BLUE Mountains endurance running champion Brendan Davies yesterday became the inaugural winner of the Orange Colour City Running Festival marathon with a clinical effort in near perfect running conditions.
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Davies led from start to finish in the city’s first 42.2 kilometre run, finishing in a time of two hours, 39 minutes and 13 seconds.
Amid the slight drizzle and cool February weather, Davies brushed aside a tough headwind early on in the piece to blitz the field and run away with the win.
“It was quite tough out there,” Davies said.
“It’s quite an undulating little course. I don’t mind those kind of courses coming from the mountains, but the head wind was the toughest part.
“About five, 10 kilometres straight into the wind.
“But it was excellent. It’s nice and cool. Beautiful conditions for running.”
Starting alongside 88 other marathon entrants, Davies, from Woodford in the Blue Mountains, hit the front from the start at 6.30am yesterday morning and didn’t look back.
“And I just kind of built on it as we went on,” he added.
“I’m in training for an ultra marathon in New Zealand, the Tarawera100. That’s in three weeks’ time, so this is my last long hit- out above race pace. I was looking to go pretty hard.
“I achieved my goal.”
Davies has been a regular at the Orange running festival for the last couple of years.
And, after yesterday’s win, the marathon runner is within sight of a historic hat-trick.
“I won the 10k here last year, I think I came second in the half marathon two years ago. I think I’ll have another crack at the half-marathon and try and get the trifecta of victories in my career,” he laughed.