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Couple Keep Making Strides

Posted on: Friday, 15 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

The Devine Fitness 2-Day Marathon gets under way tomorrow.

It's not your conventional 42.2km slog - this one breaks it down a bit, with a 16.1km race in the morning, a 5km race in the afternoon, and a 21.1km half-marathon on Sunday. Nearly 100 competitors have entered so far.

Behind this event - and a stack of other landmark Nelson events - is the husband-and-wife team of Graeme and Averil West, the force behind the Wakatu Nelson Striders.

The couple didn't set out to create a small athletics empire - it just happened - but now they organise such races as the Coastal Classic through Abel Tasman National Park, Loop the Lakes at Lake Rotoiti, the Nelson Women's Triathlon and its new brother, the Bloke's Day Out, and a slew of other events over some of the top of the south's toughest trails.

Averil's also involved in the Tour de Femme, the summer bike tour which brings some of the country's top female cyclists to the region.

At the heart of their athletics machine are the regular runs on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, where the Striders get the chance to run and talk without any competitive pressure.

A common interest in sports brought the Wests together. Graeme came to work in Motueka more than 30 years ago and met Averil, then a basketball-playing schoolgirl. The fact that he was crazy about sports helped him get along with Averil's father.

The pair married 31 years ago, still coaching, playing and refereeing basketball.

With their daughters Abbe and Amanda, they moved to Nelson. By now both were running, but they couldn't find the right blend of events. The harrier clubs seemed tied to traditional formats; they wanted something different.

Twenty years ago they put some ads in the newspaper, inviting other runners to get together for training and events. The first couple of times they were on their own, but gradually others trickled in, later bringing their friends, and the Striders group was born.

Now its an institution and it just runs itself. Averil says that if they aren't there, it's business as usual. Runners just turn up to the regular rendezvous opposite the Suter in Bridge St and set off for their run.

But if the regular training is at the heart of the Striders, the artery to the rest of the sporting community is the events - the trail runs, summer road races, and the triathlons.

It's a model envied by other sports groups: a structureless, no- committee group, which does exactly what its supporters want.

Averil admits that organising events sometimes means giving up competing. As often as not they'll leave the district to find the races they want to take part in.

Her current interest is the duathlon. Formerly a marathon runner, she'd done more than 20, conquered the elusive three-hour mark, and knew that in her forties she wasn't going to go any faster.

Amanda was representing New Zealand in the World Duathlon Championship in Charlotteville, in the US, in 1998. Averil sized up the competition and knew she could do that too. The following year she was on the start line of the same event in Calais, France.

Right now, she's battling injury as she builds up for the next international event in Newcastle, Australia.

Graeme's running career was curtailed by a hip replacement a few years ago, but he continues to walk and to work out on an indoor rowing machine.

But right now, all that's on hold as Averil sets off on Sunday for the trip of a lifetime to the UK to visit their daughters, then off to France to follow the dream of many sports nuts - following the last few days of the Tour de France.

The Striders meet opposite the Suter in Bridge St every Tuesday at 5.45pm, Thursday 6pm, Saturday and Sunday 7.30am. Everyone is welcome.

Tomorrow: Swim/run, aquathon social training event, 7am, Riverside Pool, $6 pool charge. Walk/run, Devine Fitness 2-Day Marathon gets under way with 16.1km leg starting at the Botanics, walkers 9.20am, runners 10am. Cycling, winter road series, Star and garter carpark, Richmond, $5. Walk/run, combined club run, Hira School, 2.30pm.

Sunday: Cycling, Brass Nipple 49km fun ride, 69km fun race, Seifried Estate, race starts 11am, $15.

Wednesday: Run/walk, Ocean Lodge 5km series, 6pm, $2.

Saturday July 23: Cycling, winter road series. Run/walk, Tasman cross-country champs, Rabbit Island.

Wednesday July 27: Walk/run, Ocean Lodge 5km series.

Saturday July 30: Indoor rowing, 5km, 10km, 1 hour, contact 546 6973. Run/walk, club event, Miyazu Park.

Sunday July 31: Run/walk/MTB, Sports Therapy Rabbit Island Rage, duathlon, Rabbit Island, 9am, $10 teams, $20 individuals.

Questions, comments, full programme:

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Source: Nelson Mail, The

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