Rotorua Marathon: Inspirational father cheered on by family

Levi Fifita-Lamb, 6, (from front left), and his elder brother Joshua, 13, and twin sister Keilani cheer on their father at the Rotorua Marathon. Photo/Stephen Parker

Forget Spiderman or Batman - for 6-year-old Levi Fifita-Lamb no one's a bigger hero than his marathon-running dad.

Complete with colourful 'go dad' signs, Levi, along with twin sister Keilani, elder brother Joshua and mum Sandra, turned out to support the man they all admired, who had undertaken the challenge of running the Rotorua Marathon.

The family had travelled from Auckland to cheer him on from the sidelines.

Levi said he was proud of his dad Andrew and wanted to one day follow in his footsteps.

"He's like a superhero," he said. "I'm so proud, I want to be just like him."

And it's easy to see why, with a dad who last year made headlines for running not a marathon, but an ultra marathon of 160km in a pair of homemade rubber jandals.

Andrew Fifita-Lamb ran for 31 hours in the shoes made out of gumboots and stockings at the 2013 Taranaki Steelformers event.

But at the weekend he ditched the jandals, instead making do with regular running shoes.

Sandra said he had completed several marathons and ultra marathons before and was currently training for a 160km event in Tonga.

"It's his second Rotorua Marathon, it's a long way to run but I think for him this is the 'small race' in preparation for the big one," she said. "But that doesn't mean we're any less proud of him.""

Mrs Fifita-Lamb said her husband had inspired their kids to get running, especially Levi.

"I think Levi's certainly got the love of running in his blood."

She said her husband was likely to return to compete in the Rotorua Marathon next year.