Hunter-Galvan Hunting Six

Liza Hunter-Galvan returns home to New Zealand next weekend, chasing a record sixth win at the Christchurch Airport Marathon.

Held annually on the Sunday of Queen’s Birthday Weekend, organisers are expecting 5000 runners from more than a dozen countries and all over New Zealand for the 36th Christchurch Airport Marathon.

One of the visitors is Kiwi born but American based, Liza Hunter-Galvan, who returns for what she hopes will be a sixth win in seven attempts at the South Island’s premier marathon event.

As a mother of five, she juggles life between home in Texas and frequent visits to her elderly parents near Auckland. On previous visits she has won the Auckland and Rotorua Marathons, but it is Christchurch, where she won her first marathon way back in 1999, that remains her favourite.

The Auckland-born marathon specialist has lived in San Antonio, Texas for more than 20 years. Coached by the late Arthur Lydiard as a schoolgirl, she left New Zealand for an American university track and field scholarship. She has lived there ever since, married a Mexican-American and despite a car accident that almost killed one of her five children, she went on to wear the silver fern at both the Athens and Beijing Olympics and clock a best time of 2hrs 29min to be among New Zealand’s 10 fastest female marathoners.

But in 2009 a positive test for the blood boosting drug EPO cast doubt over everything she had done. Following her two-year suspension, Hunter-Galvan chose the 2011 Christchurch Marathon as her comeback race and shrugged off media attention to win. She defended that title in 2012, 2013 and 2014, but in 2015 the younger legs of Hamilton’s Alice Mason and Dunedin’s Mel Aitken saw her slip to third.

In 2016, however, Hunter-Galvan returns for what she says is her last year of serious competition. Hoping to finish it where she started in 1999, the 46-year-old is aiming for a record sixth win and illustrated fine form with a win at the Rotorua Marathon on April 30th.

At the Christchurch event, defending champion Alice Mason, is opting for the half marathon distance this year, which double as the national championship. But 2015 runner-up, Mel Aitken, is returning for the full distance.

Aitken finished fourth behind Hunter-Galvan at Rotorua. But at Christchurch she has twice finished third (2012, 2013) and last year moved up to second, so the 39-year-old will be hungry for the top step of the podium.

Both women, however, will need to watch for Auckland’s Candace Hammond, a former national triathlon rep who has finished second in the Auckland Marathon and first in the Dunedin Marathon and has faster recent half marathon outings than Hunter-Galvan and Aitken.

Established in 1981, the Christchurch Marathon was inspired by the 1974 Commonwealth Games Marathon, in which Englishman Ian Thompson ran what was then the second fastest time in history (2hrs 09min 12secs). In 2015 the event moved back to the traditional fast, flat central city route for the first time since 2010.

The event is now based in Cathedral Square and race director Chris Cox says “The course we’re running is actually very similar to what we did prior to the earthquakes.”

Cox and his crew have been organising the Christchurch Airport Marathon since 1995. “It grew every year to 5800 participants,” he says. “Then the earthquakes saw it drop back to around 4000, so we’re rebuilding, just like the City.”

From Cathedral Square, the race takes in Hagley Park North and then heads out on the southern side of the Avon River, before returning on the northern side to finish back at Cathedral Square.

“It’s a great course,” says Cox. “Look around the world; every famous marathon is a tour of their city’s iconic areas. That’s what the Christchurch Marathon has always been and it’s great to be able to do that again.”

“This year we’ve made changes and worked hard with local authorities to reduce traffic congestion. But it is still a fast, flat and scenic course, and most importantly, it is iconically Christchurch, showcasing landmarks like Cathedral Square, Hagley Park and the Avon River – and even sections of red zone, which I think is entirely fitting.”

The 2016 Christchurch Airport Marathon gets underway at 8:00am on Sunday5th June. The format features the classic 42.2k marathon distance, the 21.1k half marathon, as well as the 10k and the Kids’ Mara’Fun with racing between 1k and 3k depending on age.

Entries are still open and can be made at christchurchmarathon.co.nz.

ENDS

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