Eighteen walkers from the Mount Maunganui Runners and Walkers Club will take part in the Round Rarotonga Road Race.

“The race itself is like 32k, but there were also 10k options,” Walkers captain Lindsay Girven said. “One of our guys is going back after 40 years of running and then going back to 32k, but most of the other ladies will do the 10k and a few fun events.”

The group will flew out on the morning of September 19, crossing the international dateline, and landed in Rarotonga on September 18.

“Rarotonga is a day behind,” Girven said. “There’s an event, the Thursday, the Friday, the Saturday and the Sunday we rest.”

The Round Rarotonga Road Race will run from September 19 to 25, with an awards night hosted on Sunday.

“Sunday evening is also the dinner and prizegiving.”

Lindsey Girven of the Mount Maunganui Runners and Walkers Club gets ready for Round Rarotonga Road Race on September 19. Photo/ Tom Eley.

The group meets twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays at May St Scout Hall, 13 May St, Mount Maunganui.

“Apart from the Tuesday and Friday walks, we’ve been walking on a Wednesday as a group,” Girven said. “Then doing an hour and a half, we’re pushing out the distance.”

Mount Maunganui Runners and Walkers Club was formed in 1984 by six mums who met at the Plunket rooms on Miro St. It has quickly blossomed into a group of 250 members with diverse ages and abilities.

“It started as a runners’ club. And then some of the runners, as they got older, they went away to work, came back and started walking,” Girven said.

The club participated in several walks around the country, including the Taupō half marathon, but the Rarotonga trip “is the icing on the cake.”

The oldest walker in the group attending the race in Rarotonga is 85, and the youngest will be 67.

“It’s just such a great environment. I am one of the newer members. I retired from clubs only a couple of years ago,” Girven said. “But we have walkers who are in their 90s.”

Once the group lands in Rarotonga, they will be at Edgewater Resort and Spa, with a few members staying behind after the race ends.