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Winton and Carroll win at Huntly
Scott Winton followed up his victory in the Rotorua marathon, four weeks ago, with an easy win in the annual Huntly half marathon on Sunday.
He recorded 1h 8m 28s.
Winton led from the start, maintaining a consistent pace that had him extending his lead the further the race progressed.
"I enjoyed the scenery, especially the last part around the lake and it was good to see the other competitors at each of the turns on the course," said Winton.
"I was hoping to do a long tempo run today and was going to do an extra 10km after the finish, but I've been a bit sick this week and there was a lack of energy towards the end so that will do me for today, I'll go and put my feet up," he added.
His performance also won him the Auckland title and he has the honour of being the first male to win the event three times. In 2002 he won in 68m 2s and 2003 recorded 67m 39s.
Winton from Pakuranga will tackle the New Zealand half marathon championship in Christchurch in two weeks time where he hopes to improve on his personal best of 66m 12s.
For his efforts the 31 year old collected $750 and took another step towards his goal of a sub 2h 18m marathon in the Gold Coast race on July 2 and a berth in the New Zealand team to next year's world championships in Osaka.
Former New Zealand secondary schools senior cross country champion Stephen Lett was second in 1h 10m 39s, with Papakura's Daniel Hapeta third in 1h 11m 38s.
Lett returned to competitive running last year after a stint of cycling while living in Hamilton. The North Shore runner won the Kerikeri half marathon and the recent Whenuapai half.
Lett (22) has the half marathon bug and has booked himself a place in the Edmonton half in Canada in August.
Nyla Carroll of Papakura had no trouble with cramping that affected her in the Rotorua marathon. The 40 year old was an easy winner of the women's section in 1h 15m 43s. As she went under the target time of 76m, Carroll had a further $250 added to her winning cheque of $750.
Carroll first won at Huntly in 1993, running 1h 14m 25s, and had further victories in 2002 and 2004.
Penny Newbigin of Auckland ran a personal best of 1h 21m 51s for second with Auckland marathon winner last October, Sharon Fitzgerald of Auckland YMCA third in 1h 22m 46s. Camille Buscomb of Cambridge, runner up in the national junior women's 16 1500m in February, had her debut over the distance, finishing fifth overall in 1h 25m 8s to easily win the junior women's section. Samuel Murphy of Pakuranga won the junior men in 1h 19m 10s.
source Athletics New Zealand |
