Almost 1000 runners and walkers enjoyed the inaugural Mizuno Off-Road Half Marathon on the 'W2K' track in beautiful sunshine on September 5.

"We initially thought we would get 200-300 entrants and so were delighted with the final figure of over 960," said Wayne Reardon, Event Director of the Mizuno Off-Road Half Marathon - the

on-road counterpart attracted over 3000 participants last month.

The entrants were greeted with a frosty morning which cleared into beautiful skies.

Starting and finishing in Kinloch, entrants ran and walked 21.1 kilometres of the 'W2K' track taking in the Headlands loop and scenic views of Lake Taupo.

The '63.3 Challenge', supported by Destination Lake Taupo, was also declared a success with over 200 entrants completing the challenge.

"We set the challenge of running and walking a distance of 63.3kms in three half marathons over 3 months - the two Mizuno events were complemented by the off-road event around Mt Tauhara in July,"

"The Mizuno Half Marathon is well-known throughout New Zealand for its friendly and community nature, and the Off-Road Half Marathon continued this - the Kinloch community really got behind the event," said Reardon.

Proceeds of the Mizuno Half Marathon are traditionally donated to local community groups and aspiring young sporting stars and Bike Taupo will be one of the main beneficiaries of this event.

"Bike Taupo has been a valued partner in the inaugural off-road event and we are pleased to be making a donation to them to assist with the maintenance of the track," said Reardon.

First past the post in a time of 1:24.31 was Cameron Durno. Making it a Mizuno quinella, the first female to finish was Rotorua's Annika Smail (1:35.51) who was also led the women home in the Mizuno on-road Half Marathon.

The first junior female home was Megan Blackett (1:42.03) just ahead of her male counterpart Ethan Christensen (1:42.07)

Keen runners and walkers should make a note in their diaries now for the 2010 Mizuno Half Marathon on 1st August and its off-road counterpart on 4th September.