Valleys United Athletic Club

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

By Simon England

Valleys United Jonathan Wyatt has become NZ's first marathon qualifier for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester next year. He sneaked under the 2hr 15min qualifying time by 5sec in Berlin on Sunday (Sept 30), clocking 2hr 14min 55sec to slice six minutes off his previous best over the distance. He was 24th in the men's race of an event rendered somewhat historic by Japanese woman Naoko Takahashi, the Olympic champion, who ecame the first woman to break the 2hr 20min barrier in recording 2:19:46.
Wyatt has publicly stated his ambition to run marathons at the highest level, and his aim all along on this two-month European tour was to post the qualifying time -- mission accomplished on that front.
However, he wants to keep his options open and will use the upcoming summer season to attempt a qualifying time in the 10,000m on the track. In terms of national marathoner prospects for Manchester, Jonno is now top of the selectors' lists despite being shy of the 2:13:38 run by Phil Costley to win on Queensland's Gold Coast back in June. Costley's performance came outside the Commonwealth Games qualifying period, and he's hoping to post a qualifying time in Fukuoka, Japan, in December. Wyatt, running only his second marathon after winning at Rotorua in April, said he went out harder than he intended, going through the first half in Berlin in around 2hr 11min pace. That happened because he chose a pack which ended up running a little faster than he wanted, and he was forced to stick with them, or face running most of the distance on his own. With 1km to run a tiring Wyatt knew he was close to the qualifying time. ``Coming down the finishing straight it looked like a long way, and there wasn't much left for a sprint finish,'' he said. ``It was a difficult race, it went out of my hands and I was running quicker at the start than I wanted to. ``I was in and out of my comfort zone all the time. I'm probably reasonably pleased -- on a good day I could have run about a minute quicker, but at least I qualified.'' Jonno's next assignment is as part of the Valleys United A team at the national road relay championships from Christchurch to Akaroa this weekend.
Kenya took the first three placings in Berlin, with Joseph Ngolepus winning in 2hr 8mins 47secs, 21 seconds ahead of Willy Cheruiyot. William Kiplagat was third in 2hrs 09mins 55secs. The most notable performance in Berlin this year, though, came from Takahashi, who was running her first marathon since winning the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics a year ago. Takahashi beat the mark of 2hr 20mins 43secs set on the same course in Berlin two years ago by Kenya's Tegla Loroupe.