Kids Pack
Pack leader: Simon
Archie, Violet, Charlotte and Lila headed out to the Botanic Gardens with the intent on running the Parkrun course. We hit the stairs of despair with gusto. But perhaps too much.
Had a quick go on the swings and then headed back to the club. The group split and whilst it was air hockey for half the other half smashed out the Logan Park circuit. A good day all in all with a fabulous (as usual) afternoon tea.
Kids plus pack
Pack leader: Tim
The kids plus pack was a fairly small group this time- although this meant we could better tailor our pace to suit everyone. We turned left at Butts road and continued straight along Dundas Street until we turned right at George Street.
We ran through the Woodhaugh Gardens which was good fun and a new experience for most of our pack. After crossing the Malvern Street bridge, we ran up the ‘Water of Leith’ track. Running along this track was great as the bush provided some welcome shade on a beautiful day.
After walking up the last seep and slippery section and having a brief rest at the top to admire some dogs, we completed a clockwise loop of the Ross Creek Reservoir. We followed the same track until we turned off to exit at Rockslide Road where we followed Malvern Street along to Duke Street cutting across Castle Street back to Dundas which we followed along Butts Road back to the clubrooms.
This run was 9.61 km in total. An enjoyable run largely owing to our ongoing conversations where we got to know each other better as well as the mixture of scenery and terrains.
Scenic group
Pack leader: Merrilee
The scenic pack was enormous with lots of apprehensive new members today, it was such a fantastic sight!
We set off down to Ravensbourne on the cycle way in the sun. Odette Heenan and Ann Bixley set the challenge to run the zig zags up the hill which Merrilee naively tagged along for. The more sensible members meandered up the hill to take in the view of the harbour to the top.
The kids slide proving too tempting for Raewyn Nyhof who had to give it a whirl. We were pleased to have half of the SDHB operating theatre nurses with us, Helen, Elspeth and Cassie just in case she came a cropper. Kirstie Gillon-Wood must have enjoyed our company last week so it was great that she came back for her second club run this week.
At the plateau of the big easy we soaked up some sun then enjoyed the well-earned downhill section of the Big Easy before returning to the clubrooms fashionably late for a cuppa. Looking forward to next weeks adventures!
Medium pack
Pack leader: Richard
Yes, another great turnout at the club on Saturday well done everyone.
The medium pack were a group of 7. Without a plan to start, other than wanting to stay in the sun as much as possible but also wanting to run a combination of road and off road running; we just ran.
We headed out towards the Forsyth Barr Stadium, then left out to the harbour walking / cycle track. What a fantastic track/asset to Dunedin’s infrastructure that is, with a constant stream of traffic, on foot and bike. We decided to head towards town, through the industrial part of town along Ward St and eventually over the railway walking over-bridge then up through the heart of Dunedin in to the Octagon to soak in a bit of the atmosphere from the visitors to Dunedin for the first live rugby game post lockdown.
We then slowly worked out way up through the town belt to Highgate then out to the Ross Creek tracks. Just one minor hiccup in our change of terrain from road to gravel track, Dwayne caught his foot on a rock and went down and suffered a graze to his hand.
Once at the reservoir we headed back down the hill in the direction of the club rooms. Through the lower gardens and back to the club.
A great fun run in the sun with lots of banter and talk from all involved.
Looking forward to the next club adventure.
Fast Pack
Pack leader: Ollie
What a perfect day for a pack run and another great turnout at the club.
The fast pack had a great mix of individuals. 9 in the pack this week (similar to our opening day).
George Hamilton led the fast pack this week. Initially we completed a warmup lap of the Caledonian track and avoided the frost on the back straight. We then headed up through the Northern Cemetery, while chatting about a challenging historical handicap race, that went around the Cemetery. Not surprisingly some of the younger members could not remember this course.
The run then consisted of weaving through the botanical gardens via the bird Avery (the birds were very excited to see such a large pack of runners) and the challenging hills of the Dunedin park run (we were all glad we were not racing up the hills today). We were briefly joined by Simon and the kids pack, while completing a loop around the crocodile café.
Some good discussions regarding future racing and training principles were had, and to complete the hour run we included a lap of Logan Park.
Next week we look forward to the 9am Morning club run.
Hill City–University 