchtimes" and "running to the shop to get things".
He said he was first fitted with a pacemaker at the age of 2 because "my heart was not working properly".
Matthew has sick sinus syndrome and needs the small, battery-operated device to take over the role of the heart's electrical system when necessary.
It generates electronic signals along thin leads to the heart muscle to begin the contractions that cause a heartbeat.
Dad Alistair said they had run Round the Bays four times now, as had sister Sarah, 13 - who was a little behind them yesterday as she had a sore leg.
Mr Munro said moderate exercise was good for Matthew, who also plays cricket and rides a bike.
Another youngster wasn't about to let a physical setback stop her joining in was De'arna Griffiths, 8, who ran and and walked the course with her broken arm in plaster. "It got a bit hot and I had to keep out of the way when they hosed people down."
De'arna finished the run with her mother Sonya and 4-month-old brother Dylan, riding in a pushchair, in 85m.
Tewaru Angell, 12, with his new found friends Joey Sio-Andrews, 13, and Aaron Baker, 13, finished in "just under 100 minutes" which was fine by them as it was their first Round the Bays and although fit rugby players they hadn't trained for a long run.
Liza Pickles, 34, also hadn't trained so she just walked and that was fine by her. "I was built for comfort not speed."
Mrs Pickles, a nurse at MercyAscot Hospital, said she had been egged into doing Round the Bays by a couple of workmates. "But they didn't show up ... I enjoyed it anyway."
The Buckland Beachs resident vows to come back next year with her husband and two children.
A big group of Indonesians tucking into an end-of-race barbecue of satay chicken and lamb also intend to be back.
Arabella Strzeletz, 16, said the Indonesian community often got together for such events in Auckland.
It was the 35th Round the Bays fun run and walk since the Auckland Joggers Club began the event in 1972.
More than 65,000 people entered this year, providing a waterfront torrent of sweaty t-shirts bearing company logos, school names, and even social messages such as "pokies leave children hungry daily".
