Athletics: Music inspires marathoners on

The beauty of the Rotorua marathon course belies a tough challenge to runners. Picture / Amos Chapple

The first time you hear it, you think you must be delirious. It's not halfway, though the first hints of fatigue have appeared, slogging it out along the Awahou straight towards the 16km mark of the Rotorua Marathon.

Then, blaring down the hill out of pole-mounted speakers, you detect the strains of Chariots of Fire.

Rotorua running legend Jack Foster had a saying (adapted from fellow Olympian and running great Emil Zatopek): If you want a race, run the 100m; if you want an experience, run a marathon.

It's a dictum which fits Rotorua, the Lion Foundation-sponsored event chalking up its 42nd episode tomorrow.

The music is one example. For the past 10 years, Chariots of Fire has been laid on by Christine and Robin Findon, who encourage runners while enjoying a champagne breakfast with neighbours and friends.

They see everyone, from the stern-faced leaders to the sweat-bathed joggers. "Some of the Asian runners are funny," says Christine Findon. "They have cameras in their bum bags and ask for us to have a picture with them."

Rotorua is famous for characters like the Findons. But there is much more to it. For a start, Rotorua is blessed by geography - God must have been thinking of race directors when He made the lake about 42km in circumference. It means there is no out-and-back running, or multiple laps. It's just one circuit, and the only way you could take a shortcut is by swimming.

Beautiful it may be, but Rotorua is no jog in the park. The first 10km are deceptive, involving a steady climb. Around the back of the lake, between Hamurana Springs and the Ohau Channel, the halfway point is marked with a steep grind uphill (and the Western Heights High School jazz band which has played at the 21km drink station for the last three years).

It's here the marathon-proper begins: if the early pace is too quick, this hill, and the next significant climb at Mourea, will drain your thighs of strength and replace it with lactic acid. It's the same for leaders and stragglers, but for the leaders, the condition of their legs at the top of Mourea will dictate the winning or losing of the race. Colin Smyth, who has run more Rotorua Marathons than anyone else (40 of the 41) advises caution. "Hold yourself back for the first half - that's the trick."

Beyond Mourea is the 12km trek to town. It's almost flat, but the long straights make it tough mentally. The banter between runners has stopped, the cheers from by-standers sound plaintive.

It's along these straights that the mysterious marathon "wall" lurks. Not everyone hits it: last year, cantering towards a seemingly effortless 2h 50m finish, my run to town was a breeze. A 1998 3h 50m effort was an altogether different experience.

It's all part of the tapestry and legend of Rotorua, drawing people back time and again. On the administration side, Lake City Athletic Club stalwarts Pam and Dennis Kenny have been involved for 25 years. Dennis remembers when the race regularly pulled starting crowds of 3000 and more. In 1989, 6364 lined up for the 25th anniversary. This year, the field will number about 1900.

"What you've got to remember is that in those days we were one of the few endurance events around," he says. "Things like Coast to Coast and triathlons weren't.

"Nowadays it becomes a whole marketing exercise."

To that end, the marathon was taken over several years ago by Athletics New Zealand which employs an event organiser, Angela Salmon.

Salmon, who competed in 1989, says Rotorua remains a challenging yet achievable goal. "It's one of those events people aspire to do," she says.

Some do it better than others. Previous winners include luminaries Paul Ballinger (who holds the race record of 2h 16m 05s set in 1988), the late Jack Foster (who still holds two age-group records), John Campbell, Peter Renner, Kevin Ryan, Mike Ryan, Chris Pilone, Phil Costley, Mark Hutchinson, Jonathan Wyatt, and three-time victor Dale Warrander.

The women's record holder is Nyla Carroll, and previous winners include one of the most enduring figures of distance running, Wellington's Bernie Portenski, who, at 56, is still capturing world age-group records.

Portenski, lining up for her 100th marathon, Carroll, and Waiheke Island's Melanie Burke are favourites in the women's field this year. Men include Pakuranga's Scott Winton, British runner Martin Cox, and veteran Kerry Rodger.

For most, the prize tomorrow will not be victory, but having made it around the lake with the help of people like Christine Findon and her band of champagne breakfasters bellowing over Chariots of Fire for as long as it takes. "We always wait until the last person has gone past the gate - one year that was two-and-a-half hours."

* ALL-TIME BESTS AT ROTORUA

Men

P. Ballinger (New Plymouth) 2h 16m 05s, 1988
D Foude (Wellington Harriers) 2h 17m 39s, 1986
P. Renner (New Brighton) 2h 17m 50s, 1988
J. Foster (Rotorua) 2h 17m 51s, 1972
J. Campbell (Invercargill) 2h 18m 43s, 1987

Women

N. Carroll (Owairaka) 2h 37m 37s, 1994
J. Costley (Napier Harriers) 2h 38m 57s, 1994
M. Turner (Owairaka) 2h 39m 48s, 1993
T. Clissold (Gisborne) 2h 43m 15s, 2004
B. Portenski (Wellington Scottish) 2h 43m 38s, 1998