This event is made up of a walking race a junior race and an
open race. It uses the streets of Island Bay. Because the suburb is long and
narrow with hills either side of the flat corridor to the sea it is difficult
to avoid traffic which seems to be increasing. For the junior race the Derwent
St/Humber St intersection seems to be especially risky and for the open race
the Owhiro Bay-Island Bay Esplanade heading into Island Bay is particularly gnarly.
In the past the Le Gaye has been well attended mainly
because it is the first club race of the season and used as selection for the
Shaw Baton relays. This year there were 59 finishers in the open race compared to
74 in 2013. The reason for the drop in
numbers is not obvious although there were a few people at the NZ Mountain
Running Champs in Nelson. Perhaps the weather and the prospect of running up an
unforgiving hill played a part in the lower turnout.
