Craig Iversen wins Southland Marathon for third time

Craig Iversen's win gave him the historic Southland Marathon Cup, the very same trophy first won by Dave Stewart in the original Southland Marathon back in 1909.

Craig Iversen won the Southland Marathon for a third consecutive time on Sunday.

The weekend heralded the end of winter running and start of summer track & field for Southland athletics.

End of winter was Sunday’s Festival of Running along the picturesque estuary walkway with marathon, 16k, 10k and 5km races.

Start of summer was Friday’s opening track and field meet at Surrey Park.

Both were met by squalls, showers, wind and cold. So much for summer sport.

Sunday’s marathon, doubling as the Southland Championship, was a repeat of last year with Craig Iversen taking the title and trophy with Jason Russell coming second some 20 minutes later.

It was similar to last year’s placings, except that Iversen ran close to 5 minutes faster than a year ago.

The Invercargill club member was aiming to go under 2hr 50min so his 2:45.12 well and truly achieved his aim.

This was Iversen’s third consecutive marathon victory. The win gave him the historic Southland Marathon Cup, the very same trophy first won by Dave Stewart in the original Southland Marathon back in 1909.

Nicole Jackson was the first woman in 3:48.25 which made her 5th overall.

James McLeay on his way to winning the 10km event at the Southland Festival of Running.

Highlights from the other events included James McLeay’s easy win in the 10k, Kimberley Iversen (Craig’s daughter) first 10k female and third overall, Max McGregor impressive in winning the 5km with Millie McFadzien not far behind and first female.

Max and Millie, both 14, have been standouts all winter among younger Southland runners.

Kimberley Iversen was the first female home in the 10km race at the Southland Festival of Running on Sunday.

Friday’s track & field meet was more potential than actual with no startling performances, but it did give an indication of exciting times ahead.

Trent Hogg showed he’s in for a good summer with a PB shot, despite adverse conditions, as did Bea Christie and Hector O’Rorke.

Long jumpers William Robertson and Connor Gilliland opened their season with monster jumps – only problem is they both had a toe over the board so distances were not recorded.

But they both know big jumps are there providing they get board accuracy right.

Meanwhile in Dunedin Carlie Scherp threw the discus 39.53 to exceed her sister Ashlynn’s W16, 17 and 18 record set two years ago.

Sandwiching the two events was Saturday’s Rakiura Challenge, a 32km off road ultra on Stewart Island with Dwight Grieve finishing third and first masters (2:37.24) and Virginia Pile winning the woman’s race (3:21.33).