Big turnout at Podium Ohope Express half marathon

Stephen Lett. PHOTO/Bruce Belcher

Johanna Ottoson and Stephen Lett ran quick times in winning the Podium Ohope Express half marathon on Saturday in near perfect conditions.

Ottoson's time of 1hr 24min 01sec and Lett's 1:13:40 are indications of how quick the course was on Saturday.

Auckland Marathon champion Lett, who recently become a father, has had to ease back on the training and wasn't in shape to clock anywhere near his personal best time of 1:07:22, but was stoked with his win and was reasonably happy with his time given his curtailed preparation time.

Second place went to 19-year-old Hayden Wilde from Whakatane who clocked 1:17:02.

Ottoson, a previous winner of the Rotorua Marathon, had a much more difficult race finishing only 28 seconds ahead of Kristen Milne and 65 seconds ahead of Zara Fowell.

Both Lett and Ottoson were full of praise for the course and the organisation saying they would return for next year's event.

Lett believes the course is a great place to achieve a personal best. "The course is flat and fast and the scenery is outstanding."

The event run by event management company Cheeky Rooster attracted 834 runners and walkers of all ages.

The event also doubled as a fund raiser for the Diabetes, Exercise and Sport Association (DESA). All proceeds from the 5km event went directly to DESA to help fund a training camp for kids who have recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

DESA spokesman Mark Leydon was impressed with the turn out. "This event is ideal as it helps us support young people with diabetes but also sends out a message that exercise is a great tool for controlling diabetes as well."

The 10km event was won by Rotorua doctor Ben McHale in a personal best time of 33.40 minutes. He was less than two minutes ahead of Tony Broadhead and John Caie.

The women's 10km event was won by Andrea Schuler in 43:52 minutes, just a few minutes ahead of Taihna Braithwaite and Kaylee Townsend.

In the 5km event the fastest male was Tim Smith and fastest female was Anna Tait.

Race Director Mike van der Boom said it was a huge turnout.

"We were expecting around 500 people in total but we got over 800. The team coped well with the numbers and the course could certainly handle more.

"I think this event could easily handle 2000 or more runners and would be ideal for hosting the New Zealand half marathon championships sometime in the future."