20th Kepler Challenge, Saturday 1st December 2007.

6th time lucky for Lukes
The 20th Kepler Challenge was started by the only runner who had completed all 19 previous events, Murray Thomas from Alexandra.  Thomas had an unusual method to start the race, “1, 2, 3, Go!” this seemed to take all the other runners by surprise and gave Thomas an early advantage as he took off from the start line at the front of the pack of 400 runners. 

In near perfect track and weather conditions in Te Anau the early lead was taken and held for more than 45 kms of the 60 km race by John Winsbury from Dunedin.  Winsbury set a blistering pace winning the King of the Mountain title for the second year in a row, being the first runner to cover almost 14 kms to Luxmore Hut (1085 metres) in a time of 1.06.01.  Winsbury stretched his lead out to up to 8 minutes midway through the race until he was passed “as if he was standing still” by Martin Lukes from Christchurch. 

Lukes went on to win the race in a time of 4.49.13 driven by his determination to lose his “bridesmaid” title having finished in second place on 4 of his previous 5 Challenges.  Lukes believes that the secret to success in this event is to ensure that you are still “in good shape” to cover the final 15 kms of the race.  This certainly proved to be the case this year as Lukes took the lead in the last quarter of the race from Winsbury and stretched his lead over the last 11 kms to win by 14 minutes. 

Third place was taken for the second year in a row by Tony Fattorini from New South Wales.  Phil Costley’s race record of 4.37.41 set in 2005 remains unbroken.

After losing his early lead to Winsbury Thomas went on to complete the race in a very respectable 7.18.19

Results
Men
 Name Hometown Time (hrs, mins, secs)
1 Martin Lukes Christchurch 4.49.13
2 John Winsbury Dunedin 5.03.37
3 Tony Fattorini Annandale, New South Wales 5.07.36

The womens’ event was won by Chigaya Mase from Japan, Mase has been the Japanese women’s mountain running champion for some years but has only started running in international events in the past 12 months.  With limited English preventing her from getting progress reports from race marshals, Mase only realized she had won the event after crossing the finish line!  Through an interpreter she said that she found it cold on the alpine section, but the track was very similar to those she is used to running in Japan.  Second place went Lara Prince who returned to get revenge “on the wall she ran in to in the 2002 Kepler Challenge”; she successfully got that revenge coming home in a time of 6.34.09.  Prince is the daughter of Russell Prince who won the first Kepler Challenge back in 1988.  In third place was Melanie Smith from Arrowtown in her first Kepler Challenge she came home almost 2 hours ahead of her predicted 8.30 time in 6.43.49.

Women
 Name Hometown Time (hrs, mins, secs)
1 Chigaya Mase Tokyo 6.16.27
2 Lara Prince Christchurch 6.34.09
3 Melanie Smith Arrowtown 6.43.49

The spirit of the event was epitomized by Martin Jagers from Christchurch, competing in the event for the eleventh time, who provided emergency medical assistance to Tony Hill also from Christchurch and continued to wait with Hill for over an hour until medics arrived.  Jagers went on to complete the event in a time of 11.35.41, significantly slower than previous attempts. 

Sponsorship for the community run event, which involves up to 200 local volunteers to ensure its success, is guaranteed for the next 3 year with Nike ACG announcing an increased level of sponsorship to ensure naming rights for the event for the next 3 years.

Luxmore Grunt

The winner Michael Adams from Auckland was second last year, his winning time this year was 5 minutes faster, 3 minutes short of his goal the race record (1.54.12 set by Andrew Town in 1994).  Adams says this is his favourite race, he was disappointed not to have Benji Patterson winner for the past 2 years to “pull him along up the hill” due to Patterson’s late withdrawal.  The 2 had a pact to try for the race record together.  In second place was Michael Douglas from Mossburn.  Third placed Mark Laurenson was running the Grunt for the first time, using this as a training run for the Coast to Coast.

Men
1 Michael Adams Auckland 1.57.24
2 Michael Douglas Mossburn 2.19.19
3 Mark Laurenson Alexandra 2.27.16

Lisa Brignull was first woman home in the Luxmore Grunt, having completed the Challenge twice she needed to do a shorter route this year to ensure that her new baby was not without her Mum for too long.  Catherine Watson was running the Grunt for the second time, and managed to get her legs to work on the flat run home after coming off the downhill this year.  Local girl Steff Bird finished third in her first attempt at the Grunt.

1 Lisa Brignull Christchurch 2.32.28
2 Catherine Watson Invercargill 2.41.09
3 Steff Bird Te Anau 2.41.45

 all photos made by: Graham Dainty

Photo / Art  Fiordland
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