The end of the Waitarere Beach marathon sounded the start of a good joke when an expatriate Scotsman beat home an Irishman.
Stu Munro finished two minutes ahead of Carl Laffan at the end of the 42km offroad gut-buster in 3 hours, 12 minutes and 51 seconds.
Wellington runner Stu Munro stopped his watch at three hours, 12 minutes and 56 seconds at the end of the Great Forest Marathon.
Although both men now identify as Wellingtonian, each retained the distinctive accent of their respective homeland - Munro from Glasgow and Laffan from Dublin - and it made for cool conversation as they shook hands post-race.
Munro, 33, was genuinely surprised to discover he was first across the line. He was certain that Laffan, 43, was well ahead of him, and hadn't realised he had overtaken him when the began to mix with the field running the half-marathon.
Stu Munro, 33, and Carl Laffan, 43, provided the quinella in the Great Forest Marathon at Waitarere Beach at the weekend.
"No, there was someone up ahead of me," he said - adamantly - before realising he must have passed Laffan without knowing.
It was Munro's first marathon after having run ultra-marathons previously, while Laffan was competing in his 10th Great Forest Marathon.
Both men praised the event and a course that meandered through cool forest trees. Like all competitors, they were saddened to hear it would be the final running of the Great Forest Marathon, which was folding after 25 years.
"It's a great run. It's easy on your joints," they said.
Happy winner of the half-marathon - Harry Dixon, 30, from Palmerston North.
But the race was no laughing matter for the winner of the half-marathon men's event. Harry Dixon, 30, from a club in Palmerston North, was forced to cover an estimated extra kilometre in a marshalling mix up.
The mistake saw Dixon almost 500m down the track in a different direction before he could be turned around, so by the time he was back in course he had covered an extra kilometre.
Some of the half-marathon runner emerging from the forest.
Dixon wasn't too worried about it and managed to hang on for a narrow win. He received hearty congratulations from other runners who were in awe of his courage to continue and still win.
It was poetic justice that he finished ahead of the field, albeit by the narrowest of margins.
Dianne Bulled from Napier won the women's marathon event, while Lucy Lawler from Paraparaumu Beach won the women's half-marathon. A list of results is below.
Meanwhile, several of the more than 2500 runners and walkers spoken to by Horowhenua Chronicle were saddened to hear it would be the final running of the event.
Waitarere Beach farmer Simon Easton reaches for a water at the end of his race. He was beaten across the line by younger brother Matt.
The consensus was the event was always "well-run" and unique as it was a completely off-road course through forest. Not once did runners set foot on concrete.
Social media was flooded with comments from people who said they loved the event and would miss it should it fold.
There was plenty of support for the more than 2000 entrants for the different marathon events.
Great New Zealand Forest Marathon committee chairwoman Marlene Bonner said the committee of five would meet next month with the likelihood of it winding up, in what was described as an extremely difficult decision.
The reasons behind the decision were a combination of loss of parking space at the forest edge as land is subdivided, and also the pressure on a small committee to organise such a large event, despite constant pleas for people to join the committee and help.
Waitarere Beach farmer Matt Easton finishes the half-marathon at Waitarere Beach.
RESULTS Marathon - Run. Male 1st Stuart Munro Wellington 3:12:51 2nd Carl Laffan Lower Hutt 3:14:53 3rd Benjamin Hammond Wellington 3:23:00 4th Richard Naughton Wellington 3:28:23 5th Luke Bassant Wellington 3:30:54
Marathon - Walk. Male 1st Paul Childerhouse Palmerston North 4:08:29 2nd Kevin White Palmerston North 5:19:47 3rd Steve Doughty Matamata 5:24:01 4th Malcolm Gray Auckland 5:29:07 5th Tom Hirst Upper Hutt 5:32:56
Female 1st Gayle van Heerden Wellington 5:54:59 2nd Teresa Reynolds Lansdowne 5:59:17 3rd Ingrid C Frost Manukau City 6:31:05 4th Michelle Elliott Wellington 6:36:29
Half-Marathon - Run
Male 1st Harry Dixon Palmerston North 1:17:14 2nd Sam Bentham Levin 1:17:14 3rd Isaac Murphy Palmerston North 1:17:20 4th Alvirg Busa Paraparaumu 1:17:24 5th Josh Dunstan-Brown Palmerston North 1:17:37
Female 1st Lucy Lawlor Paraparumu 1:31:22 2nd Amara Rae Te Horo Beach 1:32:34 3rd Victoria Humphries Wellington 1:34:33 4th Cath Braddock Kapiti 1:37:34 5th Anita Chan Palmerston North 1:40:20
Male 1st Grant Dyer Woodville 2:21:47 2nd Mike Tennent Rotorua 2:23:38 3rd Colin Horne 2:27:41 4th Rick Cooke Wanganui 2:34:54 5th Chris Paice Wellington 2:38:26
Male 1st Damien Lardner WAITARERE BEACH 34:22 2nd Tom Bland Te Horo 37:11 3rd Matt Berg Wellington 38:57 4th James Harvey Palmerston North 41:04 5th Oliver James Palmerston North 41:46
Male 1st Sean Lake Wellington 1:04:28 2nd Andrew Shelley Upper Hutt 1:08:14 3rd Paul Dekker Palmerston North 1:10:48 4th Tim Eaton Whanganui 1:14:16 5th Jonathan Mckinnon Wellington 1:18:24
Female 1st Karyn Lewis Wanganui 1:14:11 2nd Brenda Butcher Masterton 1:18:47 3rd Jocelyn Flintoff Palmerston North 1:18:51 4th Jessica Vermeer Paraparaumu 1:20:29 5th Lynette Wolfenden Levin 1:20:40
10km - Under 12
Male 1st Cole Gwerder Lower Hutt 49:16 2nd Zac Fiddis Lower Hutt 49:16 3rd Bair Waldrom Te Marua 52:06 4th Ruben Armstrong Wellington 54:09 5th Ben Glading Wellington 1:03:14
Male 1st Toby James Palmerston North 19:46 2nd Ethan Jansson Waitarere 20:20 3rd A Burns Levin 20:39 4th Liam Ryan Glen Oroua 21:16 5th Henry Richards Feilding 21:40
Male 1st Jacob Williams Lower Hutt 20:04 2nd Sam Nelson Wellington 21:23 3rd Harry Westbury Waikanae 21:34 4th Cody Shilton Rotorua21:35 5th Finley Jansson Waitarere 22:01
Female 1st Harriett Young Lower Hutt 22:10 2nd Lucy Easton Levin 25:01 3rd Tatum Ristow Waitarere Beach 25:55 4th Kayden j Johnson New Plymouth 26:42 5th Annemarie Wiedow Palmerston North27:02
