The Devonport Flagstaff Page 38
June 12 2015
Big-Apple buddies: friends train for NY marathon
CAPTION: Victoria Holtelius (left) and long-time running buddy and friend Sarah Hardy are off running in the Big Apple this November.
Good Times Squared…Victoria Holtelius (left) and long-time running buddy and friend Sarah Hardy are running in the New York marathon this November Running buddies since they met through kindy 12 years ago, Victoria Holtelius and Sarah Hardy now have the New York Marathon in their sights. Their sons Oscar Koller and Fraser Hardy were three-year-olds at Devonport Kindergarten when the mums met. When the Flagstaff caught up with Hardy and Holtelius for morning coffee they arrived from a 10km training run. It is still early days in their preparation for New York and soon their distances will get longer and their alarms go off earlier. “Closer to November, we will have to get up more
around 5 am,” says Holtelius. As their sons became best friends, the mums got chatting and learned that they both liked running. Ever since, they have been running regularly together. “We go out rain or shine, light or dark, and we always meet at the same spot, the roundabout at the bottom of Lake Rd,” Holtelius says. They motivate each other. Says Hardy: “It’s so much easier to stay motivated doing it together. You have to get out of bed because someone is waiting.” Over the years, Hardy and Holtelius have
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participated in many smaller triathlons and running events. In 2010, they went to Sydney together, where Holtelius ran her first marathon and Hardy a half marathon. “Since then we have talked and joked about doing New York. We paid our deposit in January and are off for real,” Holtelius says. Hardy says the New York marathon “is probably the biggest challenge I’ve ever signed up for. Victoria is an amazing runner and after 12 years, I am still a plodder. But Victoria chimes in: “I wouldn’t have signed up without Sarah. “Mostly we run for fun and because we like to exercise outside. You can’t beat running around North Head and it’s great to see the city wake up around us,” she says. Hardy and Holtelius run early in the mornings, so they are back home before school drop-offs and work. Holtelius owns the Nord gift shop on Fleet Street and Hardy works as a school nurse at Mt Roskill Grammar and King’s College. And they don’t just run together. “When our kids were at Vauxhall School, we started the ski teams, and we often go to the movies or the theatre together. The last thing we did was go to the Auckland Writers’ Festival,” Holtelius says. Both are already buzzing about the big day in the Big Apple. The New York Marathon is scheduled for November 1, a day after the Rugby World Cup final in England. Hardy and Holtelius hope to run on the wave of a New Zealand win.