TRIATHLON - Marathons not so hard, says Ady after victory

When Ady Ngawati won the Whangarei Marathon last month, she reckoned it was all just grist to the mill for the real deal: a shot at the Auckland marathon title on Sunday.
The thing is, nobody really took her seriously.
Well, she sure showed them a thing or two.
Ngawati was the surprise women's winner in Auckland yesterday, charging home in the final 10km to take the lead and win the event.
Not only that, but the Whangarei-based sport and recreation lecturer clocked her best marathon time yet at 2h 49m 05s.
She then turned around and told an audience that marathons aren't that difficult anyway, because triathlons are apparently harder. She said a marathon was easy compared to the three-discipline triathlon event.
Ngawati should know, because as an ironman competitor she managed a top 10 finish at the Ironman New Zealand event in Taupo several years ago.
In Whangarei last month she posted just over 2h 55m, the first time she had broken the three-hour barrier.
So she was understandably ecstatic at her effort yesterday.
It was a run good enough to win plaudits from two of New Zealand's most famous female marathoners, Alison Roe and Lorraine Moller.
"It was a really good run," Ngawati said.
New Zealand marathon great Alison Roe said Ngawati had great conditions to run in with the cloud cover and cool rain.
"It's a good solid sort of time for a New Zealand event," Roe said.
She said it was great to see so many people out in support and the level of participation was also healthy.
Moller, an Olympic marathon runner, said it was more about beating the opposition.
"A win is a win and she pulled off a win," Moller said.
The fact that Ngawati was not even considered in pre-race predictions only seemed to make her more determined.
Four-time previous winner Tracey Clissold from St Heliers was tipped to defend her women's title. Clissold holds the race record of 2h 41m 57s from her win in 2004. Her wins in the Auckland marathon in 1996 and last year in 2h 50m 47s, also gave her the New Zealand title.
But Ngawati ran her down in the dying stages of yesterday's race.
Melissa Moon of Wellington, as expected, repeated her win from last year in the women's half marathon, chased hard by four-times previous winner Sarah Christie, also from Wellington.
Christchurch runner Matt Smith clinched the men's title with a time of 2h 20m 41s. He was followed across the finish line by Tauranga's Ben Ruthe (2h 23m 11s) and Auckland's Joe Piggin (2h 27m 43s).
More than 11,000 people took part in four events over varying distances, including the 42 kilometre marathon, or the slightly less gruelling half or quarter marathon, or five kilometre family walk.