Wreford wins Christchurch Marathon 2012

Christchurch Airport Marathon – 3 June 2012

Sam Wreford wins Christchurch Marathon 2012

Sam Wreford of Timaru cut nearly two minutes off his previous best time in winning the Christchurch marathon on Sunday in 2h 17m 30s. Wreford had the race under control from the start and finished five minutes clear of Dale Warrander with Blair McWhirter third.

Wreford said his first aim was to win and second aim was to run a personal best. It was his sixth marathon all of them being in New Zealand. He will eventually look overseas to test his ability.

“My coach (Barry Magee) wants me to do my apprenticeship in New Zealand first and once I start performing well we will look at overseas marathons,” he said.

While he hasn’t raced overseas Wreford is reaping the rewards of recently spending six months in Kenya training at high altitude.

Warrander based on the Gold Coast recorded 2h 22m 42s and McWhirter ran a personal best of 2h 25m 24s.

Texas based Liza Hunter-Galvan won the women’s marathon for the second year in a row in an almost identical time of 2h 45m 42s. Gabrielle O’Rourke of Wellington was second in 2h 47m 24s. Hunter-Galvan also won in 1999 in 2h 46m 34s.

Lisa Robertson of Pakuranga improved her best by three minutes in winning the associated women’s half marathon in 1h 15m 35s. Kenyan Kip Kemei completed a grand slam of four victories while training in New Zealand, adding the half marathon in 1h 5m 1s to earlier wins in Wellington, Rotorua and Huntly.

Kate Newitt of Christchurch won the half marathon walk in 2h 10m 53s, from Nelson’s Ross Mitchell 2h 13m 39s and the 10km walk went to Jonathon Lord of Timaru and Courtney Ruske of Christchurch both timed at 54m 8s.