Saturday 21st of February 2015 was the day of the big run, although you may be forgiven for thinking it was Friday night.

The 2 am start line was a test for all competitors to meet and RPM’s Joanna Boardman and Jaki Dwight were keen to take up the challenge. In the pitch black and cool of the early morning, head torches were donned along with coats and hats. Quick coffee’s were grabbed and the first batch of runners headed down to Tongariro North Domain to set the run alight.

 

As part of a team of ten runners, a distance of 155 km was covered around Lake Taupo by the team aptly named “The Marching Minions”.  Set in a beautiful part of our country (which couldn’t actually be seen until about 6 am as the sun rose).The weather was perfect for the event and the teams support crew were there every step of the way, singing, dancing, cheering and keeping up enthusiasm and motivation. Each team member ran two legs of the relay with distances ranging between 5.2 km and 14.4 km’s. By no means did the shorter legs mean that they were easier. These were undulating, with one leg having a challenging hill that the Marching Minions took in their stride.

The day proved to be an excellent success with the team effort and solidarity ruling the way. Well done Marching Minions.

Placed 68th: Time 14 hours 53 minutes and 45 seconds.

 

 

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