2009 Cadbury Marathon
31 Dec 2008
The 2009 Cadbury Marathon titles will head interstate, along with excess baggage of chocolate.
Sydney’s David Criniti and Canberra’s Liz Bennett were the title winners over the 42.195kms.
Criniti’s time of 2 hours 29 minutes 55 seconds was the fastest since 2000 and a great start to the year for the ultra running dynamo. His form had been strong, with a second placing at the Canberra Marathon and fifth at the Melbourne Marathon in 2008.
The Parramatta athlete was the one to beat heading into the race and was kept company by Darren Moyle of Sydney early on, before opening up an ever increasing lead on his way to victory.
“It was a fantastic way to kick off 2009 and it’s exciting to be in that good of form and hopefully in 2010 I can beat the legendary Colin Oliver’s course record a shake,” he said. That record of 2:23.59 set in 1995, plus the course record bonus are clearly in sight for Criniti now.
Locals were struggling to remember a day that brought good weather in recent times, but the sunny 22 degree day was just what the marathon gods asked for. “It was perfect out there, especially with the 6am start, it was nice and cool which was ideal for the marathon. It was great to have the half guys out there which made for some great atmosphere on the course and running along the coastline was quite scenic.”
The last time Liz Bennett ran Cadbury was in 2007, when she was second to the incredible Hanny Allston, prior to that, she was a winner in 2004. Her time of 3:16.14 this year was faster than her winning effort of five years ago and will provide the confidence she needs as her next challenge will be ultra marathon runs in 2009.
The race for the minor placing’s in the men’s marathon turned into the battle for the Tasmanian Championship, between defending champion Jarrod Shaw and former Athletics Tasmania staffer Daniel Smee.
The pair are regular training partners and only 4 seconds separated them at the finish, with Smee gaining the upper hand at the top of the hill coming into the Cadbury Estate, to bolt to the finish and claim second overall.
In 1984, Robyn Wallace won the Cadbury Marathon and she returned to Cadbury 25 years later, to take second place, some 16 minutes faster than she did back in the 80’s. Wallace had been living in Queensland recently, having only just moved back to her former state, where she is now the state champion. Jess Baker of New South Wales was third only 7 seconds behind Wallace.
352 brave souls lined up in the Cadbury Half Marathon, which was a record field in the 26 year history of the event. The men’s race saw a large pack of runners together for the first 8kms of the race, as they made their way around Cadbury Estate and up 10 Mile Hill in Austins Ferry.
At the halfway mark, Launceston’s David Thomas poured on the pressure to put a gap on the rest of the field and was clearly in front as he reached the 14.5 kilometre turn at the Derwent Entertainment Centre. It was all smooth sailing from there, as he powered home to win in 1 hour 10min 59 seconds ahead of local athletes Jason Allie and Damon Court.
The women’s half marathon was dominated by defending champion Angela Grimmond of Hobart. In 2008, the Tasmanian Distance Runner of the Year series leader made her debut at the distance, to take out her first major fun run. Yesterday’s time of 1 hour 23 minutes 11 seconds was some 8min faster than her effort 12 months ago, and added to her impressive string of victories in recent times. Christie Harris from Hobart was second, ahead of Julia Davies who took third.
Both the Cadbury Marathon and Cadbury Half Marathon were point scoring events in the Tasmanian Distance Runner of the Year series, which will conclude in March with the Tasmanian 5,000m track championships. A full point score will be released later in the week.
Keeping in the fun spirit of the event, organisers put on the Freddo 5km and Caramello 1.25km events for those not quite up to running as far.
Pat Smith and Kylie Risk won themselves some nice prizes from Brooks and Cadbury in taking out the Freddo 5km. Four laps of the Cadbury Estate was a great way to see Tasmania’s second most visited tourist attraction, with participants handed a Cadbury chocolate at the finish, by Freddo Frog himself.
The Caramello 1.25km was a one lap race of the Cadbury Estate for little kids who were high fived by Caramello Koala at the finish. All money raised for that event were donated to the Clown Doctors charity.
Congratulations to the following winners of the events at the 2009 Cadbury Marathon Festival;
Male Cadbury Marathon -
1st Dave Criniti (Sydney) 2:29.55
2nd Daniel Smee (Hobart) 2:41.00
3rd Jarrod Shaw (Hobart) 2:41.04
Female Cadbury Marathon -
1st Liz Bennett (Canberra) 3:16.14
2nd Robyn Wallace (Hobart) 3:16.561
3rd Jess Baker 3:16.58
Male Cadbury Half Marathon -
1st David Thomas (Launceston) 1:10.59
2nd Jason Allie (Hobart) 1:12.00
3rd Damon Court (Hobart) 1:15.20
Female Cadbury Half Marathon -
1st Angela Grimmond (Hobart) 1:23.11
2nd Christie Harris (Hobart) 1:27.54
3rd Julia Davies 1:29.50
Male Freddo 5km Fun Run - Pat Smith (Launceston)
Female Freddo 5km Fun Run - Kylie Risk (Hobart)
Full results will be made available shortly.
A record number of entries were received, with 149 in the Cadbury Marathon and 352 in the Cadbury Half Marathon.