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