Distance not a problem but speed might be, says Butcher

Five times winner Graeme Butcher laughingly says the distance won't be a worry to him when he contests the Fagan Motors Wairarapa country marathon around two laps of the Pakaraka circuit on Sunday.
And no wonder when you consider the current training regime of the national endurance running representative who is in the throes of preparing for a major ultra-marathon event (100km) in Christchurch in November.
Right now Butcher's programme entails running a marathon and a half (60km plus) every Tuesday and a marathon every Sunday. Decent-sized runs on most of the other five days sees his weekly tally up to around a staggering 200km.
Not surprisingly, the extent of his training has done more for Butcher's stamina than his speed and it's this fact which he sees as being his biggest problem on Sunday.
"The distance isn't a worry, it's just the speed," he said. "I haven't done a lot of that sort of work and that won't help."
Butcher has estimated a finishing time of 3hrs 5mins, well outside his best for the Wairarapa marathon of 2hrs 44mins. But of the 35 entries received so far for the 2007 event only Brian Garmonsway of Lower Hutt has estimated a faster time of 3hrs flat.
Garmonsway has finished ahead of Butcher in shorter races over the past harrier season but the 29-year-old is pretty much an unknown quantity over the marathon.
Aucklander Ingrid Frost is the early favourite for the women's section of the marathon. She has placed in the top three before and has estimated a finishing time of 3hrs 30mins for this occasion.
Half-marathon runs and walks and a 10km "fun run" are also on the agenda for Sunday.
Like the full marathon entries for these events will be taken right up until Sunday morning but the half-marathon run has already attracted a field of 60.
Last year's winner Dougal Thorburn has the fastest estimated finishing time of 1hr 10mins while Wellington duo Aubrey Rota and Dave Parsons and Masterton's Tony Price and Doug Johnston are aiming for around the 1hr 20min mark. Price knows the Pakaraka circuit well, having won the Wairarapa marathon title no fewer than 10 times.
Current entries for the half-marathon walk stand at 30 and for the 10km "fun run" 230.
The marathon will start outside the main gates of Makoura College at 7am while the half-marathon walk will get under way at 8am, the half-marathon run at 9am and the 10km "fun run" at 9.30am.