Prof Reynolds says the relay is a special event.
‘‘I find it a magical experience, particularly overnight when it’s otherwise quiet and still, but you have a large cohort of people awake and walking around the track,’’ he said.
A big part of the appeal was ‘‘all working together towards a common cause’’.
For Prof Reynolds, of the University of Otago anatomy department, the event is a way of keeping the memory of two important people alive — his father and his first wife, Sue — both having died from cancer.
His father was a ‘‘very staunch reformed ex-heavy smoker’’ who died of cancer in 1998.
Sue was a ‘‘very popular GP’’ at Otago Polytech student health and had suddenly fallen ill from breast cancer at age 40.
Although she and Prof Reynolds had separated a couple of years before her illness, they remained close friends and shared the care of their two young sons. They had lived under the same roof so he and her family could help support her in her final months, he said.
This year’s relay starts at noon on March 28 at the Caledonian Ground.
