We are an ambitious and competitive group of sports people who have varying degrees of ability and who enjoy racing but, just as important to us is camaraderie, good natured banter and free flowing encouragement. To us fitness means being happy and healthy.

The club season begins on April 1 and continues through to mid October. The season provides nine road races and fourteen cross country or off road races. You don’t have to be amongst the best to experience success as every season there are eight handicap races, while another eight contests are relays. In the latter you are teamed up with runners of various abilities but race against people of similar ability.

What are handicap races?

The club has an appointed handicapper, who will rate you on your previous efforts and potential. There are two types of handicap races. For open handicap events, the expected slowest competitor goes off first followed by the next slowest through to the fastest competitor, who starts off “scratch” and then tries to catch everyone else. For sealed handicap events the whole field start at the “gun” and after finishing your time is adjusted by subtracting your handicap. Every age group has an open and sealed handicap championship over the season. Four races make up each handicap series.

What other races are there?

There is an open steeplechase, the Provincial Road Relay Champs, a self estimated time contest and a 24km road race (which you could run as part of a relay team) - This is the only long distance event the club hosts. All other events are between 5 and 12km for senior men, scaling down to 1 to 2km races for the 12 and under contestants. This year the club is looking at away trips to the Dorne Cup Cross Country Races (Trentham), North Island Cross Country Champs (Taupo), Forest Relays (Rotorua) and NZ Road Relay Champs (Feilding). The few Saturdays where there is no competition, the club provides a social ‘pack run’ from the clubrooms, where you join a group of similar ability and hopefully discover the latest gossip.

Will I require special gear?

Usual road running shoes are adequate for all events. Hawke’s Bay is blessed with very little wet weather, therefore only a couple of cross country courses could be affected by the weather. On these occasions shoes with spikes would be an advantage. Only the very competitive buy light weight ‘racing flats’ to gain a slight advantage in the top road races. It is preferred that you do race in club uniform, a club singlet will cost $38, or $25 for junior sizes.

Yeah! What are the other costs?

Senior and Masters runners pay $57.00. This is made up of $20 club fees, $27 TSA (Taradale Sports Association) and $10 to Athletics Hawke’s Bay-Gisborne. Those wishing to compete in provincial or national championships must pay an additional $45 registration to Athletics New Zealand. All other grades pay $50 plus the optional ANZ Registration ($30 for 19 year olds, $20 for 16 year, $10 for 14 year, $5 for 12 years and $2 for 10 years and under). There are small entry fees for only three or four races during the season.

What else does the club provide?

Napier Harrier Club are shareholders in the Taradale Sports Association clubrooms beside the tennis courts at Taradale Park. These tremendous facilities are our weekly meeting, socialising and presentation headquarters. There are hot showers, pool and table tennis tables, post race afternoon teas and a licensed bar. We have our web site which gives important notices and quick weekly results at www.oocities.org/nzharrier The club has four enthusiastic coaches and several training groups. You are welcome to join them and hopefully improve your running ability, develop new training methods and discover new and interesting places to run. If you require any additional information, have any questions or need directions or transport to a venue don’t hesitate to contact us at the above 'contact' link.