KEY POINTS:
Tauranga's Ben Ruthe is approaching his second marathon tomorrow with caution as he does not wish to race too hard if it is windy, yet he still wants to win.
The 2007 Auckland marathon is shaping as a two-way battle between Ruthe and Matt Smith of Christchurch. "Matt Smith is the man I will be able to foot it with, and he'll be trying to shake me," said Ruthe.
"There was a suggestion that I may wish to share the pace with Matt to try and get a good time, but I will be moving away from that tactic, I'll be racing to win it," he added.
Ruthe, a former New Zealand 1500m and 5000m track champion, debuted over the marathon distance in July in the Gold Coast event in Queensland where he finished a notable second in 2h 20m 45s.
Smith, from England, now living in Christchurch, was fifth in last year's Dublin marathon in 2h 14m 41s.
At the recent New Zealand road relay championships, Ruthe ran 14 seconds quicker than Smith on the 10.8km leg.
Smith says that he doesn't have a time in mind. "It will be a case of feeling it from the start, and see how it goes from there. I'm looking forward to a real good marathon, as I have heard it is a good event."
Also in the mix are Andrew Waters from Australia, who was second in the 2005 Melbourne marathon in 2h 26m 42s; Niklas Koehn of Austria, who has a best of 2h 27m, and Stephen Lett from Takapuna.
Lett won the 2005 Kerikeri half marathon in 1h 10m 44s and was second in the 2006 Huntly half marathon in 1h 10m 39s. He is moving up to the full marathon after finishing sixth in last year's Auckland half marathon in 1h 12m 10s.
Smith will be looking for a fast pace provided by the leading half marathon runners who start at the same time of 6.30am from Devonport.
Dale Warrander, marathon winner marathon last year, should lead the field on his way to claiming his fourth half marathon title. Craig Kirkwood is also expected to be up with the early pace.
Four-time previous winner Tracey Clissold from St Heliers will be all out to defend her women's title.
Clissold holds the race record of 2h 41m 57s from her win in 2004. Her wins in the Auckland marathon in 1996 and last year in 2h 50m 47s, also gave her the national title.
Melissa Moon is not running the half marathon, but will start in the quarter marathon 10.5km. Sally Ward, Lara Phillips and Mikki Williden are the leading runners entered in the women's half marathon.
A total of 11,000 runners will compete with 7500 crossing the bridge in the marathon and half marathon.
