Discussion: Hanny Allston wins Melbourne Marathon

A fantastic effort by Hanny to win in 2h40m34s

Only her second marathon attempt ever, Hanny Allston has quickly established credibility as an elite runner on the Australian athletics scene. Hanny competed in her first marathon in her hometown of Hobart last January 2007 and placed an impressive 6th.

With 664 females registered in the 42km marathon, the field was anticipated to be highly competitive and did not disappoint. Australians took out the trifecta with Hanny Alston (TAS) first in a personal best time of 02:40:34, Helen Stanton (QLD) second in 02:41:51 and Billinda Schipp (NSW) third in 02:42:22.

Is this the first orienteer to win a major city marathon?

Hanny was with a pack of about 4 girls until 20km, but by half way they fell away quickly and soon Hanny had a 100m gap. From then on Hanny remained strong at about 3:45 pace and no other girls could match her.

Photos (some of Hanny and others of Melbourne Midday Milers runners)

i know that Mr. Orienteering ( Jorgen M) posted a 2.18 in 92 i believe good enough to win the sweden champs at Stockholm marathon. Also Zoltan Lantos from Hungary National team posted a 2.14 in mid 80's ,not sure if we won Dudapest marathon with this. Could be others strong too. but hats off to Hanny !!!

I think Martensson's Stockholm win was in 1993, the year that the elite O races in Sweden were canceled after Melker Karlsson died the previous year.

more here

Good win, but 2:40:34 is a bit slow surely. I would have thought Hanny would have been targetting 2:30 (or is that next year?). I think it would be good for orienteering if she went on to bigger and better things in athletics - I just hope she has chosen the right event.

It's certainly a good result for Hanny - certainly the best running result I can recall in Australia for someone who's an orienteer foremost (i.e. not including Martin Dent or Lauren Shelley - who incidentally won the half yesterday in 1.14). However, it's still a fair way from qualifying for the Olympics, let alone being a contender there. She'd probably need to take at least another 6-8 minutes off that time to be a chance of making the Australian team.

At the moment Hanny would probably rank around the outer edge of the Australian top 10 female distance runners, and her result on the weekend is consistent with that.

Don't forget she's still very young for marathon running. Just have a look at the marathon season top list and you'll see not many girls of her age have gone under 2:40. The ones that have are mostly Asian, who usually reach their top at a younger age. This result surely shows potential for reaching the top in a few years from now.

I don't think its relevant where Hanny ranks currently - she is young and very talented and has got to be on the way up, so where she is now is of little consequence. One problem with having a marathon as your chosen distance is that performance (and team selection) are somewhat of a lottery given specific conditions on the day and the fact that good marathoners usually only run 2 or 3 races per year. While it might be more enjoyable to run a city marathon, 5000 or 10000m are probably better distances to target for young, talented, ambitious runners.

I'm very surprised that you think its just the marathon which is a lottery when it comes to selection with Athletics Australia....

Is this the first orienteer to win a major city marathon?

Back in 1986 another (ex)orienteer - Swede Kjell-Erik Ståhl - won the Stockholm Marathon in 2.12.33, which still is a respectable time on a tough course that seldom gives fast times - with the course record 2.11.37 from 1983 still standing. His best time of 2.10.38 earned him a 4th place at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki.

Kjell-Erik was on the Swedish orienteering team in the late seventies and was, not surprisingly, particularly good in 'continental' terrain where a lot more running speed paid off.

Annichen Kringstad ran the Stockholm Marathon in 1984 and placed 4th in a time of 2.40.30 in her pursuit of a spot on the Olympic squad, which she never got (the 'official' limit was sub-2.40).

Isn't Sara Mae Berman (CSU) a past winner of Boston? (I could be mistaken on this one...)

Yup, Sara Mae won in 1969, 1970, and 1971, though those are considered "unofficial" wins since they did not officially allow women to race then.

Sara Mae also held the women's world record for the marathon at around that time — officially — not all marathons excluded women the way Boston did at the time (Boston later retroactively recognized the women who raced in those early years). But at the time, Sara Mae was not yet an orienteer!

Really? I thought the Bermans have orienteered for ages??

They have! But there wasn't much orienteering to be had back then. There wasn't even a US Championship until 1970. They've definitely been orienteering since long before you were born, kiddo, and anything before that pretty much goes back to prehistoric times. :-)

Been a long time since anyone called me kiddo... :)

"anything before that pretty much goes back to prehistoric times."

... doesn't Boris?

Pretty sure you are older than me, Neil.

you're up past your bedtime, kiddo

If PG has gone to bed I think I´m the oldest one around this thread for the moment - and it´s actually past even my bedtime here in Sweden - so go to bed at once, both of you!

I believe Norwegian Jan Fjaerestad (sp?) deserves mention here. My memory says he did ~2:12 around 1979. I don't think he ever represented Norway at a WOC, but he was at the nation team level, attending a pre WOC training camp in 1978, and perhaps winning a Norwegiam Long O title(?) at some point. Can anybody confirm?

Later, did my own homework- 2:13:31 in 1983, and I'd sure like to edit what I wrote about his orienteering accomplishments, multiple WOC appearances, highlighted by an individual silver, as well as gold, silver, and bronze relay medals.

Aussie orienteer Libby Hassall was ranked in the top 10 in the world in marathon in 1979 with a 2.39.48, and won the sydney city to surf a couple of times...

Must remember that. Bound to come up in an Easter trivia competition.

I'd forgotten (how could I) about my old friend Carey May, co-founder with me of Ajax Orienteering and Athletic Club (Dublin). Carey won the Osaka Marathon 3 times, set an Irish record of 2.28.07, was 28th in the LA Olympics 1984, and represented Ireland in the World Orienteering Championships in Finland 1979

Kiwi John Robinson (father of Tania, now an M65) won the World Masters in 2:18 in 1978 or 79 aged 35 or 36.

2:40 is a very good time, but I think Hanny will peak marathon-wise in time for London 2012.