What a weekend. This town. This event. It’s something special!
Despite having to withdraw from the race itself (the feels at the start line were still pretty raw), experiencing this event from the perspective of supporter and committee member still felt like an immensely rewarding, wonderful (and exhausting) experience. I got to support Lee as he took on his first Kepler Challenge; we spent a couple of days with some amazing people; caught up with so many of the RunnersNZ crew; took load of photos; captured some more stories for RunnerNZ; watched some incredible and emotional finishes; celebrated some epic accomplishments; and just had the best damn time. I am genuinely lost for words on how overwhelmingly proud I am of so many people. Flippin heck, we cannot wait for December 2024 when we do it all again!
Photos. People. Inspiring friends. Outstanding achievements… I tried to capture as many as I could… And I tried to narrow this post down to just a few favourites. It couldn’t be done. I’ll keep the story short as no doubt the images will take some scrolling.
Well done to Lee #456 on completing his first Kepler Challenge. He loved every minute and finished 14th Vet, 87th overall and with a nice round gun time of 07:08:00.
And a huge congratulations to all of our friends, runners, the volunteers, supporters and organisers. You all add so much to the ‘Spirit of the Kepler’ and make this race weekend one for the books! And with milestone celebration medals to chase, hopefully Lee and I are back on the 2024 start line, both of us ticking off our Kepler No. 2.
Photos from the Race Rego and Kepler Challenge 2023:
Images copyright Carly Webber.
