Runners vesus Kingston Flyer in the New Balance Race The Train event 2013
Media Release from The Kingston Flyer
7 January 2013
Runners blitz vintage steam train the Kingston Flyer
Around 300 runners raced vintage steam train the Kingston Flyer on Sunday (January 6) in an event that’s fast becoming a ‘must do’ on the Queenstown holiday season calendar.
Runners took on the Flyer on a steaming12km run from Fairlight to Kingston, with last year’s defending champion
21-year-old Oska Baynes from Wanaka finishing on top of the pack in a time of 38min 9sec, well ahead of the train's time
of nearly an hour.
Olympic triathlete Nicky Samuels, also from Wanaka, won the women's 12km race in a time of 45min 36sec, while Northern
Southland College pupil Jack Beaumont, 15, won the junior male division in 44min 57sec and 11-year-old Queenstown runner
Helena Kennedy won the junior female division in 1hr 11min 37sec. The race also featured a 5km division.
Organiser Adrian Bailey of Active QT said the New Balance Race The Train event “couldn’t have asked for a better day”.
“It was fantastic to see the great mix of international, national and local athletes mixing it up with some fantastic
up-and-coming youngsters right down to people running along the course with pushchairs,” he said.
“The weather was perfect, thanks to owner David Bryce the Kingston Flyer did a fantastic job, and all in all it was a
great family day out,” he said.
This was the second Kingston Flyer event -- inspiration was drawn from a similar event in Wales, Mr Bailey's home
country. The next event will be held on Sunday 5th January 2014.
Full results are available at www.activeqt.co.nz/events/race-the-train/race-results/
The Kingston Flyer is now back up and running full time after temporarily suspending operations in December.
Train lovers can buy a ‘Friends of the Flyer’ card for just $65 to support continued restoration and upkeep of the Flyer
and her tracks. The card entitles holders to a 50% discount on up to 10 regular fares, and complimentary tea and coffee
on board the train.
For more information on the Kingston Flyer go to www.kingstonflyer.co.nz
ENDS