Former British runner Matt Smith, now a resident of Christchurch, wants a taste of the marathon that he has been told is a great experience taking in the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Smith lines up with Tauranga's Ben Ruthe as favourites for the 42.2km adidas Auckland Marathon which starts in Devonport on Sunday at 6.30am. After crossing the Bridge, the race then does an out and back along Tamaki Drive before finishing alongside Victoria Park in the City.
The four times British world cross country representative has the fastest marathon time of the entrants, having run 2h 14m 41s in finishing fifth in last year's Dublin marathon. His recent form includes a record breaking victory in last month's Dunedin half marathon running 1h 6m 38s.
"I've heard that it is a real good marathon and I will be out there to run the best that I can," said Smith.
He says that he doesn't have a time in mind.
"It will be a case of feeling it from the start, and see how it goes from there," he added.

Ruthe is approaching his second marathon on Sunday with caution as he does not wish to race too hard if it is windy, yet he still wants to win.
"Matt Smith is the man I will be able to foot it with, and he'll be trying to shake me," said Ruthe.
"There was a suggestion that I may wish to share the pace with Matt to try and get a good time, but I will be moving away from that tactic, I'll be racing to win it," he added.
Ruthe, a former New Zealand 1500m and 5000m track champion, debuted over the marathon distance in July in the Gold Coast event in Queensland where he finished a notable second in 2h 20m 45s.
At the recent New Zealand road relay championships in Timaru, Ruthe ran 14 seconds quicker than Smith on the 10.8km leg.

Also in the mix is Andrew Waters from Australia, who was second in the 2005 Melbourne marathon in 2h 26m 42s. Niklas Koehn of Austria who has a best of 2h 27m and Stephen Lett from Takapuna. Lett won the 2005 Kerikeri half marathon in 1h 10m 44s and was second in the 2006 Huntly half marathon in 1h 10m 39s. He also ran in this year's Gold Coast marathon finishing 13th in 2h 32m 5s. He was sixth in last year's Auckland half marathon in 1h 12m 10s and in the New Plymouth in March he finished second in 2h 27m 47s.

Smith will be looking for a fast pace from the start provided by the leading half marathon runners who start at the same time from Devonport.
Dale Warrander, winner of the marathon last year should lead the field on his way to claiming his fourth half marathon title. Craig Kirkwood winner of the half marathon in 2004 is also expected to be up with the early pace. An interesting entry is leading cross country runner Sam Dobson, who will be attempting his first half marathon.

Four time previous winner Tracey Clissold from St Heliers, will be all out to defend her women's title.
Clissold holds the race record of 2h 41m 57s from her win in 2004. Her wins in the Auckland marathon in 1996 and last year in 2h 50m 47s, also gave her the New Zealand title.

Melissa Moon of Wellington is expected to repeat her win from last year in the women's half marathon, chased hard by four times previous winner Sarah Christie, also from Wellington.