Aside from the road switch, the other much anticipated event around here is the Samoa Perimeter Relay. Well, tomorrow is the big day. I have just got back from the race briefing with our final instructions, so now we are all set to go.
For those of you that didn’t know, I am part of the NZ High Commission team that is running in the Samoa Perimeter Relay, a relay run of 64 miles (102 km) that goes halfway around the island of Upolu. The route is divided into 23 legs, and we are in teams of 6. I am running 4 legs, a total of 18.7 km.
Training has been ok over the last few weeks, but with netball practices twice a week and a game every Saturday it has been hard to fit in as much running as I would have liked. I am sure I will be ok, too late to do anything about it now!
At the briefing there were a few surprises. First they gave us our start times .There is a staggered start depending on each teams pace. We know we aren’t fast, but we were surprised when we were told we were going to start at 3.30am!! Looks like we are now going to start at 4.15 instead, so I can have an extra 45 minutes sleep in.
Next surprise was that our team has been entered in the Diplomatic Community category, and we will be competing against the Australian High Commission’s team for the trophy in that category. Unfortunately for us the Australian team is stacked full of their Army guys who are all fit and fast, so we might struggle to beat them.
The last surprise is that the 2 High Commission teams will also be competing on behalf of the 2 charities of the event – Samoa Victim Support and the Samoa Youth Orchestra. Based on the fundraising that these charities have done to date some sort of handicap has been calculated to even up our two teams. I couldn't quite understand all of the details, but we will be running for the Samoa Youth Orchestra. It just looks like another good reason for some extra NZ –
Time for me to head off and pack my things for tomorrow and try to get some rest. Will post the results sometime next week.
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