On Sunday 27th February the Whangarei Athletics Club held a Track and Field event that was open to all comers. So, a number of athletes from Hatea Run went along.
It is tempting to think that running on an athletics track is only for serious fast runners. However, it quickly became apparent that this is not the case. There was a pleasantly strange mix of friendliness, relaxed atmosphere, combined with all the professionalism of a track and field event. There is a real starter gun, your lap splits are called out to you on each lap and there is even a last lap bell. After 6 and a half laps of the 3000m event, I can tell you that there is no sweeter sound! I am sure that speeds you up by a good 5 seconds or so.
It was also fun to watch some very good young athletes competing in the sprint events. There were also all the field events available such as long and high jump, discus and javelin.
The athletics club made us feel very welcome and I am sure that they were genuinely pleased to see us. From Hatea Run, I was joined by Dennis Langford, Ian Kleingeld, John Kent, and Judith Bradshaw. And we did not disgrace ourselves. I won the 1500m and 800m (admittedly only 2 runners). Whilst Dennis took out the javelin, 2000m steeplechase and the discus.
It was a great morning, which I thoroughly recommend if track running is your thing. But even more so if you have never tried it before – there is no better event for a first timer!
Well done Ian. Good read.