AVOHK 40th Anniversary Club Relay
Central Waterfront / 25th February 2023
The AVOHK 40th Anniversary Club Relay was held at the Central Waterfront on 25th February 2023. The race was for teams of 3, running legs of 3 kilometres, out to the Exhibition Centre and back, starting and finishing at Pier 10.
The weather was very kind, providing excellent running conditions, blue skies, cool and sunny.
13 teams lined up on the start line.
The first leg set off at a hectic pace, led away by RetoMerazzi of the Shek O Friday Gang. He maintained the pace and brought his team home in the lead, closely followed by Richard Hall of Chair and Co with Pili Hu of the Three Amigos just one second behind. Peter Hopper belying his years brought The Double Century Club back in fourth place. Close behind Peter was Tasha of The Lady Makes Three, running the fastest leg of the day by a female.
The second leg saw George Gaffney extend the lead of the Shek O Friday Gang, behind them, Steve Hampson ran a stormer and brought The Double Century Club up into second place. The rest of the field worked hard and generally held onto their positions.
On the third leg, Marco Mueller, with the fastest leg of the race, brought the Shek O Friday Gang home in first place with a massive lead of over 6 minutes. Frank Reihm, running out of his skin, with the fourth fastest leg of the day moved The Lady Makes Three up into second place and the first Mixed team to finish. Back down the field, David Woo ran hard and fast to move his team, SP Hop, up to eighth place with the second fastest leg of the day. It was a close-run race to avoid the Wooden Spoon, traditionally awarded to the last team to finish, but despite Ho Hei Ng, Team 138, running his teams fastest leg of the day, he could not catch Charita Mahilhig of The Lost Hikers – 1, who also ran her teams fastest leg of the day, the fifth fastest female on the day.
It was great to see so many new faces at the race, enjoying the excitement of racing and socialising with other club members in an AVOHK event. Hopefully, we will see them all back again for the next AVOHK Club run.
The venue proved to be a perfect location for the race, especially with the added entertainment of the dance troupe and the yoga class, putting us all to shame with their degree of flexibility.
Many thanks to our helpers on the day, John Howes, Norman Hui, John Fowler and Fe Mondala.
The rule with prizes was that no one could win more than one prize, so anyone in the winning teams was not eligible for the Fastest Leg prizes.
Winning Male Team – The Shek O Friday Gang
Winning Mixed Team – The Lady Makes Three
Wooden Spoon – Team 138
Fastest Leg by a man (other than a team winner) – David Woo, SP Hop
Fastest Leg by a female (other than a team winner) – Elaine Hall, Chair and Co
Spot Prizes – 8th handover – Corinna Kit Mui Wong, Crazy Running Masters
18th handover – David Ng, Crazy Running Masters
28th handover – Frank Reihm, The Lady Makes Three