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The helping hand continues.

Hi All.

Sat 26th. 45km today, hot and humid. Total: 25,731km for 609 road days. Commuted back to Gill’s place.

Friday 25th Lovely tough 55km along Lake Taupo and onto the so called ” Desert Road ” which has absolutely nothing for 60km. Gill from Mayo and a friend of Kate came out and crewed for me the last hour. I am staying in her house tonight. Saturday morning I return to run the rest of the desert road through Tongariro National Park with stunning views of the active Tongariro and Ruapehu volcanoes and then return to Gill’s house. After one night I have already drank Gill out of all her Lyons tea bags! Thanks Gill

Thursday 24th. Nice 46km run, ran mostly with Kate Townsley. Thanks Kate and Steve for looking after me for two nights. Total 25,631km for 607 road days.

I ran a very enjoyable but hilly 50km today, Wednesday. Thanks to Paul for hosting me on Tuesday, Kate Townslee tonight. Monday I slept in a forest and had an invite from Kerry but didn’t know as I had no internet, but also fair play to Paul who texted me very late to say he would pick me up on my route, I declined for Tuesday night instead as I was well wrapped up in my sleeping bag. Thanks everyone you are making New Zealand so special Details to follow soon.

The amazing Kiwi hospitality continues to blow me away!
After a hefty breakfast in Craig and Carlenes place on Saturday I hit the road with a pocketful of lamb sandwiches which Carlene kindly sent me on my way with
It was a tough hot 54km slogger of a day and was relieved I was running minus my pack. Near my finish in Huntly my host Chuck was waiting for me. Chuck lives in Ngaruawahia about 14km commute away.

Chuck

The Maori place names are wrecking my head and are just as difficult as the Mexican Indian place names. I usually cant remember where I am, where I have come from or where I am going, everywhere is called ‘ that place’ !

In Chucks place I watched the amazing Lance Armstrong interview, enough said, then we talked real sport.
Just before leaving Chucks place I send an email to my friend Tom from Australia, Tom is also running around the world and finishing his timeout as tomorrow he flies to Lisbon for the European leg of his world run see HERE

Good luck with Europe my friend! Tom had mentioned he has friends in the Hamilton running club, so he sent an email to them along with my mobile number. A couple of hours later I have an invite from Roger to spend the night at his place. Another man Steve a friend of Craig whose house I stayed at the first night on the road also invites me, but I had already committed to Roger and his Quebecan partner Sylvia.
So on I ran, it was hot and humid today, but none of the crazy Fiji heat. A couple of kilometres before my finish in Hamilton Roger ran out to meet me for the rest of the run to his lovely house. Though short it was very nice running with him making him the first runner to run with me in almost a year, since north Colombia!
Roger and Sylvia met while both were on holiday in Vancouver, they were both in a bike hire store at the same time and rode out together. They then had a long distance romance before deciding Quebec to New Zealand is just a bit too far. Sylvia moved here three years ago and they have been happy ever since. Sylvia works as an translator, Roger having his own engineering business. Five minutes after arriving here Chuck arrives with my pack as he had asked me to text him Rogers address. Chuck and Sylvia had a long conversation about Canada as he moved here from Toronto 45 years ago it was easy to move here in those days as there was a shortage of labour. Today Auckland is the largest multi-cultural society in the southern hemisphere.

Sylvia and Roger

We had a delicious bar-b-q dinner in the company of local runners. I can’t get over how New Zealand is such an incredible outdoors country. Just about everyone I meet is into climbing, walking, running, cycling, swimming, on and on it goes, all ages, young and elderly.

Thank you to everyone that has helped me so much, New Zealand is amazing
Today was a short 32km day.
My route for the next three days to Lake Taupo, New Zealand’s largest lake is along route 1. Tirau,Tokoroa,Taupo Anyone got any contacts, I can do a commute! 02108437842.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2013 at 11:09 am and is filed under jogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “The helping hand continues.”

Fergus Says:
January 20th, 2013 at 11:36 am
Good Man Tony, This is just great news. Sounds so exciting. There is an old saying “May a helping hand never fail”. Long may it continue.
Ann Says:
January 20th, 2013 at 10:53 pm
Glad you are receiving so much help and being looked after so well. Enjoy

since Tony began his World Run on 25th October 2010

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About Tony

I have always considered myself to be an average runner. In school, I was even bullied for I was a sports wimp. Through hard work, dedication, perseverance, self-belief and a strong mind I succeeded in not only running around the world but breaking four ultra running world records during my competitive career. Having previously cycled around the world I didn't start running until I was almost 30. Then I had a dream of running around the world. For many reasons, I waited for over 20 years. One reason was to establish my pedigree as an endurance athlete. I started and finished my world run as the current World Record-Holder for 48 Hours Indoor Track 426 kilometres (265 miles), a record I have held since 2007. I also broke and still hold the World Record for 48 hours on a Treadmill 405 kilometres (251 miles) in 2008. When I retired from competition, more pleasing than any of my world, European or Irish records I had the respect of my fellow athletes from all over the world - in my opinion, sports greatest reward - an achievement I am most proud of. Then I finally put myself out to pasture, to live my ultimate dream to run around the world! This blog was written on the road while I struggled to find places to sleep and to recover from running an average of 43.3 kilometres or 27 miles per day for 1,165 road days. There were many nights I typed this blog on a smart phone, so fatigued my eyes closed. Many journalists and endurance athletes have referred to my world run as the most difficult endurance challenge ever attempted. During my expedition I rarely had any support vehicles, running mostly with a backpack. In the more desolate areas I pushed my gear, food and water in a cart which I called Nirvana, then I sent her on ahead to run with my backpack once again over altitudes of almost 5,000 metres in the Andes. I stayed in remote villages where many people had never seen a white person before. I literally met the most wonderful people of this world in their own backyard and share many of those amazing experiences in this blog. My run around the world took 4 years. There were no short cuts, I ran every single metre on the road while seeking out the most comprehensive route across 41 countries, 5 continents, I used 50 pair of running shoes and my final footstep of the run was exactly 50,000 kilometres, (almost 31,000 miles) I eventually finished this tongue in cheek named world jog where I started, at the finish line of my city marathon. I started my global run with the Dublin Marathon on October 25th 2010 and finished with the Dublin Marathon on October 27th 2014 at 3 05pm! Thank you for your support, I hope you can share my unique way of seeing the world, the ultimate endurance challenge! Read more...