Editorial: Great news for region in the long run

L-R: Ian Collier, and Meghan Blair Auckland, at at the launch of the new Hawke's Bay International Marathon.

News of the inaugural Hawke's Bay International Marathon in May next year is, aptly, great news.

Apt in that the first marathon, a Greek tragedy, was all about the delivery of great news.

Legend has it the young Athenian courier Pheidippides ran non-stop from Marathon to Athens to deliver news of a military victory against the Persians in the Battle of Marathon.

Having run 40-odd kilometres to deliver the exciting news, he collapsed and died, his heart burst due to both joy and exertion.

Why he wasn't sent on horseback, no one knows. But of course, that would have precluded the myth.

So romantic was his death and fabled run, millions of punters emulate the feat every year with a 42.195km shuffle.

Almost to the metre, that's the distance between Hastings and Waipawa, in Central Hawke's Bay.

Notwithstanding the inherent dangers, the chaffing, the end of the glycogen reserves after about 30km, blisters, musculoskeletal shock and cardiac stress, the torment is apparently mitigated by the beautiful environs of wine country.

Air New Zealand announced this week it had partnered with Lagardre Unlimited Oceania to bring the country's newest international marathon to the region. At yesterday's launch it was claimed this would be a "hybrid course", with the run likely to start on Napier's Marine Parade and traverse a mix of roads, cycleways and private land before finishing at Sileni Estates Winery.

It's a scenic route - and well worth the pain.

Besides, the alluring thing about marathons is that 95 per cent of participants aren't in it to win. This heroic Greek tragedy is Hawke's Bay's victory.