No finish at Port Chalmers for marathon

The Dunedin marathon will no longer finish in Port Chalmers, instead terminating at Forsyth Barr Stadium.

Runners were not comfortable running so close to vehicles on State Highway 88 out to Port Chalmers, so organisers have opted for a new second half of the 42.2km run. The event, set to be run on September 4, will still start at Harington Point but will no longer take participants along the western side of Otago Harbour and end at Watson Park in Port Chalmers.

The marathon will merge with the half marathon and 10km runs at the Harbour Molars on Portsmouth Dr.

From there, competitors will weave through a course which includes a run through the Botanic Gardens and around the university campus.

The finishing stages will have runners go up Ravensbourne Rd and then cross to the cycleway and back to Forsyth Barr Stadium to finish.

The half marathon and 10km run will start and finish at the stadium and run a similar course as the full marathon.

Race director Charlotte Meiklejohn said organisers had received a lot of feedback from competitors that they did not like running so close to vehicles on SH88.

She said feedback had been largely positive about the changes but there had been some criticism of the abandonment of the old course.

Road management was not an issue on SH88, but it was felt a new course could also promote more of Dunedin.

There was also the attraction of holding the finish at the stadium and also having the prizegiving at that venue. Last year it had hailed at Port Chalmers while competitors were still finishing and many people did not go to the prizegiving, as it was back at Logan Park.

She said the new course was not set in stone and if there was widespread support for the old course then this would be considered for next year.

This was the 40th year of the marathon. Last year there were about 1500 entries and the aim was to get to 2000 this year.

Cadbury was no longer sponsoring the event and Meiklejohn was looking for a new sponsor.

The event also doubles as the New Zealand half marathon championships.

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