New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty managing director Mark Harris will be among the 5306 registered entrants in the 21.1km run, taking place alongside the full marathon, 10km race and a children’s fun run on November 19.
Lining up with him will be about 20 of his staff from throughout New Zealand and his wife, former Olympic ski racer Erika Harris.
Mr Harris said Sotheby’s had sponsored the half marathon, which begins at Speargrass Flat and ends in Queenstown, this year and decided to fly any of the company’s staff who wished to compete to Queenstown.
It will be the third consecutive year Mr Harris has entered. He said the marathon lined up with what Sotheby’s, which earlier this year won a Deloitte Fast 50 award in the Dunedin/Lower South category, hoped to instil in its staff.
"It’s a great event and we’re obviously sponsoring it, so we’re a little bit biased, but ... it’s probably one of the best events I’ve seen in the area.
"The numbers, the way it’s organised the ... energy it brings to the town.
"That’s the sort of energy we want to cross over into the business, which we’ve been able to achieve with everyone getting involved, so it’s a good result.
"I guess it all ties in to just a happy, healthy, energised work environment leads to more business, generally."
Established in Queenstown in 2005 by Mr Harris and Julian Brown, the agency now has 15 offices in New Zealand and is in the midst of a multi-million-dollar expansion.
The Queenstown staff had been training together, while Mr and Mrs Harris had completed a triathlon in Noosa.
Mr Harris said the couple were "relatively" competitive but he was yet to chalk up a win.
"I don’t think I’ve beaten her in anything yet ... It’s been 10 years, so I think I’ve got to discover another sport.
"We’ve kind of got a gentlemen’s agreement that it’s 15 seconds per year and 15 seconds per kilo ...
"She beat me by 10 minutes last year but she was an Olympic athlete," he said.
Event director Nicole Fairweather said this year there were record entries for the event — and 90% of the entrants were coming from elsewhere in New Zealand or overseas.
Almost 1600 athletes were coming from 49 other countries, including China, the United States, Great Britain and Singapore.
Ms Fairweather said 9544 had registered across all events — the youngest competitors, in the children’s fun run, were 5-year-olds, and the oldest, taking on the half marathon, was 81-year-old David Graham.
"Incredibly, it is a first for David who is running as part of three generations of the family taking part on the day," Ms Fairweather said.
