Ben makes super marathon debut

Old habits die hard as Ben Ruthe's metamorphosis into a top-level marathon runner hit top gear in a remarkable debut effort at the prestigious Gold Coast marathon on Sunday.
Ruthe, a New Zealand titleholder over 1500m and 5000m, finished second, completing the distance in two hours 20 minutes and 45 seconds, 38sec behind Japanese winner Toyokazu Yoshimura.
But the 27-year-old needed all of his renowned kick finish to see off the challenge of Tanzanian Oswald Revilian, with Ruthe pipping the African journeyman just metres from the finish.
"There was quite a lot of drama there towards the end but I could see the Tanzanian was struggling and if I could get close enough I could out-kick him," Ruthe said today from Brisbane.
"The way it unfolded was magic. I wanted to run quicker but to get second in what is consistently the fastest marathon in Australasia is amazing.
"It's only a few months ago I was running the 800m and 1500m on the track, so I put (Sunday's performance) down to good coaching (from father-in-law Trevor Wright)."
It was a big weekend for the Ruthes, with Ben's wife Jessica leading from start to finish to defend her North Island crosscountry title at Taupo on Saturday.
Ruthe splashed her way through surface water untroubled for an all-the-way win in the women's 5000m, clocking 17m 40s. If the conditions had been better she would have had a crack at Melissa Moon's 2002 race record of 16m 55s.
"It was heavy underfoot, which was okay as it provided a testing course."
Ruthe left last night for six weeks of altitude training in Colorado in preparation for the Chicago marathon in October, where she hopes to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
She will be based at former Olympic bronze medallist Lorraine Moller's house in Boulder, training with another Beijing hopeful, Auckland's Nina Rillstone.
Ben, an accountant, will be back at work tomorrow _ "so I can start to pay for Jess' airfares".
His fastest 10km on Sunday was his last 10km, with Ruthe untroubled by the slow pace through the first half of the race. "It's a much easier way to run a marathon, especially your first, and at the 30km mark I was feeling fresh with no cramp or illness."
He was part an 11-strong breakaway pack that stuck together through the first 13km before the fireworks started.
"An Indonesian guy took off, and then another Indonesian guy took off before a couple of Kenyans shot to the lead and then a Tanzanian had a crack.
"It was a dramatic increase in pace and I was thinking everyone had gone too quick."
Ruthe was right, with the glory-hunters falling away at 30km. Yoshimura opened up at 36km and the Tanzanian tried to go too.
"It took me all of that last 3km to peg him back but with the crowd hanging out over the railings I couldn't squeeze past him and had to wait until the last 130m to really have a go."