Biggs effort a winner

Rohan Biggs, of Wellington, led most of the way to win the men's section of the Wairarapa country marathon held around two laps of the Lees Pakaraka circuit in ideal conditions yesterday.
Biggs had a 15sec advantage over Brian Garmonsway of Lower Hutt at the halfway mark which he reached in 1hr 21mins and he completed the 42kg in 2hrs
45mins 43secs.
Garmonsway was second in 2.47.28, which was a massive 15mins better than his previous best marathon time.
Third fastest was Masterton's Tony Price,a previous winner of the event on no fewer than 10 occasions.
He clocked 2.50.49 to win the Wellington Masters championship title with an effort which was the second fastest time ever recorded in the men's 50yrs grade.
The battle for the women's marathon title was a battle royal between two Wellington runners, Alison Draine and Janet Crawford, who were just a few seconds apart at the halfway point in about 1hr 37mins.
Draine went on to win in an impressive 3.13.18 with Crawford second in 3.14.06 and Ingrid Frost (Auckland) third fastest finisher in 3.24.57.
A total of 50 runners completed the marathon with the half-marathon which took in one lap of the Lees Pakaraka circuit attracting a field of 121.
There Deano Gaskin was the fastest man in 1.17.57 while second fastest was Malcolm Swanson of Carterton who also took out the veteran men's title and the trophy for being the first Wairarapa male home. He finished in 1.24.51.
The women's half marathon saw Natalie Smith call the tune in 1.28.32 with Sally-Anne Spencer second and Patricia Stichbury third. Sue Bankier took the trophy for being first Wairarapa female home in a personal best time of 1.37.34.
After flying in from Japan on Saturday Akiko Nishiguchi was third in the women's 35yrs grade in 1.48.02 and Keiko Nakamura won the women's 55yrs plus age group in 2.26.58. They fly home to Japan on Wednesday.
There were 54 finishers in the half-marathon walk and excellent times were registered by specialist walkers Michael Walton and Andrew Shelly from Trentham. Walton walked the fifth fastest time in the history of the event in 2.09.05 and Shelly the sixth fastest in 2.11.23.
A total of 182 runners or walkers completed the 10km run-walk with first home being Dave Parson in 36.36, missing the race record by just 20secs. Second was Masterton's Michael Macklin who now holds the third and sixth fastest times ever recorded in this particular race. In the women's section Jenny Smithy just edged out Fiona Nicholson.
Results:-
MARATHON
Men's open: Rohan Biggs 2.45.34, Brian Garmonsway 2.47.18, Michael Beaumount 2.57.53, Damian Clarke 3.09.12.
Men's 40yrs: Angus Wood 2.50.57, Terry Blackburn 3.12.23, Simon Clenden 3.36.30, Norman Chan 4.17.23.
Men's 50yrs: Tony Price 2.50.49, Steve Bottcher 3.21.05, Neil Cameron 3.47.18, Dennis Jordan 3.56.54.
Men's 60yrs: Ashley Smith 3.42.44, Ken McNatty 3.44.35, David Hamilton 4.36.17, Joe McDonald 4.47.25.
Women's open: Mandy Simpson 3.46.41, Vivian Cheng 3.52.05, Jenny Catran 3.55.32 Kate Elkin 4.13.45.
Women's 35yrs: Alison Draine 3.13.18, Janet Crawford 3.14.06, Ingrid Frost 3.24.57,
Janine McLean 3.58.20.
Women's 45yrs: Debra Arnold 3.42.13, Geraldine Murphy 5.;00.09, Averil Sheehan 5.05.10.
HALF MARATHON
Men's open: Deano Gaskin 1.17.57, Gavin Champion 1.26.17, Doug Johnston 1.26.49.
Men's 40yrs: Malcolm Swanson 1.24.51, John Plimmer 1.31.07, Geoff Francis 1.36.34.
Men's 50yrs: Stephen Hannam 1.27.32, Wayne Hastie 1.36.21, Sam Ellingham 1.36.28.
Men's 60yrs: George Preddy 1.44.39, Albert van Veen 1.57.09, Gary Caffell 2.00.28.
Women's open: Natalie Smith 1.28.32, Sally-Ann Spencer 1.31.14, Jo Basile 1.35.23.
Women's 35yrs: Esther Rush 1.45.07, Helene Dore 1.47.52, Akiko Nishiguchi 1.48.02.
Women's 45yrs: Patricia Stichbury 1.36.23, Sue Bankier 1.37.34, Linda Hannam 1.39.53.
Women's 55yrs: Keiko Nakamura 2.36.28, Ingrid Bell 2.37.22.
Walk: Michael Walton 2.09.05, Andrew Shelly 2.11.23.
10KM RUN-WALK
Men; Dave Parsons 36.26, Michael Macklin 38.07, Brett Story 40.18.
Women: Jenny Smith 45.02, Fiona Nicholson 45.16, Karen Gillespie 45.53.