Options this week

  • Tuesday 5.45pm, Waterfront 5km.
  • Wednesday 5.30pm, club pack run, Anderson Park Cricket Club, Botanic Gardens.
  • Wednesday 7.00pm, Wellington Scottish Annual General Meeting, Anderson Park Cricket Club, Botanic Gardens. (details below)
  • Saturday 8.00am, McVilly Shield Relay, Karori Park. Please bring a friend!
  • Saturday, 8.00am, Lower Hutt 5km Parkrun, Porirua 5km Parkrun, Trentham 5km Parkrun, Kapiti Coast 5km Parkrun.
  • Saturday 1.30pm, VUWAC Track Festival, Newtown Park CANCELLED
  • Sunday long pack runs – usually these leave 8.30am from outside Freyberg Pool and some alternative locations around Wellington. Contact our club captains Danielle and Ben for info, or check Facebook for details.

Results

Few results this week because of COVID-19 Alert Level 2 but I did spot Hiro Tanimoto ran a 3000m PB (on NZ soil at least) 8:51.83 at the Quick Fire Middle Distance Meeting in Palmerston North.

Coming up

Waterfront 5km Series, Tuesdays

The Wellington Scottish Waterfront 5km continues until 30 March 2021. Please offer to help with registration and marshalling if available.

Scottish Annual General Meeting, 10 March, Anderson Park Cricket Club

Our Club Annual General Meeting takes place this Wednesday 10 March, 7pm, at the cricket club rooms in the Botanic Gardens. It’s your chance to hear how the club is doing, elect a new committee for the year, and tell that committee what you want the club to do. We will gather beforehand at 5.30pm for a friendly pack run, leaving from the cricket clubrooms. The clubrooms have showers and changing rooms.

McVilly Shield Relay, 13 March, Karori Park

The McVilly Shield is the first club event for the season and a great way to get to know other people in the club. This relay has teams of three people each. Everyone can take part, runners, walkers, J Team, seniors, masters and friends of the club. Just turn up and we will find you a team. You can either race it or use it as an opportunity to do some training. 

Each team must do ten laps of Karori Park. No individual team member can do more than four laps. But you can do the laps in any order you like. The race is randomly handicapped after the teams start.

If anyone is planning to come along but isn’t able to run let us know as we’re looking for 3-4 volunteers to help with timekeeping, etc.

See this article for more information. 

Centennial Cup, 20 March, Island Bay

This is a flat 5km club race along south coast waterfront starting at Island Bay. This is normally our first club race of each season. It is the traditional opening race of the season where members will compete for the Centennial Cup. It is a sealed handicap event where our handicapper has estimated your time over 5km to determine your handicap. Everyone starts together and the finishing times are adjusted by your handicap to determine your net time and the overall winner of the cup. 

We normally meet beforehand at 1:30pm at St Hilda’s Church, 311 The Parade, to store gear. The race starts at 2pm. There is also a J Team race for the kids and race walk for the walkers. Then we return afterwards for an afternoon tea.

Last year’s defending Centennial Cup champion is Jasmine Smith.

IAU 6 Hour Virtual Global Solidarity Run

The 2021 edition of the IAU 6 hour Virtual Global Solidarity Run is on the weekend of 20-21 March. Athletics NZ selected three Scottish athletes for the NZ team; Mel Aitken, Emma Bassett and Fiona Hayvice. This is the second edition, with the first being in August 2020 (which was also well represented by Scottish!)

Both Emma and Fiona will be running on the Newtown Track on Saturday 20 March, starting at 6.30am and finishing at 12.30pm. The goal is to run as far as possible in the allotted time. If you’d like to give them a few hollers of encouragement toward the end, please do. It’s on route to the Centennial Cup in Island Bay, the club race that afternoon.

They’ll be sharing the track with the regularly scheduled Athletics Wellington youth events, so please be aware and considerate of our fellow track users.

Wellington 5000m Champs, 27 March

The Wellington 5000m champs will take place on Saturday 27 March late in the afternoon. There will be different races to accommodate runners of all different speeds and goals. New members to the club will be welcome to take part.

Paul Hewitson from WHAC is leading the organisation, and he is looking for a few more helpers. Please let me know if you can assist and I will pass on your offer. Entries will be open later this week. Entry will be $5, which will contribute towards prizes for first place finishers. There will be a BBQ and drinks for sale on the day. This year will include a 70+ age grade category. Entrants must bring someone to count laps for them – one lap counter can count two runners. There will be a at least two races, based on predicted times. Slower runners will start at 4:30 pm. There will be a third event if there are over 30 in each field.

Keep in touch with the club