Samara Sheppard rediscovers love of running | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

She's normally spotted blasting past on her mountainbike but Samara Sheppard has rediscovered a former love of off-road running.

The 21-year-old swapped her bike for her shoes to take on the Kauri Run on the Coromandel Peninsula on Saturday - and ended up winning the 13km women's race to finish second overall.

It was fellow Rotorua runner Graeme Pearson, winner of the men's race, who persuaded the Waiariki Institute of Technology Academy of Sport athlete to enter.

"I've been doing a bit of running with Graeme and he suggested I do it. I just wanted to see how my legs are compared to everyone else's. "It was a good event, a cool course, but I had no idea [I would win]."

She went out hard from the start and kept in a good bunch of men. "I trotted along and held that pace the whole way. You do one race and wonder what else you can do. I'm thinking of looking for some more, I like mountain running but it will be a case of what fits in [with mountainbike races]."

Sheppard's next focus is this weekend's Huka XL 80km mountainbike race, which forms part of the Contact Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge.

Results: Kauri Run 13km: 1 Graeme Pearson 1:01:04, 2 Samara Sheppard 1:05:50; 32km, Men: 1 Chris Morrissey 2:37:09, 2 Darren Ashmore (Rotorua) 2:45:46, 3 Gene Beveridge 2:48:02, 4 Colin Earwaker (Rotorua) 2:49:05, 5 Matt McDougall 2:55:06.