Strands Blog

Team Strands athlete Mike Aish battled strong wind, snow and hail for a hard-earned victory in the SBS Christchurch Marathon on Sunday.  Aish won by over 4 minutes, breaking the tape in 2 hours, 18 minutes, 18 seconds to claim his second-ever marathon title.

Aish led the field through most of the race, with help early from Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Andrew Letherby.  The pair brought the field through 5 km in under 16 minutes, but a strong headwind, hail and occasional snow drifts saw them slow from Jack Foster’s national record pace (2:11:18) to the more modest SBS Christchurch Marathon course record (2:15:12) pace.  They came together through the half at 1:07:28, but by mile 18, Aish was out in front alone – forging ahead and extending his lead to a decisive 4-minute margin before claiming a win in his first marathon on home soil.

“It wasn’t a great day to run fast out there,” Aish is quoted in release from the marathon.  “And to be honest, we sort of gave away the records at about 20 km.  I felt good, and the support on the course from spectators was awesome, but the wind was just too tough today.”

In second place was Australian Paul Martinico finishing in 2:22:50, and rounding out the podium was defending champion Rowan Hooper at 2 hours, 24 minutes.

Complete results are available at the SBS Christchurch results page.

Team Strands Weekend Race Recap

At Freihofer’s Run for Women in Albany, Team Strands athlete Elva Dryer placed 18th in 16 minutes, 42 seconds.  This was Dryer’s first race since a 12th place Boston Marathon finish (2:38:50).  For complete results, visit the Freihofer’s results page.

In the Reebok Grand Prix, Meghan Armstrong finished 11th in 16:25.53.  The race was won by Linet Masai (Kenya) in a surprise victory over Beijing gold medal winner and world 5000 meters record holder Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia).  Complete results are available on the Grand Prix results page.