An icy start and a sunny day made for perfect conditions for the Southern Lakes Half Marathon last Saturday (May 1).

The annual 21km event, which starts below the Cardrona Alpine Resort entrance and finishes at Wanaka’s Pembroke Park, was won by Mark Paterson (Auckland) and Nancy Jiang (Queenstown).

Nancy told the Wanaka App despite the freezing morning it was the “perfect temperature” for a road race.

“You warm up pretty quick,” she said.

Just two weeks ago Nancy competed at the NZ Mountain Running Champs at Coronet Peak and won. “It’s my backyard,” she said.

Nancy won Saturday’s half marathon in a time of 1:18:11; second was Meg McKay (1:21:24); and third Kristy Eyles (1:23:42).

Mark, running under the Takapuna Harriers banner, achieved a personal best on the course with 1:09:41. 

“I planned to come down last year but it got canned due to Covid. I’ve wanted to do this race for a really long time, it’s good to finally get it done.

“Man, it’s nice running out there,” he said.

The cold start “wasn’t too bad once I got the legs moving. I had a pair of gloves I chucked about five kilometres in,” he said. 

Mark said after Auckland’s humid weather the cold was “a bit of a shock, but nice”. 

Second was Gareth Jones (1:15:58); and third was Lewis Wright (1:21:51).

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) volunteer Mark Basson, a Wanaka carpenter, also took part in the half marathon, attempting to break a world record by running in 23 kilograms of full firefighting gear - including breathing apparatus.

Wanaka FENZ volunteer Mark Basson was just 20 minutes away from a Guiness World Record for the fastest half marathon in full firefighting gear. PHOTO: Radio Wanaka

Mark finished just 20 minutes outside the record (3: 40: 40), but achieved his goal to start a conversation about men’s mental health, also raising money for the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. 

The event also has a 10km course which starts on Cardrona Valley Rd with a straight run home to Pembroke Park. The overall winners of the 10km event were Sarah Douglas and James Parrott.