By Glenn Sexton

A smallish but extremely talented bunch of Hawks ran at the NIXC in Taupo on Saturday. After a 6 year absence, I decided to give it another another crack, so Shona and I took the caravan down on Saturday for a night in the local campground. After a traffic light but very foggy trip down, and after dropping the caravan off, we rocked up just after Dave and Dawn had set the Hawks gazebo up and in time to see the second race of the day. The fog was still heavy but it promised to be ideal running conditions once it did clear. The course was its usual undulating self and once again dry and firm underfoot. The program ticked by with some strong Hawks runs coming from Abigail and Daniel in the early races.  The great thing about Taupo is once the 3 k laps start, there are great viewing and warming up and down opportunities following the races during the day. With a 500 odd metre route you can check out the 300, 800, 1500 and 2500 metre mark of the 3000 metre lap so there are always heaps of supporters crisscrossing the inside of the course.

The junior Hawks continued with very strong performances from Jahan, Charlotte, Daniel, Jack, Max, Lachlan, Braxton, Crystal and Emily before the oldies (Cameron, Dave, Grahame, myself, Kevin and Dawn had their turn to have a go, then analyse our race, then talk about what hurts, then reminisce about fast we were in the good old days. The two senior races were next up with great runs from Aimee and Sabrina in the women’s race.

Hard luck to Paul and Anna for not making it to the start line.

I think I got everybody, but if I missed anybody, my apologies.

Thanks to Dave for organising and setting up the gazebo and Cameron for his great photos.

My run of the day was a draw between Aimee and Max for their wins in the SW and MU18 races. They both led from the front and didn’t give the opposition the chance to challenge them.

It was also great to see Mike Riley down for his last event before he and Wendy head back down to Red and Black country after their decade plus involved with Hawks. Mike has been a committee member while I was President and a juniors coach, and Wendy has been an official while they both competed in our colours. Thanks to you both for your contribution to Hawks and wish you well back in Canterbury.