Suter defends marathon title

Ultra-distance running is so hard on the body, athletes need to space their races carefully to give themselves enough time to recover.

One or two a year is the recommended dose, if you're going to do them at all.

Hamilton's Kerry Suter ignored those rules to win the 100km Tarawera Ultra Marathon on Saturday.

He did it just four weeks after finishing second in the national 100km road race in Taupo.

Suter defended his title won over 87km last year, and his efforts were the cherry on top of a great day for the Hamilton Hawks. The first four-person team over the line were, Stefan Wagner, Hadley Craig, Angela Simpson, Simon Hoekstra.

Garry Wilson and Hugh Ratsey were the first two-man team home and the Hawks also took the women's title with former Olympic cyclist Michelle Hyland and former national rowing champ Gabby Rogers winning that title.

Kirsten Milne enjoyed the first two legs of the women's race so much, she did the third to be the unofficial women's 60km winner.

For Suter, finishing the race was one of "the hardest thing I've ever done".

Standing at the start line on Saturday he said he knew he was a long way from 100 per cent fit and was worried he would not be able to finish.

"Most of my friends had me pegged for a DNF so I had to keep going otherwise I'd never hear the end of it. Worst pain of my life. No question.

"When you look at the watch and go 'f***, I'm smashed and I have at least 5hrs to go,' that makes you want to sit down and have a cry."

Fully fit, Suter thinks he could have finished the trail event in about 8 1/2 hours, but Saturday's event took 9h 47m – and he still won by more than an hour.

"That's why you do ultra distance anything. You want to see how hard you can push yourself and for how long. So starting a 100km run in 60 per cent shape really just raises the bar a bit."

Despite struggling from early in the race, Suter said he wasn't short of motivation.

Australian Warren Lane was talking up his chances the night before the event at the race briefing, but blew out and finished in 13 hours, while other people were telling him a second ultra-distance race could not be done so soon.

"There is no way to fire someone up better then to tell them they can't."

But the run may have come at a price for Suter who is now focusing his efforts on the World Champs in Gibraltar in November.

His run on Saturday was the 921st day in a row he'd run for at least 30 minutes or five km. Yesterday that streak was in doubt as he recovered.

"Racing ultra-distance and running everyday don't go well together.

"I also need to take a serious approach to my training for World Champs and I can't do that without giving my legs a bit of a break."

- © Fairfax NZ News