Fast time in smooth relay

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 564, 29 November 1994, Page 1

Fast time in smooth relay

By Michele Monaghan A West Auckland team ran around Ruapehu in just nine hours 28 minutes on Saturday to win the smoothly-run twenty-fourth annual Around The Mountain Relay held on Saturday. "It was a very well run race as far as the participants go," according to coordinator Keith Davies. Over 2000 runners making up 252 teams competed in the gruelling 150 kilometre relay and became eligible for the spot prizes offered. Teams in the social grade had 20 prizes of $300, although there was tio competition involved. Prize-win-ners were picked at random. A first prize of $500 per team

was up for grabs for the winners of the competitive grades. Competitive grades included the open, veterans, women' s and composite teams. A further prize of $500 was awarded to the fastest competitive team. There were also spot prizes, includingbungyjumps provided by one of the relay sponsors. Sponsors included Reebok, ENZA, Taupo Bungy and DB Breweries. This year the fastest time of 9.28.27 was clocked in by the Ranui Pukekos of West Auckland. "The heat was worse than anything," they said. The record for the relay is not really known as the race was run differently until a couple of years ago, said Mr Davies. He said this year's winning time was fast, beating last year's by 30 minutes.