Harriers Have Already Pioneered Haast Pass Link

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30900, 5 November 1965, Page 25

Harriers Have Already Pioneered Haast Pass Link

Canterbury University harriers have already “pioneered” the new Haast Pass link—in a mid-winter run last Queen’s Birthday week-end.

By relay, their team of 25 students ran about 690 miles on a route south from Christchurch, through the Haast Pass, and up the West Coast back to Christchurch.

The round trip, starting at 5.15 p.m. on Thursday, June 3, and finishing at 11.35 pan. on Sunday, June 6, took 78hr 20min—giving an average speed over all sorts of roads and many hill climbs of 8.8 miles an hour.

The harriers crossed five major mountain passes—Burke’s, Lindis, Haast, Arthur’s, and Porter’s.

Fog, frosts, and rain failed to deter them. They gained steadily on their planned times on almost every sector of the journey, and finished back in Christchurch B}hr ahead of their schedule.

The University Harrier Club captain, B. R. E. Jones, who is Canterbury champion over all distances from one to 10 males, carried the baton through an unmade five-mile section of the new HaastParinga road, accompanied by another dub runner, R. Farmer, a former New Zealand Universities harrier champion. This stretch was churned to a porridgey mixture of clay and shingle by bulldozers — and rain—and was regarded by other members of the team who walked through this five miles as the toughest leg of the whole journey. Special Interest Jones, and P. R- May, the dub president and an active runner had the distinction of taking the baton through the Haast Pass. For May, a senior lecturer in history at the university (and the author of an

article elsewhere in this supplement), this had special interest, as the harriers’ crossing of the pass was made exactly 100 years after its first use by Otago miners’ parties pushing through to the West Coast gold diggings. The Canterbury University relay restored something of the harriers’ pioneering spirit. The idea arose during a discussion over a glass of beer by some of the senior members of the duh, who felt that the old pioneering spirit of harriers was dead, and that activities had reached a stereotyped pattern. Once proposed, the idea quickly captured the imagination. The project was the most ambitious ever undertaken by the club, which has been noted for the informality of its organisation. But on this occasion there was much preplanning. AH club members kept the relay preparations a dose secret, so as not to be beaten at the post by some rival, particularly the brother dub at the University of Otago. It was a tribute to the efficiency of those who made the

detailed preparations that the relay- went so smoothly. Three members. Farmer, J. Davies, and P. Marks, made a 36-hour advance survey to the new Haast-Paringa road, and prepared a detailed tabulated mileage and landmark chart to identify the zones allocated to each group within the team. As well, the chart listed a time schedule, but the runners’ enthusiasm soon left this behind. The whole relay went almost without a hitch, and the runners survived their several stages of running without any physical setback, apart from tiredness. This was a remarkable effort, and a testimony to the way in which the less-serious runners in the club prepared themselves for the task —which involved running almost continuously in stages day and night, in a variety of conditions and over widely-different road surfaces. Jones and Farmer were the hardest-worked members of the team. They ran, in their several stages, about 60 miles each.

Jones showed his quality by running a seven-mile stage north of Hokitika on the homeward run in 37min, while Farmer covered one 10-mile section between Lakes Hawea and Wanaka in about 60min, in the dark, without torchlight. Farmer encountered here a herd of Hereford cattle straying on the road, which kept him company as pace-makers, but at this time he was joined by an escorting car, which was able to be driven between him and the cattle. Farmer and another runner, McG. Simpson, shared the claim for the longest stage—something more than 10 miles. First Stage The relay began from the Students’ Association building of Canterbury University at 5.15 p.m. on June 3. A part-time lecturer in the history department, S. R. Young, took the first stage. Succes-

sive runners followed the main road south to Ashburton and continued on through the night, moving inland through Geraldine. The group on the run to Ashburton made up 15min on scheduled time. The second group en route to Geraldine had the team 41min ahead, with 85| miles covered. This meant a short delay while some bleary-eyed members for the run to Tekapo tumbled out of bed.

The rest of this group enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before setting out—so that it was more than 10 freezing miles later that McG. Simpson was relieved of the baton.

So it went on, with time steadily gained, although the organisation was tested when one of the groups was delayed by a cut car tyre. At the 263-mile mark, near Tairas, beyond the Lindis Pass, the group waiting was also caught napping, and the car dispatched tn warn them gave just sufficient time for one runner to tumble out of his sleeping-bag ready to take the baton as the last man of the previous group sprinted down an incline to the camp, 2hr 45sec ahead.

Through the Haast Pass, and with some of the runners approaching the Haast-Paringa roadhead 4hr ahead of schedule, some of the party made a hasty deviation to Haast township to send a telegram to the West Coast group billeted at Ross.

To get these runners to the Paringa road-end, just a few miles off, the telegram was relayed through Wanaka, Dunedin, Christchurch, Hokitika, and so on to Ross.

This was one time when a deliberate pause was made in the running, while those in the lead waited for other

groups on the southern run to catch up for photographs to be taken of the baton change sending Jones and Farmer through to link up with the West Coast party. With this pause, and another delay in linking up with the West Coast group, an hour was lost, but this was more than compensated for on the 55-mile run to Fox Glacier. The schedule for this distance was cut by Ijhr, to make the over-ail gain 4jhr.

Ahead Of Schedule

The 10 runners allocated to the West Coast sector continued to beat schedules to be 7hr ahead at Arthur’s Pass, even though this was probably the most miserable part of the journey, when runners all the way from Hokitika to Klondike corner, near the Bealey, had to contend with steady rain, which forced changes to dry gear in what shelter they could find, until they were ready to make their next spurt.

J. Abrahamson took the baton two miles before Otara. and slogged it out through the rain up the steep grades of the Otira Gorge, handing on to P. Whiteford at Arthur’s Pass.

From the top of Porter’s Pass, the pace warmed up as stages were cut to three miles, and each man appeared intent on eclipsing the performance of the previous runner. Towards the end, the stages were reduced to one mile, in order to give every man a run. Towards the finish, it was surprising to see the Wellington half-mile champion, Marks, clipping out a smart mile in 4min 37sec. while G. Griffiths and D. Rowell ran 4min 46sec, and May, smin 3sec. The final run-in was a pack effort along Riccarton avenue, and so to the Students’ Association building in Hereford street, led by the captain, Jones, carrying the baton. The relay had gone well. The harriers were favoured by the weather for the most

part, tn spite of fog and frosts on the Canterbury-Otago sectors, and rain for part of the West Coast run. Mild diversions occurred when considerate motorists paused to ask runners picking their way along remote roads by torchlight if they were in need of assistance. A few drivers, however, showed little consideration for the footsloggers, and sped by at high speeds with dazzling lights. May, the club president, described the relay as a landmark in its history. Its accomplishment spoke well of the depth of club strength. The most encouraging aspect was the enthusiasm stimulated among weaker runners, who had obviously prepared themselves well, and were able to keep within the average times planned, although running several times a day. Of a total club membership of about 30, only half of whom were competitive runners. 25 had taken part in the relay—and it had got the best out of them.