McLean gives young guns a marathon lesson

Grant McLean has vowed to return to contest Taranaki's popular mountain to surf marathon if only to keep the young guns on their toes.

McLean, 42, scored his second victory in the Bayleys Marathon on Saturday, having won it first in 2002. His time of two hours, 31 minutes, 35 seconds was eight minutes slower than his run eight years ago.

"I'm pretty pleased. That [2hr23min] is my best ever, but this is my best time as a master," McLean said after the gruelling 42.2km event.

The Wellingtonian proved too strong, crossing the line at Waitara's Marine Park 45sec ahead of runner-up Johann van Hoovels, of Thames.

He plans to be back next year to have another crack.

"I've got to keep the young guys honest."

McLean had no shortage of supporters at various vantage points over the course, which started at the Egmont National Park gates.

"They are great. All my uncles, aunts and cuzzies are from around here and I used to spend a lot of school holidays up here in Taranaki when I was a kid.

"So I've got a ready made rent-a-crowd," he laughed.

McLean is no stranger to winning major long distance races and can proudly call the Wellington Marathon his own, having won the event all five times it has been held.

Saturday's win shows he is on target to make it six in a row in June.

"They've got a big time bonus for anyone who can beat my record on the course so they should get a better field than usual."

McLean ran a measured race from the start on Saturday, conscious of the pitfalls of going out too hard early.

He kept early pacemaker Jamie Phillips, of Hawera, in his sights over the first 15km before taking control.

"I was fairly aggressive in the first half, 1hr14secs," McLean said.

"I knew it was going to be high risk because this guy Johann van Hoovels was always going to be tough, so I got that lead and just tried to hold on to it. It did get eroded, but I had enough left in reserve to hold it to the finish."

McLean said it wasn't all plain sailing and things got "pretty tough" towards the end as van Hoovels pulled back his lead from 1min30sec to 45sec at the finish.

"I got a second wind at about the 39k mark fortunately. That's where I got away in 2002 as well. I knew that the downhill section was coming up going into Waitara and went though the pain barrier there." McLean was affected, like many of the field, by a sharp rise in temperature later in the event.

"It was beautiful conditions for running and there was a bit of a sou-wester, which helped too."

McLean said his next marathon was likely to be the Rotorua race in May.

Van Hoovels made a race of it with McLean, finding the up-and-down course difficult.

"I've got cramps in my legs which is probably caused by the undulating track," he said while recovering from his exertions.

"There wasn't much in the end, but I couldn't get him [McLean]," he said.

Van Hoovels' effort was a much better result than when he contested the Bayleys Marathon three years ago.

"I completely crashed out. I went out too fast in the first half."

Van Hoovels is also contemplating competing in Rotorua in May.

- © Fairfax NZ News