It didn’t rain, and it wasn’t too hot or cold – but gosh was it windy! The biggest foe of fast times turned up in full force this morning, with 70km gusts buffeting runners all around the 7km loop course. The wind didn’t deter the largest field to assemble for a Half-Marathon at a Sri Chinmoy Iron Cove event this decade, in an encouraging sign of the continuation of Sydneysiders’ rediscovered love of running.
A cheerful cohort of Japanese runners not only provided wonderful atmosphere and tremendous support – they backed up their cheering with fantastic performances to fill several of the podium placings across various categories.
Matthew Gibson lasted strongest in the men’s Half-Marathon field to record an impressive win of 1:14:45, ahead of Timothy Broxup with 1:17:08 and Craig Gilbertson’s 1:17:35. In the Male 50-59, it was Paul Davis who took the win with his front-running 1:22:56, from Akira Suzuki’s 1:26:19 and Soonchul Shin with 1:26:37; while Benito Setoue took out the M60-69 with 1:58:18.
The women’s Half-Marathon saw Caroline Chong run a superbly controlled 1:28:43 to win the race, with Jo Franklin (1:30:57) and Madeleine Hoff (1:32:01) filing the podium placings of 2nd and 3rd. 4th and 5th places among all the women belonged to superb runs from the winner and runner-up of the F50-59 category – Britt Welander clocking an amazing (in the conditions) 1:33:37, from the impressive Sara Stace with 1:34:21. Meanwhile in the F60-69, Teresa Setoue placed 1st with 2:11:07.
The one-lap 7km race saw David Kennedy (24:52) hold off Michael Norris (25:26) and teenager Charlie Naughton (25:42) for a convincing win. David Winning was fastest among the M50-59 with 28:46, from Martin Richards’ 29:18. However the star of the race was new inductee to the M60-69 category, Richard Sarkies, who ran a phenomenal new course record 27:34, to sit alongside his still-standing M50-59 record – a full 5 minutes ahead of his nearest rival in the M60-69, Tetsundo Kato with 32:38. Brian Rayburn took out the M70+ in a more-than-respectable 42:19.
The women’s 7km race was well won by Kaori Hirakawa with 29:46 on the clock, ahead of Valeria Angulo with 31:00 and Corinne Buchan who ran 31:16. Roisin Boyle took out the F60-69 with a fantastic 33:03, with Rits Ikeda not far adrift with 34:31. Merrily O’Donnell meanwhile won the F70+ with 48:31, only 20 seconds ahead of Jill Farrer’s 48:52.
The 4km race saw Boys Under 13 winner Tobias Farruggio first outright with 17:08, with next place taken by Girls Under 13 winner, Emma Felsman’s 18:00 (ahead of her dad, Marcus Felsman, 1st in the M17+ with 18:39). Carmen Ogilvie took out the F17+ with 22:16.
