Today, on the urging of one of my new coworkers, I signed up (last-minute, as usual, 15 minutes before the starting gun) for the City2Surf - a leisurely 12-k race along the Avon River from the city centre towards the coast. So did about 14,000 other people. It was quite the mob scene, a la the St. Patrick's Day Dash along the Alaska Viaduct, but without the stunning views of the Olympics or the cold rain. The race ended at the Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) sports park east of town (see right photo) and was really quite nice, I must say.
At the end, instead of the standard post-race free food and drink, there were about four dozen tents set up by individual companies for their runners. It seems there are so many runners that most compnaies just get all their employees corporate jerseys and then set up nice tents with BBQs and drink coolers and chairs at the end. Pretty sweet deal, eh? Beca did not do this for the City2Surf but they have done it in the past and I get the impression that, if we had been a bit better organized, it would have been possible for me to be lounging around afterwards with my fellow sweaty, smelly coworkers. How cheerful for a Sunday!
At the end, instead of the standard post-race free food and drink, there were about four dozen tents set up by individual companies for their runners. It seems there are so many runners that most compnaies just get all their employees corporate jerseys and then set up nice tents with BBQs and drink coolers and chairs at the end. Pretty sweet deal, eh? Beca did not do this for the City2Surf but they have done it in the past and I get the impression that, if we had been a bit better organized, it would have been possible for me to be lounging around afterwards with my fellow sweaty, smelly coworkers. How cheerful for a Sunday!
A few more pictures of note here. First on the left, what I gather to be a pretty common sight here in New Zealand - the complementary sunscreen. Thanks to all those CFCs that Americans like to produce, there is no ozone here and you end up getting skin cancer over the course of a week if you are not careful. Glad such facilities are about, as I have an albino's tolerance for sunburn...
Then, I snapped this photo on the right from the QEII, looking south to the Port Hills. These are right on Christchurch's south edge, and are a popular spot for hiking and biking, or so I am told. They also catch on fire regularly, so they must be pretty dry. They stretch out towards the Banks Peninsula, so there is another bay to the south of them, somewhere, and Christchurch's main port of Lyttleton, where my worldly goods will arrive in 
two months!
two months!Finally, there was the clothes bag claim - they just set all of the bags (it was a lot but not quite 14,000) out on the grass by bib number and you went up to find yours. Compared to the chaos that usually occurs at the St. Pat's Dash, this was very orderly and quick. Of course, if they were to set everyone's bags at the St. Pat's Dash just out to be sorted by us runners, all of SoDo's rougher element would be there to grab the cell phones and wallets for themselves! And the entertainment was provided by a live band - three gals of some advanced age and behive haircuts doing golden oldies. 
Not even a discernable NZ accent when they were singing!
Not even a discernable NZ accent when they were singing!
1 comment:
As a point of order it did NOT rain for this year's St Paddy's Day Dash in Seattle. However it has been snowing the last few days of March.
Post a Comment