The following report is by Philip Sharp. It is based on his conversations with others and his observations at the start of the 24 hour race, eight hours into the race, the last 50 minutes of the race and the awards ceremony.


The seventh Annual New Zealand Self-Transcendence twenty-four hour track race was held at Sovereign Stadium, Auckland, 27-28 September, 2003. The race included a six- and twelve-hour races.

The older walkers led the way at the 2003 New Zealand Sri Chinmoy Carnival with Colin Clifton (76) and Beverley Horton (68?) walking 119.2 and 113.5 kilometres respectively in the 24 hour race and Graham Cleal (62) walking 82 kilometres in the 12 hour race. Others to do well were Bruce Webber and Maureen Metcalfe who walked 107.6 and 101.6 kilometres respectively in the 24 hour race, and Hilary Boyd who set a personal best by 300 metres in the 12 hour race. Maureen is the president of the New Zealand Centurions Endurance Walking Club and was the first New Zealand woman to qualify for New Zealand Centurion status, doing so in 2001.

The race began at 9:00am on Saturday with the introduction of each of the over 30 competitors, a quick group photograph and an even quicker start, the cool and showery weather encouraging the organisers not to linger. Graham Cleal led the walkers out and began lapping in under 2:50. He was followed by Bruce Webber and Linda Law at slightly slower paces. The remaining walkers lapped more conservatively.

Last year the race was held early July and there was a thunderstorm on the first day. In an effort to avoid such bad weather, the race was moved back to late September. The move was not entirely successful as a thunderstorm broke at 2:00pm. Fortunately there was no lightning at the stadium.

By 5:00pm Cleal's pace had slowed by over 30 seconds a lap and he decided to do some slow laps to conserve energy. The pace of the other walkers had not slowed as much but Maureen Metcalfe was struggling a bit, undoubtedly a consequence of the limited training she had done in the two months prior to the race.

I returned to watch the race 50 minutes before the end. The 12 hour racers Graham Cleal and Linda Law were off the track. Bruce Webber, Maureen Metcalfe and Chris Metcalfe were also off, Bruce having walked 107.6 kilometres, Maureen 101 kilometres and Chris 68 kilometres. The tops of Maureen's feet were very sore - the St. Johns Ambulance staff on duty at the race had diagnosed the soreness as burns caused by friction.

Beverley Horton and Colin Clifton were still circling the track, Colin at a confident 4:00 per lap and Beverley more slowly. About 20 minutes from the end, Beverley sat in a chair but not for long and she was soon circling again. Maureen Metcalfe returned to the track a few minutes before the end and did over a lap. All three finished to a good round of applause.

At the awards ceremony, Maureen Metcalfe presented Linda Law, Graham Cleal, Bruce Webber, Beverley Horton and Colin Clifton with achievement certificates. Colin received a trophy from the organisers for being the first in the over 70 age group for the 24 hour race.

Additional notes:

• Linda Law was using the 12 hour race as part of her preparation for the BMW Auckland Marathon in November.
• Graham Cleal was using the 12 hour race as part of his build up to the 24 hour 2004 Sri Chinmoy race in Australia.
• Maureen and Chris Metcalfe had limited opportunities to prepare for the race. Their longest walks had been three marathons and one seven hour training walk.
• Michael Law had plan to compete but three weeks before the race he whacked his knee playing 10 pin bowling and withdrew.
• Dudley Harris had also planned to compete but withdrew four days before the race.