Marathon 'training run' proves a winner

Jess Ruthe says being the first woman home in the marathon - just pipping husband Ben, who won last year - was especially sweet because their 6-month-old son Samuel was present. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Tauranga runner Jess Ruthe says she surprised even herself when she became the first woman to cross the finish line in yesterday's Auckland Marathon - a hundredth of a second ahead of her husband, Ben, who was last year's winner.

She had planned for the marathon to be just a "fun run", the 29 year old said.

"I'm really happy, and it's just a great feeling actually, since I really haven't been doing any serious preparation for it and wanted to just use it as a training run.

"Ben and I were just running together the whole way, and in the last 5km, we were thinking, 'Oh my god, we're just gonna do it', and decided to give it our everything."

Jess Ruthe finished in a time of 2h 49m, the 17th fastest time overall, and said her victory was even sweeter because it was won in front of their 6-month-old son, Samuel, and her parents, former New Zealand marathon champion Trevor Wright and Commonwealth Games gold medal runner Rosemary.

She missed last year's annual Auckland event because she was pregnant with Samuel, and said yesterday's win had given her the inspiration to start "proper training" to qualify for the London Olympics.

Her only other marathon finish was in Tokyo two years ago, when she clocked 2h 39m for ninth place.