The Hits radio host misses marathon because flight not able to land

The Hits radio host Matty McLean missed the Dunedin Marathon after his plane was unable to land due to high winds.

Air New Zealand’s chief operating officer, Alex Marren, said that because of “significant windshear conditions”, flight NZ675 was unable to land at Dunedin and had to return to Auckland.

“Customers will be reaccommodated on the next available service. We apologise for the inconvenience and thank customers for their understanding,” Marren said.

McLean was on yesterday’s flight to travel to the southern city for the marathon, which was today.

The diversion meant that, despite doing “lots of training”, the co-host of The Hits Drive show did not get to participate in the event.

McLean described the flight as “pretty hectic”.

“I’ve never actually been in a flight that’s been quite that windy and I lived in Wellington for six years, so that’s saying something.”

Polly "P.J" Harding and Matty McLean pictured hosting The Hits Drive show in 2024. Photo / NZME

The plane kept swaying from side to side during its descent to the airport, putting doubt in McLean’s mind that they were going to be able to land.

Footage taken of the first aborted landing shows the plane approaching the runway while the wind forces it to sway to the side before taking off again.

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On the second attempt, the plane comes in straighter, but just as it’s about to touch down, the tail gets pushed to the left, forcing it to swing in a drift-like fashion and abort the landing.

“We were basically there [on the ground]. Like you can see in the video, the wheels almost touched the ground. So we were all pretty certain that we were going to be able to land the second time, but no, up it went again,” the former Breakfast host said.

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Winds as high as 78km/h were recorded in Dunedin on Saturday.

McLean said it was “gutting” for him and husband Ryan Teece to miss the marathon, despite the latter not being an enthusiastic runner.

Getting Teece to run the marathon with McLean had become content for the radio show, he said.

Matty McLean with husband Ryan Teece.

“It was funny because we’d joked the whole way that he was hoping that the plane might not be able to land, and so then when it didn’t land, we could only laugh.

“Otherwise, I think we might have cried a little bit.”

“In all seriousness, I think we were both pretty gutted to miss it.”