Athletics Australia – NEWS – Chapple, Fearnley rewrite the record books

On a big weekend of running around the world, Victorian Nikki Chapple has recorded the fifth fastest half marathon on Australian record and wheelchair athlete Kurt Fearnley has smashed his own event record at the Sydney Wheelchair Marathon.

Just one day after finishing third in the two-mile event at the Great North City Games on Saturday, Chapple returned to the city streets of Newcastle for the 21.1km Great North Run.

The 28-year-old clocked an impressive 1:10.03 over the fast Newcastle course to move from No. 31 to No. 5 on the Australian all-time list and take more than four minutes off the personal best time of 1:14.38 she recorded in Melbourne in September last year.

Chapple now sits fifth on the Australian all-time list over the half marathon distance behind Kerryn McCann’s 1:07.48 (Tokyo, 2000), Benita Willis’ 1:07.55 (Newcastle, 2004), Susie Power’s 1:07.56 (Newcastle, 2002) and Lisa Ondieki’s career best mark of 1:08.33 (Tokyo, 1992).

Two of the top four times – set by Willis in 2004 and Power in 2002 – were recorded on the same city streets of Newcastle, northern England, as Chapple’s weekend result.

A former world junior championships and world cross country championships representative, Chapple made a quiet comeback to the sport in 2008, lining up for her first half marathon at Burnley in Victoria late last year.

Entering that race with hopes of a sub-80 minute run she clocked 1:14.38 to take out line honours. In October she contested the Melbourne Half Marathon, battling tough conditions to finish second in 1:16.34.

In May this year she won the Victorian state 10km championship, stopping the clock at 32:38.

In July she won the Launceston 10 in 32:44 before departing for Europe for a training stint with distance guru Nic Bideau. Earlier this month she placed third in the Great Yorkshire Run, securing a podium finish with her time of 32:41. She went on to place fourth in the Great Capital Run, clocking 16:03 over the 5km course.

Joining Chapple in the Newcastle field at the weekend was Australian running great Benita Willis, who placed second over two miles in the Great North City Games on Saturday and finished 10th in a time of 1:11.57 over the half marathon course the next day.

In the men’s race, Shawn Forrest placed ninth in a time of 1:03.41 and Great North City Games milers Mitch Kealey (1:29.15) and Collis Birmingham (1:29.16) placed 39th and 40th respectively.

Closer to home, Australian Paralympian Kurt Fearnley has taken out his second Sydney Wheelchair Marathon, smashing his previous event record by almost seven minutes. Fearnley powered through the course in 1:36.43, over six minutes ahead of his 2008 time of 1:43.01.
 
Fearnley is chasing six wins from six major international starts in 2009, and with wins in Paris, Seoul, London and now Sydney under his belt, needs only to win in Chicago in October and New York in November to achieve the feat.
 
Following yesterday’s win Fearnley said he was confident of rounding out the season on top.

“There’s three weeks to go until Chicago and then I go on to New York and my performance here is a great indicator for those upcoming events,” Fearnley said.
 
“This is the only marathon I do in Australia and I rarely get the chance to race on home soil so it’s great to be able to do this event with family and friends.”

The Sydney Marathon was won by Kenyan Julius Kiprotich Seurei (2:17.07), followed by Koji Taniguchi of Japan in 2:26.15 and New South Wales local Jeremey Horne, third for the second year in a row in 2:33.48.
 
The women’s marathon field was led by Japan’s Naoko Tsuchiya, who collected her third win following victories in 2006 and 2007, in a time of 2:52.46. Norie Furuya, also of Japan, was second in 2:59.08 and Cronulla’s Verity Tolhurst finished third in 3:03.33.
 
Over the half marathon distance, a race that doubled as the Australian half marathon championships, Canberra’s Brett Cartwright took out the national crown in a time of 1:07.29.

New South Wales runner Magda Karimal-Poulos stopped the clock at 1:19.29 to take out the women’s title for 2009.

At the 12km City-Bay event in Adelaide, Michael Shelley stormed home to win in 33:57, a full minute ahead of Clint Perrett in 34:58 and third place-getter Liam Adams in 35:12.

Five-time national 1500m champion Sarah Jamieson was the first female across the line, stopping the clock at 40:05 ahead of Cassie Fien in 40:21 and Lisa Flint in 40:46. Fien will contest the world half marathon championships in Birmingham, England, on October 11.

Athletics Australia – NEWS