Camille French wins the La Roche Posay Half Marathon at the 2023 Hawke's Bay Marathon in a course best time. Photo / Sportograf
Camille French wins the La Roche Posay Half Marathon at the 2023 Hawke's Bay Marathon in a course best time. Photo / Sportograf
After a difficult start to the year with Cyclone Gabrielle, Hawke’s Bay has celebrated the return of the New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty Hawke’s Bay Marathon.
The seventh edition of the event made a welcome return on Saturday, bringing thousands of runners and their supporters to the region.
Ingrid Cree and Ben Gatting took out the 2023 titles, running through the stunning cycle trails and quiet country roads of the region.
The La Roche Posay Half Marathon titles were claimed by Harry Dixon (1:06:43) and Hamilton’s Camille French (1:14:43) – both setting new course best times, French by an impressive four minutes.
French, a Tokyo 2020 Olympian, ticked off another goal on her way back to peak form after giving birth to her daughter last year. It was her first time racing at the Hawke’s Bay Marathon.
The 2023 New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty Hawke's Bay Marathon returned in style for the seventh edition. Photo / Kirsten Simcox
“It’s good, I was pleased to get out there today. It was sort of a training run but also just to see where I’m at before I start some marathon-type training from here,” she said. “I was excited to get the course record and get my name on the board.
“The course is great, I definitely need to get my family down to do the race, it’s such a cool course. I love that it finishes here (Elephant Hill) and it’s nice and flat so it’s a good course to do if you haven’t done many halves,” she said.
The finish line was at the food and wine festival at Elephant Hill Winery & Estate.
Ingrid Cree made it back-to-back Hawke’s Bay Marathon titles, winning in 2:47:22 and bettering her own course best time set last year by more than two minutes. It was also a new personal best time for 40-year-old Cree.
She ran most of the race in second position but was able to reel in lead female Alice Mason and eventually overtook with just a few kilometres to spare.
It was Cree’s second time running the Hawke’s Bay Marathon - she was drawn back to the event by the beauty and atmosphere of the course and finish line.
The men’s marathon race was won by Aucklander Ben Gatting in 2:27:51.
“I’m feeling really good, the race went to plan, beautiful course, stunning course, the crowd really gets behind it so you have support most of the way around which just keeps you geed up, really fizzed the whole time so yeah, just feeling awesome. Great race and a fantastic course,” said Gatting.
The Hawke’s Bay Marathon will return to its usual date in the calendar in 2024. Entries for next year’s event, taking place on Saturday 18 May 2024, open tomorrow morning.
2023 Hawke’s Bay Marathon Winners
NZ Sotheby’s International Realty Marathon
● Ingrid Cree (Wellington) – 2:47:42 (course best)
