We left the campsite but before carrying on any further we had to go to the end of the road, to Orere Point. The road stopped at the water which was the mouth of the Firth of Thames.
We got back on the road and shortly after turning onto the main highway we started seeing a lot of cyclists. They were numbered and obviously in a race. It wasn’t that far down the road that we came to a small community called Kawakawa Bay where there was a lot of activity. We pulled over and walked over to where there were a bunch of people gathered. It turns out that the cyclists we passed were competing in a half Ironman race. A half ironman starts with a 2 kilometer swim, 90 kilometer bike ride and then a 21 kilometer run. The people gathered were watching the race and we joined them.
Kawakawa Bay was a very small community but had a terrific view of the bay of the same name.
While we were watching the race we met a gentleman by the name of Kim Cragg. Kim was very knowledgeable about the race and the goings on. He was able to answer all our questions and then I found out why that was so. Kim is a full Ironman Competitor and he had just finished a race a short time previous that was run in Taupo. A full ironman is a 3.8 kilometer swim, 180 kilometer bike ride and a 42 kilometer run. Kim completed the course in 11 hours and 41 minutes which was really good considering Kim is 52 years old. He took over 2 hours off his previous year results. Good for you Kim.
While we were there, Kim introduced us to Megan Blackett who one of New Zealand’s up and coming female ironman competitors. Kim told us to watch for her in an upcoming Olympics.
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| Kim Cragg & Megan Blackett |
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| The Front Runner |
I could have taken a better picture of Kim and Megan. My apologies to both of you. The second picture is the leader and I am assuming the winner of the race. We left before it was finished but a 6 minute lead with 7 kilometers left I would think would be insurmountable.
It was a fun couple of hours but we finally had to push on.
The rest of the day started with lunch in Clevedon before turning onto north road and following the coast to Omana Beach. It was then back along the Maraetai Coast Road that would take us to Whitford and then into Manukau. Manukau is a suburb of Auckland and pretty close to the airport. It was a very nice day and the drive gave us quite a few photo opportunities.
We also spotted this on our travels. You think there might have been a little alcohol involved here.
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| Look up, look way up. |
We arrived at the holiday park, checked in and just enjoyed a quiet evening. We are not sure what we are doing tomorrow. I think a little planning is in order.
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