Athletics: Coach takes half marathon in stride

Craig Kirkwood runs around Mauao base track before the finish line of yesterday's Mount Joggers and Walkers Half Marathon.

Tauranga triathlon coach Craig Kirkwood showed his students how it is done with a sweeping victory in the Mount Joggers and Walkers Half Marathon held at Mount Maunganui yesterday.

Kirkwood led from start to finish in pursuit of the course record set by Tauranga's Kyle Macdonald in last year's event but he was 37 seconds outside of the record in a time of 1:11:55.

Craig Torr, who is coached by Kirkwood, was second (1:20:00) with Tauranga Boys' College student Daniel Hintz third (1:20:55).

The course included two laps of the iconic Mauao base track which, Kirkwood says, is what makes the event so special.

"It was really good around there. The lead bike went around in front of me to move everyone over so I could pass them on the right, which went brilliantly," Kirkwood said. "It is a shared track and it is awesome that we can use it for events like this and long may that continue."

Kirkwood got off to a blistering start chasing down the record but the strengthening wind put paid to that.

"It was pretty breezy heading down to the turnaround into a headwind and I lost quite a bit of time, probably 30 or 40 seconds on that stretch.

"This is a great local event. It is probably one of the most beautiful half marathons in New Zealand and I really enjoyed it."

Next up for Kirkwood is the famous Kona Ironman in Hawaii in October.

"It is time to knuckle down and get some riding done. I have been twice before and hopefully I can have my best performance there," he said.

Christchurch runner Kirsty Sclater defended her women's title in a time of 1:32:08 ahead of Emma Hyett and Frances Stringfellow.

Yesterday's race was the 29th edition of the event that included the 21km main races plus shorter distances of 10km and 5km for runners and walkers.

Race director for the past five years Luke Garea was delighted with the entrants across all the races.

"We have always got over 1000 competitors in the event. Queen's Birthday always attracts a lot of competitors from further afield, which is nice and brings in a family atmosphere for the weekend," Garea said

"I am really happy it is still up there as one of the races to do. You can never get sick of running or walking around the Mount."