Athletics: Rotorua marathon presents unique challenge

Judging by the top athletes' comments, the Rotorua Marathon is still number one in New Zealand.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean they will show up for the annual 42.195km loop of Lake Rotorua which requires speed, strength and endurance with a couple of nasty hills to test the best.

This year's men's winner Scott Winton was full of praise for the run and organisation of the event but fell short of committing to defending his title in 12 months' time.

"I think it's New Zealand's number one marathon - I don't think it gets any better than this," Winton told the Daily Post.

It had been his goal to win New Zealand's most famous race and he was proud to have joined it's list of champions despite running the fourth slowest winning time in the event's history.

He basically used this year's 42nd event as a training run, doing only what he had to in order to break the tape first - which has become the way the race has gone in the last 10 years.

As is the case with many of the best marathon runners, Winton's attendance next year will depend on his competitive programme.

Quality runners still attend Rotorua but generally put out only maybe 90 to 95 per cent effort in favour of events where they can register a quicker time.

As former Auckland Marathon winner Kerry Rodger said, it's all about performance now which means athletes tend to pick and choose their events with times in mind.

Not that he follows suit.

"I always said I'd like to do two marathons a year and I don't like doing ones which are flat and boring and a chance at a good time," he said. "I want to do ones that have something different and [Rotorua] has - this is the best race in New Zealand," he said after finishing third on Saturday.

However, Rodger said he understood athletes had to be selective as they chased international qualifying times for Commonwealth and Olympic Games at slicker courses.

Runner-up Chris Dagg of Queenstown prefers to follow the same tough race logic as Rodgers, even though he hasn't registered a marathon win.

"It would be nice to win but I love to go where there's a tough field.

"You could go somewhere and win by 30 minutes but who cares? It's nice to put yourself up against some of the best," said the 38-year-old former New Zealand representative who has two runner-up finishes in Rotorua.

Saturday's women's winner Melanie Burt said she wanted to return in 2007 and had no doubt where the Rotorua race fits in.

"It's probably the most prestigious race in New Zealand ... I'd like to see how much I can improve again," she said after clipping 11 minutes off her previous best Rotorua time.

She admitted the hills around the so- called back of Lake Rotorua caused her some trouble but said she loved the fact they took the boredom out of the run.

Women's runner-up and past winner Eveline Coombe is also a big fan of the Rotorua circuit.

"I don't mind the hills - it breaks things up a bit," she said.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)