MARATHON - Hoodoo ends at fifth attempt for veteran

The conditions were ideal for a fairly fast run today, there was just a bit of a head breeze at times but it was a nice course and it's good to come home.Richard WereRichard Were had a premonition that he would shake off his Whangarei Marathon hoodoo this weekend.
The Auckland runner ran an almost perfect race yesterday to lead from the 3km mark to finish in a time of 2h 51m 3s.
Weir was delighted to have scooped the race title on his fifth attempt - in his 136th marathon.
"I've always struggled on this course, I've always had bad marathons up here and the weather's never really been kind to me," he said.
"But during the week, I thought good luck comes to those who wait and I had a feeling that this year would be different for me, and that's the way it's turned out today."
The 52-year-old only decided to run the race last Sunday as his final preparation for the Auckland marathon in two weeks' time.
"The Auckland race will be my big race of the year and I'm trying to pace it under three hours, so it was good to get down to around 2:50 today," he said.
"The conditions were ideal for a fairly fast run today, there was just a bit of a head breeze at times, but it was a nice course and it's good to come home."
Were finished 6m 52s ahead of Whangarei's Richard Blogg, who as the first Northlander to finish, retained the Northland Marathon title he won the previous two years.
"It was a great race for me and this time I really had to work for the title, Robert [Scott] wasn't going to let it go that easily today, he's a fighter ... and it wasn't until about 1km to go that I knew he wouldn't run me down," Blogg said.
Scott pressured Blogg at the midway point of the race but the effort cost him and he fell back to fourth place overall to finish as the second Northlander in 3h 6m 2s.
Auckland's Shaun Cooper passed Scott to finish third ahead of Auckland's Alan Potter, with Hatea Harriers' John Kent and Whangarei's David Howard finishing sixth and seventh overall and as third and fourth Northlanders.
Kaitaia's Lilac Flay was the first women to finish in a good time of 3h 25m 19s, earning her eighth place overall but strangely not the Northland title. Flay is not a member of a club affiliated to Athletics Northland, so the title went to the second finisher Denise Limby, who was 11th overall in 3h 39m 30s. Thirty-eight runners completed the marathon compared to last year's 28.
Whangarei's Chris Honiss won the half marathon in 1h 15m 32s, with Ian Calder second and Michael Bird third from 69 runners.
The Hatea team of Jason Trass, Aaron Millar, Kim Jepsen and Ryan Smith were the relay winners. The School of Emerging Talent finished second and won the under-16 race.