Gisborne man wins open men’s division in the Huntly Half Marathon

Gisborne half-marathon runner Mike Robinson pounds the road at the front of the field in the Huntly Half Marathon last weekend. Robinson, 37, won the open men’s division, finishing over five minutes head of his nearest competitor. Picture by XanderJames Photography

Mike Robinson is a man on the run.

He ran to second in the half-marathon at the First Light Marathon in Gisborne in January.

He ran to first in the half-marathon at the Tarawera Ultramarathon at Rotorua in February.

And last weekend he ran to victory at the 43rd Huntly Half Marathon.

The 37-year-old Gisborne runner won in a blistering time of 1hr 8min 54sec to claim the top spot on the podium. He was over five minutes clear of 18-year-old Casey Thorby.

And he already has his sights on his next one.

“The next race is in six weeks in Wellington (the Wellington Marathon, June 25) and just so happens to be the New Zealand half-marathon championships,” Robinson said.

“It will be interesting.”

“I’m not expecting to place (on the podium) or anything like that at the nationals, but hopefully I’m still in good form and can knock out another good time.

“There will be some real guns there. With the nationals, you have got the likes of Michael Voss, Oska Baynes — those guys are 1 (hour) 5 (minutes) runners.

“There’s a difference from this and the time I just did . . . it is huge. That (sort of time) could be another few years away.”

While his preparation is for the nationals, he is looking further afield.

“I’ve got a couple more races booked in after this one — “the postponed Hawke’s Bay half-marathon and after that the Auckland half-marathon.”

Robinson is also hoping the Gizzy Half Marathon will go ahead so he can further test his performance level.

Robinson sees his main competition as himself — his personal expectations.

“The pressure I put on myself and trying to execute the performance on the day, there’s a bit of an art to that.

“I feel I’m just getting the hang of it now — being able to peak at the right time.

“There’s going to be a lot of wind there (Wellington) and there was wind at the Gisborne one, so this one might be more of a strategic race.”