Masterton pair chase NZ titles

Masterton duo Graeme Butcher and Tony Price were both runners-up in their age groups when the Athletics New Zealand marathon championships were held in conjunction with the annual Fletcher marathon at Rotorua last weekend.
Butcher's time of 2h 55m 51s placed him second in the men's 45-49 yrs division in the national event and 21st overall while Price was second in the men's 54-59 yrs grade and 38th overall in 3h 0m 55s.
Price went out hard early with the top Masters runners, with his mission being to head off the favourite for the men's 55 yrs title, Gavin Stevens of Auckland, and for a while he was heading for a time of around the 2h 40m mark. However, the warm conditions wore him down and he was in survival mode over the last few kilometres.
Butcher was more conservative in his approach. He was back in the field early and admits to only starting to feel comfortable after the 15km mark. His background of being a national ultra-marathon rep was an obvious assist as he steadily made ground, overtaking Price at 36km and pushing on to the finish.
Third fastest of the Masterton entrants in the marathon was Doug Johnson, who was attempting the 42km for the first time. He was only 5m behind Butcher at the halfway point and while he slowed down over the second half he did suggest he'll be back for another attempt after reaching the finish in 3h 22m 12s. He was 16th in the men's 40-44 yrs age group and 112th overall.
Butcher, Price and Johnston also combined to represent Athletics Masterton in the team's event and finished a meritorious seventh. Statistics show if they had each run only 5m quicker they would have ended up second so close was the competition.
Sarah Higgins and James Inwood both did well in only their second marathons. Higgins clocked 3h 55m 52s to place 88th in the women's 16-34 yrs age group (372nd overall) and Inwood 3h 54m 50s to finish 71st in the men's 16-34 yrs division and 354th overall.
The fact he had recently contested an overseas marathon might have worked against Graeme Tindall but he battled gamely to the finish in 4h 44m, leaving him 106th in the men's 35-39 yrs grade and 847th overall while Ian Ellis was forced to walk much of the last 10km because of an injury. He was 85th in the men's 50-54 yrs grade in 5h 22m and placed 1108th overall.
Walkers Brenda Farley and Ali Lang performed magnificently in the competitive marathon walk as just three weeks previously they had completed the gruelling 100km Oxfam trail walk in 23h 12m. Both were in the women's 45-49 yrs grade at Rotorua, Farley finishing second in 5h 20m 45s and 21st overall and Lang seventh in 6h 2m 33s and 60th overall.
Diana Eagle was ninth in the women's 45-49 yrs non-competitive marathon walk in 6h 45m 1s, while in the half-marathon, Greg Lang was 13th in the men's 45-49yrs grade in 1h 39m 35s and Jane Flowerday third in the women's 55-59 yrs section in 2h 7m 47s.