Athletics: Davies leads NZ to 8th in marathon

Mary Davies, in only her second marathon, knocked nearly four minutes off her personal best time to lead New Zealand to eighth place in the marathon World Cup at the world athletic championships in Berlin this morning (NZ time).

Davies finished 35th in two hours 38 minutes 48 seconds.

Teammates Fiona Docherty was 41st in 2hr 40min 18sec while Dunedin's Shireen Crumpton was 44th in 2hr 41min 31sec.

Houston-based Davies, formerly from Whangarei, said she still had a lot to learn about marathon running.

"My strategy was to start out at 2hr 40min pace, that I wanted to do. I think I started with the first group, maybe a bit too soon," said Davies, who was 44th at the halfway mark.

"I managed to stay with a group of the United States runners for a while which helped, still I think I could have done a bit faster - but that's OK."

Docherty and Crumpton ran together for most of the race passing the halfway mark in 53rd and 54th places in 1hr 18min 9sec.

Docherty, 33, who comes from a triathlon background and lives in Boulder, Colorado in the United States, was also only in her second marathon.

"It was my second ever marathon without a bike or a swim... but I felt solid the whole way around and then I was pushed and kept honest on the last straight by a Mexican. I probably need to work on the sprint finishes," she said.

The sister of Olympic Games triathlon silver and bronze medallist Bevan Docherty said that she was delighted to improve by two minutes in hot conditions.

Crumpton found it a tough assignment.

"It was pretty hard and pretty hot and my legs sort of seized up over the last 10km," Crumpton said.

China's Xue Bai took the gold medal in 2hr 25min 15sec with the silver going to Japan's Yoshimi Ozaki, who was 10sec behind.

Aselefech Mergia, of Ethiopia, was third in a time of 2hr 25min 39sec.

New Zealand's sole medal from Berlin came from Olympic champion Valerie Vili who retained her world title in the women's shot put.

- NZPA