Huntly Half Marathon 2021 Results
Huntly turns it on!
Yes…The Huntly Half Marathon was held Sunday in what turned out to be near perfect weather for running.
After a typically cold and foggy start, the sun came out as people gathered at the start line of this iconic event. There were a good number of Hawks up before dawn to make it out there by 7am for pre-race registration duties. All went well and the main event got under way at 9am in bright sunlight!.
Lots of Hawks about in all events, most sporting the blue and yellow! Great representation by the club, and some great results too…
Former Hawk Logan Rodger had a strong showing to finish 2nd, in 1:12:24. behind the overall winner Mark Boyce in 1:10:50. Then a few places later in 15th overall Harry Coles had a blinder to be first (current) Hawk home, in 1:19:46…Followed closely by Les Miller (1:21:28), Brent Nijssen (1:21:55), and John Bowe (1:23:53) – all having strong runs…Dave Gunn and Jono Dawson also pushed hard to come in under 1:30…with Sunil fading early but making up ground to get home in 1:31:44.
In the women’s field Yasmin Campbell was first Hawk home in 1:39:39 (overall women’s winner in a strong field was Kelly Parlane once again in 1:16:54) and then we had Kirsten Milne (1:50) and Sandra Jensen (2:10) selflessly performing pacing duties once again. Thank you ladies!
It was however in the 10k where things really heated up, with Sophie Harris taking the women’s overall win (8th place overall) in a speedy 41:24, followed closely by Chloe McDaniel second (also 10th overall) in 42:28. Congratulations ladies! Great running.
In the men’s 10k event, Rhys Mildon (without a watch) paced it beautifully to come in 3rd in 37:35, then in 5th, 6th, and 7th place we had Pat Gallagher (just out-sprinting Rob) in 38:46, Rob Townsend in 38:48 and Joe Mace 39:45. Then Kevin Knowles just outside the top 10 in 11th with 42:35. So that makes it 7 out of the first 11 in the 10k current Hawks members – well done to you all!
Sophie Harris also managed to pick up a spot prize of a coffee machine to go along with the 10k win! Overall it was a great day that all in all went pretty smoothly, there was a nice vibe, and I think everyone had a great time.
And once again a huge thank you to all those who gave up their time on the day to help out, whether it be registrations, pacing duties or lead bikes, it is very much appreciated. And also to all those Hawks who turned out in the club colours to showcase this great event!
Check out the full Huntly results <<here>>
Report by Sandra Jensen
OMG it wasn’t raining this time!
We just had that familiar Huntly fog which I’ll admit I was sad when it lifted cos it meant the sun beamed down on my runners too far from the finish, and they started to flail.
I paced the 2:10 for the half. It’s hard to maintain a 6min 11 second km when the course is so flat and I felt it was almost harder than pacing 2:20 at Rotorua.
I didn’t have large groups with me and definitely told some folk they were to not hang with me, and I expected much better of them. A party in the back was not what I was about today.
But I had quite a few folk who stuck with me for the majority of the run, they didn’t blink when I yelled at each of the fast Hawks as they sped past after the turn around and weren’t bothered when I got miffed at the Darts tournament fellow getting pissy about being late because of the runners when he chose to take the back road. This is why we use the back road for our running event, cos it’s the BACK ROAD!!
Considering the amount of other running events on this weekend, I think the turn out was good – it can always be better but we are spoiled for choice here in jolly ol’ NZ and shouldn’t really complain.
I enjoyed my time chatting ‘n’ running and one lady who spent about 18km with me was relieved when I mentioned that as this was her first half she was guaranteed a PB! It’s a win/win.
End of the day, I did my job, enjoyed myself, hung with some peeps and would run/pace again if needed.
