International flavour for marathon

There will be a true international flavour to the annual Wairarapa country marathon, half-marathon and 10km events to be held in the Masterton region on Sunday.

Of the 300 entrants who had signified their intention to compete in one of the three categories by yesterday, a handful had overseas addresses, including Poland, Russia, Canada and the US.

Whether the staging of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand has played its part in encouraging greater numbers from offshore is not known but organiser Craig Roberts said it would certainly add to the excitement of the occasion.

"You can never be too sure just how serious the people from overseas are about recording fast times. You just don't know what you are going to get in that respect," he said.

As has been the case in recent years, the two-lap marathon will start outside the main gate to Makoura College at 7am. There will be a quick out and back for 400m along Makoura Rd and the runners will then turn left into Johnstone St, right on to Colombo Rd, past Lakeview School and then right on to Te Ore Ore Rd.

From there, they will turn right at the substation on to Watson's Rd, right on to Stronvar Rd and down Lees-Pakaraka Rd. Then it will be a right turn at the Martinborough-Masterton road and back to the start point at Makoura College for another lap.

The half-marathon run (start 9am) and walk (start 8am) will do one lap of the above course while the 10km "fun runners and walkers" (start 9.30am) will follow the marathon course before heading along the Waipoua River, up Blair St and past the hospital. They will turn around about 50m past the first drink station and head home to Makoura College via the scenic Henley Lake.

With entries being taken right up until race morning, predicting likely placegetters is always a hazardous business, but if the finishing time estimated by US runner Megan Harahan for the women's marathon is anywhere near right, she could be a strong contender for first home. She has indicated an estimated time of 2h 30m, some nine minutes quicker than Brian Garsmonsway took to win the men's title last year.