Up to 4000 runners and walkers are expected to take to the streets and roads around Rotorua when the Lion Foundation Rotorua Marathon and the associated events take place on Saturday 30 April.
Winton for Rotorua Marathon 2011
As of last week 3,500 entries had been received and that’s higher than the last six years.
Scott Winton, a previous Rotorua Marathon winner, is back to take on the 42.195 kilometre run around Lake Rotorua. He is looking forward to the challenge, he says “It’s my favourite race in New Zealand. I love the challenging and diverse nature of the course. It has a couple of solid hills, some long straights and windy sections with some fantastic bush and lake scenery as a backdrop.”With about 15 marathons to his credit, this will be Winton’s third Rotorua Marathon. He says “I’m not concerned at all about the time, however I think the winner will run low to mid 2hr 20min.”
Winton’s best time for Rotorua is 2hr 25min 34sec, which he ran in 2006. His PB is 2hr 16min 31sec, which he ran in Hamburg in 2008.
He says “Training has been going well. I’ve been steadily increasing the mileage and have run some encouraging tempo runs in the last few weeks. It’s always hard to know exactly where you are at with the marathon but I’m feeling strong.”
“It’s always great to hear the support from the crowd but on the day, I’ll be doing some supporting myself. I’ve been coaching a friend who will be doing his first Rotorua so I’ll be very keen to see how he goes.”
Winton’s competition will be The MacDonald twins from Tauranga, Luke Hurring and Dale Warrander (defending champ from last year). All top runners capable of winning on the day.
Dale Warrander’s PB is 2hr 12min 58sec set at the 2003 Fukuoka marathon in Japan. His first Rotorua Marathon was in 1996 at 22 years of age – running 2hr 21min 47sec. Warrander will be running his fifth Rotorua and says “I love running the Rotorua Marathon. It’s one of my favourite marathons and New Zealand’s most historic.”
Warrander says “Training has been hot and cold. I had a slight injury to my right shin which I had last year as well when I won. I missed one week’s training two weeks ago but since then have put a solid two weeks training together. I was hoping to have an injury-free buildup for this one but I still feel in good shape to try and take my fifth win at Rotorua. I will be very happy to take my fifth win and overtake the great Jack Foster’s four wins.”
Johanna Ottosson, who won the women’s marathon last year in 2hr 50min 19sec, is also back to defend her title. Since last year Johanna has improved on her marathon PB with a 2hr 45min time in the Sacramento Marathon last December.
The Rotorua Marathon has such a great tradition. If you look at the list of winners it is a veritable who’s who of New Zealand marathon running including Jack Foster, Paul Ballinger, John Campbell and Nyla Carroll.
source Athletics NZ
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