Ekiden 2014 – Victory is Sweet
~ Articles and photos by Jenni Pulman, JETAA Auckland ~
Saturday 11 October 2014 saw JETAA Auckland Chapter enter the “Usagi JETs” in the annual Rotorua Ekiden to contest the trophy which the NZJS “Kame Team” were currently holding.
This year the weather cooperated and we turned up for a 9:00 am start at the lakefront. Our first runner, Lawrence-sensei, was so keen that he jumped the gun and started off with the fancy dress teams, whereas the kame team waited to start with the rest of the un-costumed runners.
The first handover happened in the awesome atmosphere of the invigorating sounds of the Haere Mai Taiko drummers. Tanaka-san ran his entire section with a relaxed style and made good time to hand over to Shelley for the hilly back section.
She found the first “hill” within two steps of the start line and managed to roll her ankle in a pot hole but ran on with sheer determination and wicked facials. The second half of our race was run by our Polish triathlete, Pawel, who did the long fourth section, handed over to Jenni for the short fifth leg, and then ran again (the sixth leg) to the finish line.
Taking into account the 15 minute head-start, our usagi team still managed a net four minute win over the kame team to take back the trophy at the prize-giving buffet dinner.
Special mention needs to go to our genki supporters: Terumi-san, Mariko-san and Justin, who kept our spirits high and bodies nourished with delicious baking. However the dream team is likely to be no more after both Tanaka-san and Lawrence-sensei vacate the country in October 2015.
L to R: Shelley Butt, Dr Lawrence Marceau,
Jenni Pulman, Pawel Chalacis, Kyohei Tanaka
