It was a family affair in the Nutters Cross Island Run held on Tuesday after the Skurosz–Postrzygacz family made a clean sweep in the women’s division.

The young Maya Postrzygacz, 15, was the first female to cross the finish in a time of 1:06:18 hour followed by mum Adrianna Skurosz (1:07:49 hrs) with sister Olivia Postrzygacz, 13, finishing third in a time of 1:10:14 hrs. Maya and Olivia completed the course event barefooted.

Edmund Postrzygacz got special mention for being the youngest competitor on the day as well as getting to the top of the needle and getting it done barefooted to add to sibling bragging rights.

Veteran runner Roland Neururer claimed the overall and men’s title finishing the race in 59.31 minutes ahead of Matt Wyatt who clocked 1:01:11 hours and 2021 champion Andrew Logan who finished third in a time of 1:01:32 hr.

In total 34 participants entered the iconic race – 13 locals and 21 internationals from New Zealand, United Kingdom and USA.

Another veteran Kevin Henderson was to give honest competition among the local lads but had to be pulled into marshalling duties at the last minute to start the race, get to the top of the needle in checking all 34 competitors had reached the top before continuing to the finish line.

One of those competitors was 82-year-old Eileen Odgers from New Zealand – the oldest competitor for the day and for the Nutters history books. To add to her achievements, she also completed the 31km run on Saturday, a week ago she competed in the Rotorua marathon and a week before that she competed in an adventure race.

Athletics Cook Islands thanked sponsor CITC Supermarket for once again supporting this event for another year with their kind sponsorship. ACI would also like to thank sponsorship supporters Captain Tama’s Lagoon Cruise, VIP Hair Salon, and Island Craft for their generosity in recognising and supporting the finishers as well.

“Meitaki Maata to our event partners CICF (Cycling Federation) and DMCK. And to Noel Bennett thank you for being that last-minute road marshalling at the Avatiu intersection in getting our competitors across the road safely and to our Going Troppo bus in getting our competitors to the Vaimaanga starting line.”

Results

Roland Neururer 59:31 minutes, Matt Wyatt 1:01:11 hour, Andrew Logan 1:01:32 hr, Maya Postrzygacz 1:06:18s (1^st Female & U18 Junior), Edmund Postrzygacz 1:07:38hr (youngest competitor), Adriana Skurosz 1:07:49 hrs (2^nd Female), Simon Clark 1:07:55 hrs, Olivia Postrzygacz 1:10:14 hrs (3^rd Female), Hanz Casas 1:14:07 hrs, Rex Carmichael 1:14:40 hrs, Damion DellaBarco 1:19:04 hrs, Maria Rolleston 1:20:46 hrs, Apaiau Cumming 1:21:14 hrs, Jacob Postrzygacz 1:30:36 hrs, Karen Jacobs-Cooke 1:35:57 hrs, Lynda Branne 1:42:59 hrs, Kailey 1:53:00 hrs, Ko Kiri 2:04:06 hrs, John “Ballroom” 2:09:09 hrs, Diane Cochrane 2:20:07 hrs, Jan Longhurst 2:20:07 hrs, Isabel George 2:20:07 hrs, Kevin Henderson 2:24:30 hrs (Competitor & Needle checkpoint marshal), Natalie Allan 3:23:39 hrs, Anne Marie 3:23:40 hrs, Kerris Browne 3:23:41 hrs, Roberta Ingram 3:23:26 hrs, Pam Rogers 3:23:27 hrs, Sophie Dunn 3:33:32 hrs, Dusty McLoughlin 3:33:33 hrs, Mark Odgers 4:39:10 hrs, Jane Roche 4:39:27 hrs, Chloe Logue 4:39:27 hrs, Eileen Odgers 4:39:27 hrs (82-year old Legend). *Race record 45:28s. Greg Gustafson, USA, 1992.