By Yvonne West
A warm sunny afternoon drew crowds to Rabbit Island on Saturday for the first in the series of three fun runs that make up the Wallace Shield Cross Country.
As they ran along the beach at the start of the race, the 180 competitors, young and ‘not so young’, created quite a spectacle for their supporters and members of the public.
Saturday’s event started on the beach in front of the Old Domain picnic area, turned into the forest track, around the Old Domain picnic area and back out onto the beach, a lap of approximately 1.7kms.
The children chose one, two or three laps, the adults three laps and the walkers, two laps.
The fun element in this Event was that everyone had to estimate what time they would take, then run ‘without watches or cell phones’.
Participants were awarded points for each of the three events in the series, this week based on how close they were to their estimated time.
At the end of the three weeks, the person with the lowest number of points in each distance is the winner.
So far, Rick Millar is leading the adult three laps, Max Richards the junior three-laps, Mia O’Regan the junior two-laps and Emma Dunbar the junior one-lap.
Athletes now look forward to the second event in this series, in the Totara picnic area on Rabbit Island, Saturday 22ndMay.
