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MARATHONER MOORE 18TH AFTER HARD MELBOURNE SLOG
[March 18, 2006]

MARATHONER MOORE 18TH AFTER HARD MELBOURNE SLOG


(New Zealand Press Association Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Melbourne, March 19 NZPA - Rebecca Moore barely made a passing manoeuvre and was overtaken by the most of the men long before she entered the MCG, but the exhausted Cantabrian at least finished the Commonwealth Games marathon here today.



Jelly-legged and complaining of dizzy spells after a soul destroying slog around Melbourne, Moore beat only one competitor to the finish line as she clocked 3hr 03min 35sec -- a massive 30mins outside her personal best.

Moore, who finished 18th, never improved on that placing throughout the race but was spared the ignominy of tailing the field by Jamaican Arieta Moore who jogged to the tape 29 minutes later.


New Zealand's other entrant, United States-based Liza Hunter-Galvan, was one of four starters who failed to see out the 42km assignment.

Galvan was steadily working her way through the original 23-strong field and climbed as high as 13th before leg cramps forced her to quit about 7km from the finish.

Moore was also in difficulty early on but persevered despite running the latter stages of the race on her own.

``I came her to run for New Zealand and I didn't want to pull out if I could help it,'' she told NZPA.

``I wasn't running that well and I felt flat for a long time but there lots of people cheering for me, they were behind you no matter what.''

Moore, who was unaware Hunter-Galvan had withdrawn, said ``just finishing is an amazing effort.

``I didn't do the time I wanted but it was great to finish.''

Moore, who has fonder memories of last year's races in Milan and Rotterdam said she now planned an ``active rest'' before tackling an eighth marathon -- destination unknown -- in October-November. Defending champion Kerryn McCann gave the home crowd an early excuse to extend an orgy of self-congratulation to the track and field arena as she outlasted Kenyan Koskei Cherono in a classic dogfight over the last 10km.

McCann powered clear when she entered the cauldron to take the gold in 2hr 30min 54sec -- her best time since she won in Manchester four years ago.

Cherono was just 2sec further back while England's Elizabeth Yelling claimed bronze in 2hr 32min 19sec.

The men's race, which started 45 minutes after the women set off, was won by Samson Ramadhani Nyoni of Tanzania in 2hr 11min.29sec.

Kenyan Fred Tumbo took silver and England secured a second marathon bronze through Daniel Robinson.

NZPA SYD cb hc

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