Adidas Auckland Marathon 2009

THIS YEAR’S ADIDAS AUCKLAND MARATHON REACHED ITS CAPACITY OF 9,000 ENTRANTS WITHIN A MATTER OF WEEKS AND WITH 2,200 RUNNERS COMPETING IN THE FULL MARATHON, THE POPULARITY OF THE EVENT IS UNDENIABLE. HOWEVER, HIDDEN AMONG THE MASSES IS AN EVER-WEAKENING CROP OF ELITE ATHLETES, WHO ARE NOW STRUGGLING TO MATCH THE PERFORMANCES OF THEIR PREDECESSORS AND THIS YEAR’S RESULTS WERE TESTAMENT TO THE DECLINE OF THE TOP ATHLETES IN THE EVENT, WITH A HOST OF RESPECTABLE RATHER THAN IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES IN A YEAR THAT LACKED ANY MAJOR STAR QUALITY.

Men’s Marathon
Arguably the most disappointing race in this year’s event, the men’s marathon produced the third slowest winning time in the history of Auckland marathons, with 31-year-old Rowan Hooper winning in a modest 2:31:46.

For those unfamiliar with the event, the course begins in the seaside suburb of Devonport on the North Shore and travels through Takapuna and Northcote before crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge and heading towards the half-marathon finish at Victoria Park. From there, marathon runners continue eastward through Viaduct Harbour and along Tamaki drive to the turn-around point at Saint Heliers Bay before returning along the waterfront to the finish at Victoria Park. While the marathon course has undergone a considerable number of changes since the inaugural race in 1936 and the Harbour Bridge crossing was not included until 1992, only Jack Holden’s 2.32.57 at the Empire Games Marathon in 1950 and Craig Burke’s winning time of 2:32.50 in 2002 were slower than Hooper’s effort. The recent drop off in performances is particularly evident given the current state of international marathon running where the world’s elite are regularly running under 2:07 and there are hundreds of athletes capable of running well under 2:20, including several New Zealand athletes, who for various reasons are now tending to avoid the event.

Hooper has previously won the Christchurch marathon once and the Dunedin marathon twice. He was relatively unchallenged in claiming his first Auckland Marathon title, with fellow-Cantabrian Glynn Hadley finishing second in 2:35. In third place was 53-year-old Gavin Stevens, in a time of 2:37:20. Stevens was a Commonwealth Games cycling gold medallist in the team time trial in 1990 and represented New Zealand at the same event at the Seoul Olympics. He is currently the number one ranked marathon runner in the world for his 50-54 age group.

When asked about the Auckland Marathon, Hooper replied, “It’s great, one of the great things running in New Zealand is when you start in a race, you have a chance of winning it. I can now focus on some races in Europe over the next couple of months. I want to get back into full training pretty quickly so I didn’t want to go out too hard”. Hooper’s post-race comments reflect the diminishing standing of the event in the eyes of local athletes. While the participatory side of the event is undoubtedly in good shape, event organisers need to attract New Zealand’s leading athletes back to the full marathon event and entice some high-class international runners.

Women’s Marathon
This year’s women’s marathon was notable for the return of Tauranga-based Jess Ruthe, who has endured a horror year in 2009. After two or three seasons of impressive results where she won national titles from 1,500m to half-marathon, Ruthe was on the verge of a major international breakthrough; winning the prestigious City2Surf road race in Sydney in 2007 and running the seventh fastest time in the 37-year history of the event.

Illness, injury and then pregnancy put a temporary hold on Ruthe’s career and at the beginning of the year, Ruthe’s first child, Sam was in a critical condition in hospital after a cesarean delivery, suffering from respiratory distress syndrome and needing life-support for the first five days of his life. After the traumatic birth, Jess then suffered from severe postnatal depression and in July, her problems were compounded when her father Trevor fell victim to a mystery illness that attacked his pancreas and shut down his heart, kidneys and liver, leaving him close to death in Waikato Hospital. An outstanding athlete in his day, Trevor’s Wright ran 2:12:28 for the marathon and represented England at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, while Ruthe’s mother Rosemary was a track runner at three Commonwealth Games, winning gold in 1970 and making the final of the 800m at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Ruthe’s father eventually made a full recovery from his illness and Jess fulfilled a promise she made to him while in hospital, by running this year’s marathon.

Running the entire way with her husband Ben, the 29-year-old won comfortably in 2:49:55 and the pair ran at a consistent pace throughout. “It was hard but a really nice long training run with the husband. It was a beautiful morning for it, so we stayed back from going out too fast so we could enjoy it”, Ruthe said after the race. Ben, who won the men’s marathon last year, said crossing the line with his wife far outweighed his own victory in 2008. “The amount she has come through in the last six months and to see her run like that was just brilliant”.

Auckland’s Lara Phillips had taken an early lead and she set the pace through to the Harbour Bridge, however coming off the bridge Ruthe overtook Phillips and took control of the race. Melissa Norris moved briefly into second place at 26km only to be passed by Phillips at 38km. Phillips went on to take second in 2:54:57, one minute ahead of Norris. After originally entering in the half marathon, Philips only opted to run the longer distance on Friday. “I couldn’t help myself from wanting to do the marathon, today was just a good solid training run and I look forward to getting down to 2h 40m again when I’m fitter”.

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STORY BY + JAMES MCLAUCHLAN
PHOTOS COURTESY + MIKHAIL PIERCE / AUCKLAND MARATHON