“I ‘spose I’ve always run, but mostly for fitness for other sports. Sport has been a constant throughout my life. I started out as a swimmer at the ripe old age of nine, and swam competitively till I was 16 when I left school. I also played rugby in the winters and did a couple of years road cycling too while at school. My first running ‘race’ was the Wellington City Biathlon when I was about 12. That involved a run around Oriental Parade then up the back of Mt Vic and back down to the beach next to Freyberg Pool where we had to do a 500m (or something) swim in the sea. I remember doing pretty well.
I was in the Army for three years where I ran, but only when I was told to! I wanted to be a PTI (Personal Training Instructor) so staying fit was pretty important, and running was convenient. After the Army I worked as a gym instructor and got into multisport – more running. At 23 I moved to London for my OE, which was a little longer than anticipated, seven years actually. I continued to run there, even doing a couple of “adventure races” and a KIMM (a two day mountain rogaine) but all in the name of staying fit, not because I was a runner. I returned to New Zealand in 1998 chomping at the bit to get into some proper sport again. I jumped straight back into multisport and triathlon, doing Ironman and Coast to Coast and that led to some standalone running races. I even joined Christchurch Avon running club for a couple of years, but the short harrier type races weren’t my bag. I longed for longer distances. I started trail running then, doing lots of the Nelson Striders events. I loved the Loop the Lake so much I did it seven years in a row.
My Kepler journey started way back in 1991 when I drove a mate down to Te Anau from Christchurch for him to run the Kepler. I returned in 1999 (again to drive) when my brother Ross was racing the Kepler. I ran the Luxmore Grunt that year. It took another 22 years for me to return again and finally run the Kepler myself. In January this year all I wanted to do was beat Ross’s time of 7.18, but a combination of a very late entry, and a touch of arrogance, saw me blow my foo-foo and only manage 7.20. That fired me up, so when I got an entry into the 2022 event I was pretty focused to finally nab the family record. However this years race wasn’t looking like I’d get the record again when I was 10 minutes slower to Iris Burn, but that clearly didn’t tell the whole story. I managed to knock about 22 minutes off my January time and sneak in under 7 hours – job done. Ross was the first one to text congratulating me on taking the record!
Funny really as I had never considered myself a “runner” until a few years ago. I think I will probably keep running now, I like it.”
Scott @multisportscott
(Christchurch)
Photo taken at Kepler Challenge, Te Anau
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