“I’ve been running for nearly 40 years on and off, originally because I had to at school, not keen – hated it(!) Then I did my first half marathon at the age of 17 running with my mum, in memory of my best friend who had just passed away due to Cystic Fibrosis.
At the age of 25 I re-found my running legs as a way of decluttering and unwinding when I went to University. I think that’s when I truly found my passion for running and I really started to do it because I enjoyed it, not because I had too!
20 years later I moved to Taranaki from the UK, and found this whole new community around trail running. I’ve always been an outdoors type of person and getting out on the trails is about as therapeutic as it gets for me, especially here in NZ.
New Plymouth has a great trail running community and a lot of the people I have met over the last 8 years have become great friends. We push and encourage each other but it’s always a group effort, and there is ALWAYS someone wanting to go out for a run regardless of the distance or time. Seeing and hearing some of the adventures that my friends have done is really inspiring and shows what a bit of effort, stubbornness and hard work can do!
I’ve tried to live by the same mantra and in the last 2-3 years I have completed 4 half marathons, 2 marathons, and at the age of 50 completed my first 50km Trail Ultra, and then last year completing a 74km Ultra with 2 of my best running buddies, and another 6 of them doing the 50km. Crossing the line together for the 74 was such a buzz, to see them doing it as much as my own achievement made the event for me. It doesn’t get much better than that!”
Andy @andrew.d.739
(Taranaki)
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Portraits of Runners + their stories
@RunnersNZ
