By Winona Lee 1/7/24
Some history
The King/Queen of the mountain is one of Owairaka’s longest running events. From what I could see on the cups, the race has been taking place since the late 70s. Christine Munro, an Owai runner, fellow parkrunner, and a back in the day sub 3 hour marathoner told me how the race used to be 5 miles up Mt Albert and back! I am glad we don’t have to do that anymore. I’ve completed this race quite a few times, I even won the Queen of the Mountain cup back in 2014 when competitors were barely in the to double digits.
I have learnt over the years that you mustn’t underestimate the hills. It is very tempting to go out hard as the first 500m is downhill, however, from experience, I can say that you will die on the way back. I have suffered many a time on what I think is the hardest part of race, the steep climb at the end of the race from the cycle way back up to Maioro and Richardson road.
Race report
On Matariki, 69 runners, which is our biggest event since starting the event back up in 2013, set out on their journey up the maunga. The weather could not have been better! Blue skies and cool temperatures made it ideal for the breaking of Mariano Piagentini’s course record, set just last year. And that is exactly what happened!
The first place finisher was Jack Sneddon, an Oratian, in a new course record of 16:32. Oratia athletes have been competing in this race for a number of years now, and they are often very speedy, as seen this year. The women’s champion was also from Oratia, Amy Thomson took it out in 19:44. Congrats you two, and we really appreciate Oratia for your support for this event.
Nick Moore equalled the previous course record of 16:37, coming in second place. I first met Nick at this race back in 2014. Pretty sure he finished at least 5 minutes ahead of anyone else then. What’s funny is that he actually cut the course short as he missed going around the top of Mt Roskill. However, I think it was agreed he still would have won the race regardless of whether he added a 150m loop.
Tamara Clark was second in the female category. Shout out to the two U18 athletes who podiumed. Jacob Hewitt came third and Ayawa Sotome, actually an U14, also came third in the Queen of the Mountain.
In the Tamariki 2.5k run, first place was Aidan Jarrold on the boys' side, and Annika Vashi on the girls'. Aidan was our only sub 9 minute finisher, coming in in a speedy time of 8:53. Annika finished in 9:36, with her sister, Grace finishing around 20 seconds behind her to take out second place. Both the Brunton siblings ran very well and podiumed with Izzy finishing third in the girls category and her brother, Josh, finishing second in the boys. Neil Cheetham was third for the boys. Congrats to all the Tamariki on their awesome running. It was very cool to see you all coming the opposite way to us, although I did feel quite jealous that you guys were almost finished, and I was only 1km in.
Thanks to the whole team at Owai for another great event. The soup was delicious and the scones, shoutout to Kate, were very scrumptious. Pete and Julie were an awesome timing/results duo. Nick set up the course. Kate was awesome on the media and registration side. Thanks to all the marshals.
And thanks to you all for your generous koha - we raised over $700 to kickstart our koha for kicks fund ✨
Event photos/videos
Here’s a link to some photos and videos: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOrHR_rZkWqshwXlwle7obgwmI94VOHfccwI_w6lTka71KGR_FPFjHVZPMF6wUMqg?pli=1&key=ZWQ0WVNqRGVaa0FZajdEMkQwaVdkM2lwbXNWbTF3
