The very mention of the Patterson Cup strikes fear into the heart of any cross-country runner. It is arguably the oldest cross country competition between two clubs in New Zealand. Calliope Harriers and Hamilton Harriers (now the Hamilton City Hawks) first competed against one another in 1930.
In 1932 the cup was presented for the event by W. E. Patterson, the then president of Calliope. The event has been consistently run through the last 79 years apart from a hiatus during three of the war years (1942-45). On odd numbered years, Calliope travel to Hamilton; on even numbered years, Hamilton make the trip to Auckland.
On a stunningly sunny Saturday at 10:45 am, we Calliopians crowded into two rented vans and headed for Hamilton. The race was at Hamilton Gardens near gate two. The course for men was five laps on a slightly undulating but mostly flat 1 km circuit. This blogger acquitted himself splendidly coming in third for Calliope in a personal best (since my comeback in 2005) in the 5000 metres.
I began conservatively, but by the end of lap one began to past some much younger fellows. Wretchedly, I missed the correct finishing chute at the end (a result of being a spent force) and accordingly my official time was recorded as 15 seconds slower than the actual time on my stopwatch (a PB by 37 seconds).
It was a terrific course. We retired to the Hamilton clubs rooms for the requisite sausage rolls, cakes and barbecue washed down by a beer. Another mandatory stop at the Rangiriri Hotel on the way back saw more chips and wedges put away with lashings of ginger beer (and other beers not so ginger).
On Sunday I turned up at the Takapuna Harriers beach steeplechase for more punishment. It was a 6 km race on Takapuna beach and fortunately there was only one "steeple" to negotiate. I once again performed well with a PB for 6 km.
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