Smith prevails in marathon

Hastings visitor Neville Smith was a clear-cut winner of the Wairarapa country marathon held over two laps of the Lees-Pakaraka circuit yesterday.

Smith returned a time of 2h 29m 43s, leaving him well clear of second-placed Peter Familton of Palmerston North who clocked 2h 30m 46s. The two other runners to break the magic 3-hour mark were Adrian Lysaght (2h 48m 02s) and Julian Davidson (2h 59m 54s).

Fastest woman was Katrina Brougham in 3h 32m 24s with Ingrid Frost next home in 3h 37m 35s.

The half-marathon over one lap of the same circuit saw Alasdair Saunders take the honours in 1h 18m 14s but the big talking point was the effort of Masterton's Graeme Butcher to win the men's 40yrs grade in 1h 18m 25s, just a week after winning the national 24-hour title with a distance of 207km.

Provisional results:

MARATHON Men's open: Neville Smith 2:29.43, Peter Familton 2:46.00, Adrian Lysaght 2:48.02. Men's 40yrs: Guy Dryden 3:02.28, David Creamer 3:05.01, David Walters 3:06.44. Men's 50yrs: Gordon Clarke 3:25.46, Bill Richardson 3:29.31, Peter Griffin 3:36.55.

Men's 60yrs: John Thomson 3:23.40, Peter Smith 4:34.11, Stephen Tubbs 5:43.58. Women's open: Katrina Brougham 3:32.24, Kate Barnett 3:57.10, Hannah Cleland 3:57.40. Women's 35yrs: Katrina Cowie 4:15.58, Jo Boyle 4:41.45. Women's 45yrs: Ingrid Frost 3:37.35, Patricia Stichbury 3:43.18, Debra Arnold 3:49.29. Women's 55yrs: Janet Walker 3:54.04, Marian Hilder 3:58.21, Averil Sheehan 5:22.32.

HALF-MARATHON - Men's open: Alasdair Saunders 1:18.14, Will O'Connor 1:19.49, Alister Adams 1:21.45. Men's 40yrs: Graeme Butcher 1:18.25, Grant Carroll 1:21.39, Andrew Croskery 1:23.43. Men's 50yrs: Tony Price 1:19.13, Michael Walton 1:23.41, David Hood 1:32.28. Men's 60yrs:Lionel Nunns 1:44.19, Rupert Watson 1:44.29, David Farlow 1:48.46. Women's open: Kim Daubney 1:30.37, Fiona Dowling 1:31.27, Jenny Smith 1:33.38. Women's 35yrs: Wendy Cottrell-Teahan 1:25.45, Michelle Van Looy 1:30.48, Nina Pederson 1:34.53. Women's 45yrs: Geraldine Smith 1:43.55, Michelle Chalmers 1:57.29, Natalie Hazelwood 2:05.16. Women's 55yrs: Maree Palmer 2:03 35, Jill Wood 2:15.47, Diane Chesmar 2:17.27. Hand bike: Catriona Williams 1:49.39. Walk: Jon Riskvist 2:25.44.