WELLINGTON Marathon Clinic’s Harbour City Kids’ Magic Mile attracted 320 five to 12-year-olds – and at least one four-year-old, Charlotte Ross, who completed the race in under 12 minutes.

GET A MOVE ON: Charlotte Ross urges on her cousin, Dan Snee, during a rainy Magic Mile.

TRIUMPHANT MOMENT: Charlie achieves her goal.

Charlotte Ross, of Lower Hutt, just loves to run so when her parents tried to sign her up online, they had to put her age in as five.

The blustery weather was no deterrent: Charlie made sure she was well dressed with double layers head to toe.

“He slowed me down,” says Charlie, complaining that her running partner and big cousin Dan was the one who needed the support to complete the challenge. Charlie finished in 11mins 58sec.

Parents Darryl and Michelle are both keen runners who have completed a number of marathon, triathlon and Ironman events.

Never having run a mile before, Charlie wasn’t going into the race without the proper groundwork.  “She trained for three weeks leading up [to the event],” says Darryl.

It is not the first time Charlie has entered into a kids’ race: She has run in the Hutt News Kids’ Run and the Pelorus Cool Kids’ Kilometre.

With their main focus being Charlie, Darryl has had to put his Ironman racing on hold but he was still able to compete in the Harbour Capital half marathon, finishing in 1hr 45min.

The children’s Magic Mile (1.6km) has its start line on the concourse of the Westpac Stadium, goes across the Aotea Quay over bridge, down the ramp and around a marker at the new BNZ building to finish back at the start.

It is the 25^th anniversary of the Harbour City Marathon, with the Kids Magic Mile being an annual event since 2008 with numbers growing every year.