Close call in half marathon | Bay of Plenty Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Bay of Plenty

Just three seconds separated the winner and runner-up at Saturday's Whangamata Run/Walk Festival half marathon.

Kyle McDonald, of Tauranga, completed the 21km in one hour, 10 minutes and 41 seconds and took away the Jack Coffey Memorial Trophy, with Auckland's Paul Crowhurst right on his heels. Another 10 seconds back, last year's winner Craig Kirkwood, of Tauranga, was third.

Aucklander Mikki Williden was the first woman home, in 1.23.40. Runner-up was Jessica Lawson, of Tauranga (1.26.30) and third was Bridget Smith, of Auckland (1.29.43)

There was a total of 337 finishers in the half marathon.

In the 10km event, Katikati's Iain MacDonald was first home in 33min 43sec. Aucklander Tracey Futter was the first woman home, in 41min 14sec. Finishers in the 10km event totalled 446.

Hamilton's Kevin Fly was first home in the 5km event, in 18min 06sec. First woman was Grace Gill, of Pukekohe (21.36). A total of 314 completed the 5km event.

Of the large number of Whangamata entrants, Dennis Litt was first home in the half marathon and fifth overall in 1.20.43. Adam Palmer was the second local home (1.34.38), 34th overall. Jodi Milne was the first Whangamata woman home (1.51.11), when 104th overall.

Callum Stewart was the first Whangamata runner home in the 10km event, in 32nd overall (48.42), followed by Tim Holmes (53.26, 64th overall). Sue Hammond was the first local woman home (53.39, 68th overall), followed by Vanessa Bartley (55.09, 84th overall)

In the 5km event, Caydan Hope, 10, was the first local home in 20min 31sec and sixth overall, followed by Michael Eng (23.49), 17th overall. Rebecca Mitchell was the first Whangamata woman home (24.17, 20th overall), followed by Rebekah Palmer (25.44, 26th).

Race director Jan Findlay says this year's changes to the course were well received by participants, and they achieved their main aims.

They were firstly to remove congestion from the Port Rd, Ocean Rd intersection and also to standardise the shorter courses to exactly 10km and 5km, rather than 10.2km and 5.7km.

To page 8 with more photos