Half marathon: Lett, Ottoson take Ohope Express laurels

Auckland's Stephen Lett on his way to winning the Podium Ohope Express half marathon on Saturday. Photo / Bruce Belcher

Johanna Ottoson and Stephen Lett have won the Podium Ohope Express half marathon, which attracted a big field during Easter.

Ottoson's time of 1hr 24min 01sec and Lett's 1hr 13min 40sec were indications of how quick the course was on Saturday.

Auckland Marathon champion Lett, who recently become a father, has had to ease back on the training and was not in shape to clock anywhere near his personal best time of 1:07:22, but was stoked with his win and reasonably happy with his time given his curtailed preparations.

Second place went to 19-year-old Hayden Wilde from Whakatane, who clocked 1:17:02.

Ottoson, a previous winner of the Rotorua Marathon, had a much more difficult race, finishing only 28 seconds ahead of Kristen Milne and 65 seconds ahead of Zara Fowell.

Lett and Ottoson were full of praise for the course and the organisation, saying they would return for next year's event.

The event, run by event management company Cheeky Rooster, attracted 834 runners and walkers of all ages.

Race director Mike van der Boom said it was a huge turnout.

"We were expecting around 500 people in total but we got over 800.

"The team coped well with the numbers and the course could certainly handle more.

"I think this event could easily handle 2000 or more runners and would be ideal for hosting the New Zealand half-marathon championships some time in the future."

The event also doubled as a fundraiser for the Diabetes, Exercise and Sport Association (Desa). All proceeds from the 5km event went directly to Desa to help fund a training camp for children who have recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Desa spokesman Mark Leydon was impressed.

"This event is ideal as it helps us support young people with diabetes but also sends out a message that exercise is a great tool for controlling diabetes."

The 10km event was won by Rotorua doctor Ben McHale in a personal best time of 33.40 minutes.

He was less than two minutes ahead of Tony Broadhead and John Caie.

The women's 10km event was won by Andrea Schuler in 43:52 minutes, just a few minutes ahead of Taihna Braithwaite and Kaylee Townsend.

In the 5km event the fastest male was Tim Smith, and the fastest female was Anna Tait.