20 years after my first ever marathon race at the Rotorua Marathon I finally returned for my 3rd Rotorua Marathon (#2 was 19 years ago). Lorraine told me afterwards I got a PW (Personal Worst). But I actually think it is the PB (Personal Best) of my 3 Rotorua Marathons! Joined by my running buddy Jo, we were the Back of the Pack Heroes responsible to get everyone home, and hopefully still smiling!
The race started at 8am with a bang (a real cannon). It was freezing, with most runners in singlets and skimpy shorts taking off knowing that the crisp morning was going to turn up the temperature pretty fast. Those of us at the back still had layers, but even these made there way into the back pack within the first hour.
One of the best things about these big races, and Rotorua is a massive one, is that you meet so many amazing people. I have run a lot of kilometres in the last 20 years and amongst this a good handful of both road and off-road marathons and ultras. But I was meeting some true running characters from the moment registrations opened on Friday night until the finish line on Saturday. I met Charlotte (pictured with me beside the pull-up of 52 below), a member of the 100 club. Yep, for those with 100-plus official marathons. She wanted a copy of my book about my 52 marathons (most of which were unofficial) and then I discovered Charlotte had run over 400 official marathons. Now that’s worth writing a book about! Near the start of the race I met Chris (in the bright yellow singlet). I had to wait 2kms in for Chris. Due to a dodgy GPS direction he arrived late. Once he caught me up we ran together for a couple of kms to catch up with the rest. Chris was another runner with a whole bunch of Rotorua marathons under his belt and soon left me with the tail-enders as he began to work his way through the pack.
Between the awesome conversations and aid station pit stops, I managed to fit in a few flat whites on the run, one at a Nongatahā cafe, and another at the Little Coffee Cart, conveniently parked at the 18km mark in the middle of nowhere. Then came the climbs as we became a party of 6 targeting the 23 km cut-off mark. We had already been hanging with Kaz and her son Super Fats Hez (that’s his real name, it was on his bib, or should I say on hez bib) for most of the morning when we caught up to legends Tina and Mel. Kaz was aiming to complete her 9th Rotorua Marathon but was struggling with the heat. Hez was choosing to hold back his Super Fast identity and support his mum. After introducing ourselves to Tina and Mel, we discovered that they were actual legends. Both were members of the Survivors Club, those who have finished at least 15 Rotorua Marathons, both also in the 100 club, and Mel was now over 250 marathons and running this one having just had her knee operated on at the end of last year. These old girls were tough and full of laughs. All 6 of us made the cut-off with a good 2 minutes to spare.
Sadly only a few kilometres down the road, at the Mourea Store, Kaz had to call it a day. So while Jo and the others carried on, Hez and I enjoyed a goodbye pie with Kaz. Hez then was true to his name and speed off Super Fast to finish his second Rotorua Marathon. I finally caught up to Jo and Mel to find that Tina found a new running buddy and left us behind. So our threesome began our way down the long home straight.
We caught Tina up towards the end of the race, not because we were fast or she was slow, but because she’d found another tail ender who needed her help. Unfortunately he had to call it quits (blistered toes I think) and so Tina joined us and our quartet was a tight unit until the end. As Tina and Mel neared the finish line and entered Eat , the patrons went crazy cheering on these true weekend warriors. Crossing the finish line, everyone was still smiling. For Jo and I this meant mission complete. After a very long but wonderful day we had again lapped the lake called Rotorua.
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