More than 120 runners racked up the kilometres in the weekend to celebrate one of South Canterbury’s most iconic athletes.
The Lovelock Memorial Fun Run and Walk has been held each year since 1984 to commemorate Timaru Boys’ High School old boy and 1936 1500m Olympic gold medallist Jack Lovelock.
Runners cover a 7km scenic loop through Centennial Park, starting and finishing at School Park.
Participants chose to partake in either a 21km half marathon, a 14km run/walk or a 7km run/walk with each runner receiving a finisher medal after completing their event.
A junior 1500m run for children was also held around the rugby grounds.
Run Timaru president and event director Paul Forbes said this year’s event was a great success.
‘‘The event seems to still be gradually growing, which is great to see. We’ve got a lot of people coming from outside of the region to take part as well.
‘‘It was definitely up on numbers compared to last year and it’s good to see so many people that aren’t part of Run Timaru running in it.
‘‘It’s a Run Timaru event and we do this sort of thing all the time, so if there is anyone out there who wants to do more events like this, look us up.’’
As well as being a fun run day there were also prizes up for grabs for the fastest times.
The men’s 7km run/walk was won by Billy Nelson with a quick 28min 32sec and the women’s side saw Julie Wilson take top spot with a speedy 37min 01sec.
The men’s 14k run/walk was won by James Christian with a time of 57min 24sec while the women’s section was won by Sophie Smith who recorded a time of 1hr 13min 46sec.
Finally, James Faulkner raced away with the men’s half marathon, claiming victory with a time of 1hr 20min 43sec and Olivia Dunn posted 1hr 58min 27sec to win the women’s.
