ATHLETICS - Fast marathon time in hometown pleases Ngawati

A return home has paid off for Ady Ngawati as she broke the three-hour barrier for the first time yesterday at the Northland Hearing Clinic Whangarei Marathon.
Ngawati is back home after spending five years on the Gold Coast to take up a lecturing position at NorthTec's Sport and Recreation faculty and celebrated her homecoming with a personal best time of 2hr:55min:38sec.
The fast time saw her cross the line in second place overall behind Pakuranga's Warick Brenan, who won the race in a time of 2:45:59.
"I surprised myself by doing a 2:55 because I'm in training for the Auckland marathon but it made me happy to do it here because I really enjoyed the race - I knew I had come home for something," Ngawati laughed.
The decision to run the marathon was only made last week after she had originally planned to run a half-marathon to help her prepare for the Auckland event.
Ngawati used to compete in triathlons but has graduated to distance running in her stint across the Tasman.
Third overall and the winner of the masters men 40-59 category was Whangarei's Richard Blogg in 3:00:05.
In all 28 runners completed the marathon but there was a turnout of 68 for the half-marathon.
Not surprisingly perhaps, that race was won by Whangarei's Lee Greer, who finished sixth at the recent under-23 World Triathlon Championships in Germany. Greer blitzed the field to finish almost seven minutes clear of Whangarei's Ian Calder (1:19:49), in a time of 1:12:50, with another Whangarei athlete, Michael Gowing, third in 1:21:03.
The walking event saw Whangarei's Shona Nash cross the line first in 2:36:25, with Joanne Alland in second place. The Whangarei Boys' High School team Simon and Friends was the first of 20 teams to finish the half marathon relay in 1:17:3, while the Rum and Coke team was the first walking relay team home.
Organiser Jillian Blogg said the conditions for the marathon weren't as good as last year with showers and drizzle throughout much of the race.
"People have given us really positive feedback though, and there was the usual great spirit shown out there on the course," she said.
The big increase in team entries this year was particularly pleasing for Blogg.
"It was great to see Ady back in Northland doing her bit, the winner Warick put in a good time and said he would be back again next year and of course there was a very fast time from the Boys' High boys team as well."