HAAST PASS RELA YBEGINS

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30768, 4 June 1965, Page 14

HAAST PASS RELA YBEGINS

University harriers made a start last evening on their 680-mile relay over the Haast Pass. A part-time lecturer in the history department, S. R. Young took the first stage from the Students’ Association building.

Successive runners followed the route south to Ashburton and continued on through the night, moving inland through Geraldine. The relay will continue until the runners complete the journey at the Students’ Association building on Monday morning. They will have crossed five major mountain passes— Burke’s, Lindis, Haast, Arthur’s, and Porter’s. Historic Associations The relay has special significance for one of the team, P. R. May, a senior lecturer in history at the university. Author of “West Coast Gold Rushes,” May has made West Coast history his special study and the interesting aspect for him is that the relay is being held in the centennial year of the first parties from the Otago gold diggings forcing their way through the Haast pass to the West Coast gold fields.

The runners hope to average seven to eight minutes a mile, and on this basis have planned the following arrival times on the outward journey: Geraldine: 3.25 a.m. this morning; Tekapo, 10.30 a.m.; Omarama, 4.45 p.m.; Tarras, 11.15 p.m. Times for stages on Saturday are; Makarora, 6 a.m.; Haast. 12.25 p.m.; and the road end, 2.35 p.m. The runners will then go through 10 miles of near virgin country still separating the roads which will link at Haast, to meet with another team of runners who will take over at Paringa for the first stage of the homeward journey along the West Coast. Car loads of runners have been allocated various sections of the journey. As the route is not open to through traffic the teams handling the eastern sector of the journey will return to Christchurch on the completion of their task. Some of them will travel over Porter’s pass to link up again with the West Coast party