Podium
5k King of the Mountain
1st - Jack Sneddon (new course record)
2nd - Nick Moore
3rd - Jacob Hewitt (1st U18)
5k Queen of the Mountain
1st - Amy Thomson
2nd - Tamara Clark
3rd - Ayawa Sotome (2nd U14)
5k King/Queen of the Mountain (junior)
U18:
1st - Jacob Hewitt
2nd - Jackson Pinique
3rd - Kalaia Sorby
U14:
1st - Ben Collinge
2nd - Ayawa Sotome
2.5k Tamariki run
Boys
1st - Aidan Jarrold
2nd - Josh Brunton
3rd - Ollie Cheetham
Girls
1st - Annika Vashi
2nd - Grace Vashi
3rd - Izzy Brunton
Results
First | Last | Category | 2.5/5k | Placing | Placing | Time |
Jack | Snedden | 18+ | 5 | 1st overall | 16:32 | |
Nick | Moore | 18+ | 5 | 2nd overall | 16:37 | |
Jacob | Hewitt | U18 | 5 | 3rd overall | 1st U18 | 17:47 |
Naoki | Toyomura | 18+ | 5 | 18:00 | ||
Nick | Panett | 18+ | 5 | 18:03 | ||
Adam | Gallagher | 18+ | 5 | 18:06 | ||
Jack | Clendon | 18+ | 5 | 18:32 | ||
Daniel | Coates | 18+ | 5 | 18:36 | ||
Jackson | Pinique | U18 | 5 | 2nd U18 | 18:45 | |
James | Fisher | 18+ | 5 | 19:02 | ||
Paul | White | 18+ | 5 | 19:06 | ||
Gavin | Lloyd | 18+ | 5 | 19:25 | ||
Kalaia | Sorby | U18 | 5 | 3rd U18 | 19:35 | |
Jakub | Kalinowski | 18+ | 5 | 19:37 | ||
Amy | Thomson | U18 | 5 | 1st F | 19:44 | |
Keith | Burrows | 18+ | 5 | 19:49 | ||
Ben | Collinge | U14 | 5 | 1st U14 | 19:57 | |
Tamara | Clarke | 18+ | 5 | 2nd F | 20:05 | |
Nathan | Trotman | 18+ | 5 | 20:27 | ||
Hugh | Sorby | 18+ | 5 | 20:50 | ||
Chris | Lawrence | 18+ | 5 | 20:58 | ||
Ayawa | Sotome | U14 | 5 | 3rd F | 2nd U14 | 20:59 |
James | Clendon | 18+ | 5 | 21:11 | ||
James | Parker | 18+ | 5 | 21:14 | ||
Elliott | Lowe | 18+ | 5 | 21:14 | ||
Jerym | Brunton | 18+ | 5 | 21:34 | ||
Charlie | Li | 18+ | 5 | 21:54 | ||
Anthony | Lo | 18+ | 5 | 22:10 | ||
Lani | Dodds | 18+ | 5 | 22:12 | ||
Tharindu | Jayasinghe | 18+ | 5 | 22:14 | ||
Ryan | Walker | 18+ | 5 | 22:22 | ||
Kate | Thomas | 18+ | 5 | 22:27 | ||
Georgie | Collinge | U18 | 5 | 22:41 | ||
Kelly | Rouse | 18+ | 5 | 22:48 | ||
Namiko | Kelly | 18+ | 5 | 23:04 | ||
Ella | Pracy | U18 | 5 | 23:35 | ||
Winona | Lee | 18+ | 5 | 24:27 | ||
Sarah | Lewington | 18+ | 5 | 24:41 | ||
Jonathan | Cowley | 18+ | 5 | 25:20 | ||
David | Lockhart | 18+ | 5 | 25:21 | ||
Zachary | Thomson | 18+ | 5 | 25:31 | ||
Natasha | Wade | 18+ | 5 | 26:00 | ||
Mark | Joblin | 18+ | 5 | 26:38 | ||
Gayleen | Vashi | 18+ | 5 | 27:18 | ||
Stephen | Thomson | 18+ | 5 | 27:48 | ||
Nicola | Collinge | 18+ | 5 | 28:16 | ||
Christine | Munro | 18+ | 5 | 29:03 | ||
Jess Holly | Bates | 18+ | 5 | 31:19 | ||
Chloe | de Ruyter | 18+ | 5 | 33:32 | ||
Melanie | Trotman | 18+ | 5 | 36:27 | ||
Rita | Paton | 18+ | 5 | 39:43 | ||
Kevin | Burge | 18+ | 5 | 40:56 | ||
Neil | Cheetham | 18+ | 2.5 | 09:33 | ||
Aidan | Jarrold | U14 | 2.5 | 1st overall | 08:53 | |
Josh | Brunton | U14 | 2.5 | 2nd overall | 09:05 | |
Ollie | Cheetham | U14 | 2.5 | 3rd overall | 09:10 | |
Annika | Vashi | U14 | 2.5 | 1st F | 09:36 | |
Liam | Jarrold | U14 | 2.5 | 09:51 | ||
Grace | Vashi | U14 | 2.5 | 2nd F | 09:54 | |
Izzy | Brunton | U14 | 2.5 | 3rd F | 10:07 | |
Revanth | Kishore | U14 | 2.5 | 10:36 | ||
Maelee | Sotome | U14 | 2.5 | 11:27 | ||
Niamh | Lloyd | U14 | 2.5 | 11:47 | ||
Mason | Ma | U14 | 2.5 | 11:48 | ||
Aisline | Lloyd | U14 | 2.5 | 13:27 | ||
Logan | Ma | U14 | 2.5 | 14:07 | ||
Tessa | Boow | U14 | 2.5 | 16:08 | ||
Nora | Lawrence | U14 | 2.5 | 20:57 | ||
Bridget | Lawrence | 18+ | 2.5 | 20:58 |
Awesome report Winona!