Auckland – It was redemption for Eritrean born Aussie Isaias Beyn in taking out the ASB Auckland Marathon on Sunday, learning from his mistakes last year to blast away over the final 10km to defeat a gallant Michael Voss (Rotorua) and Nicholas Sunseri (Queenstown) and post an impressive 2:19:33 on the tough course that takes in the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Isaias Beyn wins Auckland Marathon 2019
Beyn was patient over the first half, making his first move at the top of the bridge, picking up the pace on the downward side into the city, dropping Sunseri and putting Voss under immense pressure.
Voss ran in some three minutes behind Beyn, exhausted at having emptied the tank to run a personal best by nearly five minutes. In the women’s race it was a journey into the unknown for Hannah Wells (Tauranga), with the 70.3 triathlete debuting over the distance but doing enough to hold off the irrepressible Mel Aitken (Wellington) and sixth-year med student Sonya Cameron (Dunedin).
Men Marathon: Isias Beyn 2:19:33, Michael Voss 2:22:34, Nicholas Sunseri 2:23:57. Women Marathon: Hannah Wells 2:50:49, Mel Aitken 2:53:12, Sonya Cameron 3:02:32.
The Half Marathon men’s race was tipped as one to watch, with a host of contenders all within a couple of minutes in regards their personal bests. But it was perhaps a surprise packet in Oli Chignell (Dunedin) who took out the honours, sprinting past Cameron Graves (Auckland) just before the final turn on to the grass and the finish straight at Victoria Park. Chignell broke the course record previously held by Matt Smith (2009) by 29 seconds but perhaps just as impressively beat his previous best over the distance by a whopping five minutes and 33 seconds.
The women’s Half Marathon was dominated by Lisa Cross. Only deciding to step down to the shorter distance in the days leading into the event, Cross loved everything about the day and her race execution.
Men Half Marathon: Oli Chignell 1:05:50, Cameron Graves 1:05:52, Daniel Balchin 1:06:59. Women Half Marathon: Lisa Cross 1:18:22, Katrina Andrew 1:22:14, Karen Donaldson-Barron 1:24:26.
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