Great Forest Marathon 2007

It was a new course this year - advertised as being "challenging", and it lived up to its billing. At 5:06:55 my time for this course is comfortably within the range of 5:00-5:10 that I normally walk for a marathon, but the course seemed to take a much greater toll on me than normal. The old, two-lap course had been within the northern forest. The new course started with 1.9km on the streets of Waitarere, 9.2km in and around the southern forest, another 3.6km through the streets, and the remaining 27.5km in the northern forest. While the addition of the short street sections could have made the course faster, the forest sections were now more undulating, and included sections of soft sand and more undulations.

At the start a lead group of three quickly formed - Chris Aroa, Lynton McClay, and myself. Tim Dutton was not far behind. We had a good initial pace, but then we were still on the streets. After some uncertain (and unmarked) turns through the streets, we entered the forest. By now Chris and I had a short lead on Lynton. The surface was intially very good, but shortly gave way to an uneven track through grass and sand. I decided to push for an advantage through this section, and opened a lead of a few metres over Chris. Eventually we came back on to a good metalled road, and we could pick the pace back up again. Around a bend and up a rise, I took the opportunity to check behind. Chris was still only just behind me, and perhaps 50m back Tim had passed Lynton.

Chris caught me as I stopped briefly to flick a stone out of my shoe, and then we walked together through to the end of the loop through the forest. At 11.1km we were back on the streets of Waitarere. 12km came up shortly, and I again took the opportunity to look back. An orange singlet appeared to be around 800m back, so that was probably Tim. I didn't conciously pick up the pace, but suddenly Chris dropped behind me. I was feeling good at this point, and felt I had a pace that could maintain for a long time to come.

Shortly before 15km we entered the northern forest. It immediately became clear that (a) we weren't on the same forestry roads as the old course, and (b) this year's roads were not going to be nearly as fast as previous. It also looked like a lot of feet had already passed this way, leaving a lot of the surface quite muddy and slippery. However, I was still making good progress along this section, and managing to hold a pace just a little slower than 7 min/km [see pace chart]. I started to catch the back markers from the half marathon and 10k walk. Initially there was just one or two, but as I crested one rise I was dismayed to see a sea of walkers in front of me. Most were easy to get around, although some weaving across the track was required, but there were also several large groups spread four abreast across the track.

Unofficial Finishers List for the 2007 Marathon Walk

	Name	Time	Place
	Tim Dutton	5:06:12	M1
	Andrew Shelley	5:06:55	M2
	Chris Aroa	5:18:49	F1
	Shirley Dixon	5:31:20	F2
	Lynton McLay	5:43:26	M3
	Janice Sangster	5:46:36	F3
	Kevin Vicary	5:50:59	M4
	Brian Sangster	5:53:52	M5
	Mike Leahy	5:54:04	M6
	Bruce Worsley	5:59:28	M7
	Averil Sheehan	6:05:18	F4
	James Reed	6:05:21	M8
	Donna Bainbridge	6:05:31	F5
	Ann Benney	6:05:41	F6
	Linda Derry	6:12:03	F7
	Albie Jane*	6:13:15	M9
	Ian Andrews	6:27:11	M10
	Sheryl Hunt	6:27:55	F8
	Wayne Hunt	6:27:57	M11
	Carol Vince	6:29:09	F9
	Ces Reed	6:29:11	M12
	Dave Scott	6:35:42	M13
	Elise Broadbent	7:10:17	F10
	Connie Nisbet	7:10:17	F11
	Lisa Johnston	7:10:17	F12
	Richard Leach	7:51:48	M14
	* officially entered as a runner, but had a broken arm and walked the entire way

On to a soft sandy section through the forest, turn right and up a narrower (but still sandy) track. Near the end of that track Sonja McLean from my harrier club, ran past. Also at the end of that track was a drinks table, and the marathoners turned left while the half marathoners went straight ahead. Initially we were on good roads, but again they deteriorated and we were on to softer sand, and several noticeable undulations. At two points we emerged on to the true left bank of the Manawatu river, although it was not a particularly picturesque sight. Turning away from the river for the last time, we had to climb a short, steep, sandy hill, which was quickly followed by two short, steep, sandy downhills.

My pace had now slipped considerably, having lost around 5 minutes over 6km. I reasoned that the roads home should be fast, so I might still be able to make the time up and finish at around 5 hours. I was also starting to grow concerned that although I hadn't seen anyone behind me for the last 15km or so, 5 minutes was giving them a big chance to catch up. Sonja was still visible from time-to-time, so I tried to increase my pace so that I could close the gap.

Finally we were out on to the hard packed gravel roads again and I could pick up the pace, at least in a relative sense. We were also back in to the throngs of slower half marathon walkers, and it was getting very hot in the sun. Down the road and again the half marathoners and marathoners parted company: half marathoners were turning left and heading straight for home; the marathoners turned right and headed away from home! A few hundred metres down the road we turned left and on to a track through the forest. I took advantage of the turn to look back up the road. To my dismay I could see Tim Dutton perhaps about 200m back. I immediately picked up my pace in an effort to hold him off.

Out of the forest and back on to the road at the last drink stop, once again joining the walkers from the shorter distances. Tim was still closing, and with almost exactly 2km to go he drew level. We walked together for the next km, dodging around the slower walkers. With 1km to go Tim pulled ahead. I had run out of steam, and Tim continued on to win by less than 100m.