Gamblin and Ward win marathon title

Press, 27 February 1984, Page 22

Gamblin and Ward win marathon title

John Gamblin (Ashburton) and Kathryn Ward (Christchurch) won the men's and women’s Canterbury marathon championship titles in hot conditions on Saturday. Gamblin has already won several road races this season, including the A grade 20km championship. On that occasion. a fortnight ago. he beat Greg Clark (Toe H) in a sprint finish. Clark, who had won the Rangiora 20 mile race last month, was thought to have a good chance of beating Gamblin in the marathon championship. The pair began cautiously, letting the seasoned ultra-distance runner and national veteran marathon champion. John Souter, open up a lead in the first few kilometres. But after skm Gamblin and Clark edged into the lead, taking Gavin Craig (Toe H) with them.

The time through the 10km was nearly 40 minutes, one of the slowest splits for a marathon in recent years. Gamblin said after the race that the time did not concern him because the only thing that mattered was to win, and to win the race it had to be run tactically.

“I did 2:30 in the Adidas and I would have liked to have gone under 2:30 but my main aim was to win.

“I aimed to stay with Greg because I knew I’d probably have more leg speed. The pressure was on him really to try to break away from me." The race began at Halswell and followed the foot of the Port Hills to McCormacks Bay. which was the half-way mark. For much of the first half the small field of about 50 had to battle into a northeasterly wind.

Clark and Gamblin reached half-way in about 1:19.40. There was a gap back to Craig, followed by Jeff Hill (Anglican), and the veterans, John Brownie (New Brighton) and Souter, with about a minute separating each of them. Clark began to force the

pace. “It was all I could do to hang on and several times I thought I was going to drop off." said Gamblin. But he managed to hang on and, with less than a kilometre to run, applied pressure down a hill and opened up 10 metres. Clark's cluo-mates urged him on and he caught Gamblin as thev turned into the finishing straight in Kennedy’s Bush Road with about 800 metres to run. They ran shoulder-to-shoulder until Gamblin sprinted with 200 metres to run to finish three seconds clear.

Conditions were cooler for the last hour of the race, but by then it was too late for many and half the field, including Craig, withdrew, leaving only 20 finishers. Times were slow because of the conditions.

Ward went to an early lead in the women's section and kept a consistent pace. It was her sixth marathon and she was aiming to improve on her previous best of 3h 21min. “I was thinking of running close to three hours but with the temperatures so warm I put it back to about 3h lOmin. I slowed toward the end because I knew I had a bit up my sleeve," she said.

Ward went through 30km in 2:13.04. nine minutes ahead of Sue Taylor (St Martins), and finished 15 minutes ahead of her.

However, she is unavailable for the national marathon championship at Wanganui next month. Results.— Gamblin 2:34.59, 1; Clark 2:35.02. 2; J. Hill (Anglican) 2:41.53, 3; M. Hughes (Sumner) 2:45.38, 4; J. Brownie (New Brighton) 2:49.08. 5 and first veteran; J. Souter (Timaru) 2:52.47, 6 and second veteran; D. Humphreys (Q.E.) 3:06.07, 7; L. Blair (United) 3:07.48, 8; K. Ward (Christchurch) 3:08.34 and first woman, 9; T. McQuoid (Q.E.) 3:10.40, 10; S. Cleaver (Olympic) 3:10.40, 11; D. Gregory (Q.E.) 3:16.53. 12 and third veteran.

Other women: S. Taylor (St Martins) 2:23.42, 2.