Running for a Bottle!

Actually everybody got a bottle!

My winnings from the St Clair half marathon! A very nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc with a sprinkling of bubbles in it. Mind you I had to work hard for this. The race was round the vineyards of Marlborough on South Island, NZ. I had thought that Marlborough was a town but it's a region full of vineyards, the major town in the middle of the valley is Blenheim. I managed to get a late entry based on the fact that in North Wales we hadn't been told that this race fills up early. There are round about 4,000 people galloping or strolling round the course every year - seems to be very popular here and we'd no idea that there were this many runners in New Zealand. Very confusing in some ways because they set us off in waves - I wangled a place in the first start and thought I was doing well - no old geezers in front of me and I kept digging in to finish in 1.36. It was hard work as we were running up and down between rows of grapevines on fairly thick grass but I kept a bit in reserve and finished strongishly.

A fairly busy finish area with lots of stalls and so on and we found the pie tent - just what I needed. And then they started putting up results on a notice board - yes there I was 36th overall but 2nd V60!!! I looked up to see where the first V60 was and he was logged in as first in a ridiculous time. Help! We eventually found that this was incorrect and some shenanigans had taken place so I got 1st place and was pacified! Here's me fairly fresh not far from the start - this is Vicky's snapshot which seemed much better than the official race photos as it depicted vines and mountains and a strong looking elderly runner.

Nice view - shame about all these boats in the way!

Marlborough Sound is quite something - we took the ferry from Wellington to Picton - the open sea crossing is fairly short but then we spent the next hour or so cruising past inlets and mountains covered with high forest - spectacular indeed. Picton itself was pictureskew and we  spent some time there in a very nice motel, mainly because we have deadlines regarding a pile of work we are currently doing. Free wifi is essential at the moment! However it beats sitting at home doing it all. What is excellent about NZ motels is that they all have nice little kitchens in the motel rooms so we can nip round to the supermarket, grab a bit of food and beer and just carry on working.