It’s a family affair for Rotorua Marathon icon Verna

Published 12th April 2023

L-R: Danny Farnham, Verna Cook-Jackson, and Glenn Farnham.

When pioneering Verna Cook-Jackson became the first woman to complete 40 Red Stag Rotorua Marathons in 2020 she fully intended to hang up running shoes and retire from participating in the iconic race.

However, little did she know what her son’s, Glenn and Danny Farnham, had in store and this year Verna is back running the lap of the lake for what will be her 43rd time.

“2020 was supposed to my last,” she recalls. “My family came down to supported me – it was wonderful,” she recalls.

“Yet my son, Glenn, decided to enter the 2021 Rotorua Marathon and said, ‘please run it with me’. When I said, ‘no, I’ve done my last,’ he asked again saying ‘it would be really good if you could’. It was like emotional blackmail!

“But I thought if I competed it would encourage him. He’d never run Rotorua before, he’s got injuries galore, he’s a heavy smoker and works like a trojan in a manual job. To run with him was the least I could do given how he supported me when he was a kid.”

The pair completed the 2021 race in under six-and-a-half hours and mum and Glenn share many special memories of the day.

“We walked and jogged and we hugged one another at the end. It was a magical experience,” reminisces Verna.

Meanwhile, Glenn, a 48-year-old maintenance worker, adds: “It was a really neat experience and great to be a part of. For years when I was living overseas, I’d always touch base with her before the Rotorua Marathon. It didn’t matter where I was in the world, I would always wish her good luck. It was special to run the race with her.”

Yet if Verna, 70, thought 2021 would represent her final appearance at the Rotorua Marathon she was mistaken when her elder son, Danny, announced at a family dinner he wanted to compete in the 2022 edition with Glenn and Verna.

“Danny was diagnosed with a degenerative vision condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa, which over time will gradually lead to significant loss of sight,” she says. “He said to me, ‘I don’t know for how much longer I will be able to complete the race. Remember how I come to the race and supported you from the age of five. It was like emotional blackmail for a second time,” adds Verna with a laugh.

Thankfully Verna found the offer irresistible and as the trio crossed the line in a little under six hours last September –she recalls the shared experience as “the sweetest thing.”

“It is really nice that they still want to do things with their mother,” she says. “For years I had them not wanting to do anything with me and both used to tell everyone their mother was nuts. Now they want to be nuts with me!”

Verna, who first competed in the 1980 Rotorua Marathon, says much less “emotional blackmail” was required for her to take on the challenge of her 43rd Rotorua Marathon on Saturday 6 May as the trio will take on the Lap of the Lake.

It has not been an easy journey. Each have faced their health challenges with Verna undergoing a knee replacement and having a pacemaker fitted over the past couple of years. Glenn has “two dodgy knees” and Danny, a 51-year-old Auckland-based IT Project Manager, experiencing a difficult preparation with an ankle injury.

So who will support who on Saturday 6 May?

“It’s a bit of both,” explains Danny. “Mum does the mum thing and orders us to eat and drink and go to the toilet at certain stages of the race, which drives us crazy. It’s a paradox situation. We’re there to keep her going yet she spend the whole time mothering us.”

Yet for Taupo-based Verna to complete the Rotorua Marathon once again will be a special experience at an event she describes as “magical.”

Bosting a myriad of wonderful memories she says given that many icons of the race are now no longer with us, she owes it to them to carry on running for as long as possible.

“Every time I run that course I think of someone who has passed,” she explains. “Bernie Portenski (the former winner and 33-time Rotorua Marathon finisher) was much younger than me when she died, so while I can still take part, I should.”

Expectations are focused on enjoying the day as much as possible. At around the 30km mark the trio will stop for a coffee and burger at the McDonalds on the Whakatane turn-off and Danny compares the marathon experience with his mum as like “attending a mobile tea party.”

“Mum’s been running for so many years she knows so many people on the course – both runners and supporters,” says Danny. “There are so many conversations around the course. Inevitably the last 10-15km are the most challenging and last year we benefited from each other’s presence to keep going. In fact, I’m pretty sure Mum wouldn’t have run in under six hours without us. It was her best time in years.”

Glenn adds: “Last year was very special and I’m sure this year will be so again. I’m no runner but the day is all about mum. She is very inspiring and deserves all the accolades she gets. Who knows? Now the aim might be to get mum to run 50 Rotorua Marathons.”