Athletics: Locals lead way as 800 hit roads

The rain cleared for the start of the Carters Whangarei Run/Walk Festival on Sunday, to give perfect conditions for nearly 800 runners and walkers to compete in either of the three distances on offer - the marathon, half marathon or the 9km event.

The latter once again proved to be the most popular event with 450 of the competitors heading through the Mair Park track in a mostly off-road course. The half marathon and marathon events drew a large number of competitors from outside the region, although Northlanders featured well in the results.

After finishing second in the half marathon at this event last year, Whangarei's Ian Calder made no mistake to win in a time of 1.18.23 (22 seconds better than last year's time) from Auckland's Leo Rimmer (1.23.18) and Mike Wanden (1.26.12) from North Shore.

Anna Fischer, who has won every event in the Sport Northland Run/Walk Series that she has competed in this year, proved too strong in the women's half marathon to win easily in a time of 1.26.50, from Aucklanders Pip Meo (1.34.06) and Zoe Garrett (1.35,01)

In the marathon, last year's third placegetter, Graeme Ewenson from Dargaville, cleared away from the rest of the field to win in a time of 3.05.43. Ewenson looked full of running at the end of the 42.2km run and bettered his last year's marathon time by 16 minutes. Rex Carmichael from Whangarei finished second in 3.44.44 and Thames runner Hans Van Amerongen made 4.04.55.

Rebecca Williams from Auckland was delighted to beat her previous best in winning the women's marathon in 3.36,52. Williams had plenty of energy left to jump for joy over the finishing line at the Canopy Bridge at the Town Basin well clear of second placegetter Ingrid Frost from Auckland in 3.51.49. Local runner Leigh Ruddock finished third in 3.56.18.

For the second year in a row, Whangarei's Alan Connelly won the half marathon competitive walk in 2.20.40, with Whangarei's Shona Nash winning the women's division in 2.42.05.