Wreford wins Southland Marathon

Sam Wreford wins Southland Marathon

Sam Wreford led just after 100m and carried on from Riverton to Surrey Park in a personal best time of 2h 16m 35s, cutting nearly a minute off his winning time in the Christchurch Marathon in June. It was a great effort for the 29 year old from Timaru considering he was running into a head wind for most of the journey.

It was the third fastest time on the course behind John Campbell 2h 12m 20s and Paul Herlihy 2h 15m 58s. Romain Mirosa was a distant second in 2h 44m 53s with Ricky Gutsell third and first master in 2h 47m 25s. Tracey Woodford of Queenstown won the women’s marathon in 3h 25m 43s, just 38 seconds ahead of Kerry Rowley.

Neale McLanachan won the half marathon in 1h 14m 10s, heading in Corey Mennell 1h 19m 23s and Scott Underhay 1h 19m 34s. Victoria Beck won the women’s half in 1h 19m 41s. Jordan Rackham won the 10km in 36m 32s while Kirsty O’Sullivan won the women’s 10km in 39m 29s. Over 600 runners took part in the various events.