In unforgiving conditions, the 21 year-old sports science and nutrition student at the University of Otago achieved the rare feat at yesterday’s Dunedin marathon.
Following his victory in the Emerson’s-sponsored marathon, Hayman said the conditions made for a bit of a slog.
"It was awful. It was pretty much a headwind the whole way."
The first 12km was good, but after that right through to the 38km mark he got pounded with swirling headwinds, before heading for the finish, where the final 4km offered a little more shelter, mixed with the odd tailwind.
The race was dominated early by pre-race favourites Tom Galloway (Christchurch) and Clinton Manderson (Nelson), who shared the lead until caught by Hayman at the 30km mark.
With Manderson forced to withdraw shortly afterwards with cramping and breathing difficulties, it was Hayman’s turn to put Galloway’s race into the hurt locker, as the debutant slowly pulled away.
"I thought I’d smoked it, to be honest," Hayman said of putting himself in a world of worry at the head of the field.
Despite a recent injury confining his training to time on the bike and in the pool cross-training, his victory meant "so much".
"My mind is all over the place at the moment.
"I’ve just put in so much work to get here."
Hailing from a triathlon background, Hayman is coached by Auckland’s Liam Bird.
"We’ve been working together for about a year. He’ll be stoked."
Hayman said he would spend time recovering and catching up with studies before heading away to the national road relay with his harriers club, Leith.
"After that it will be back into the triathlon season over the summer. Perhaps a few ironmans. We’ll see how that goes."
Given the unfriendly conditions, Hayman was happy with his time of 2hr 39min 48sec.
Galloway clocked 2hr 43min 36sec for second, and Welsh visitor Sam Joseph was thrilled to cross for third in 2hr 45min 15sec.
"That was just fantastic. It is one of the most scenic marathons I’ve ever done," Joseph said.
"But I have to say that the wind was brutal. All the way from Portobello it was pretty much a headwind."
"For a long stretch of it" there was nowhere to hide as he was running alone until he joined forces with James Davis (Dunedin).
"We had a good old battle and it came down to a sprint finish and thankfully I managed to come out on the right side of it."
Canterbury runner Hannah Oldroyd won the women’s marathon in 2hr 53min 50sec.
It was a third win in Dunedin for Oldroyd, following her triumphs in 2017 and 2023, while she has also won six Queenstown titles.
She declined to comment after the race.
Perhaps the story of the day belonged to second-placed Margie Campbell (Dunedin), who clocked a massive personal best of 2hr 54min 31sec.
Campbell, who won the title in 2022 in 2hr 56min 8sec, was not going to compete until two weeks ago, after coming off a strong half-marathon on the Sunshine Coast in which she clocked 1hr 21min.
"I thought I’d jump in but quickly regretted it when I saw what the wind direction was going to be."
With a revised race plan, her goal was not to ease into it but to go straight into race pace that would allow distance on the following group.
"It worked out perfectly. I’m stoked with the result and the time, its a good PB on the course.
"I thought my marathon days were done."
Aside from winning the event in 2022, yesterday’s result was the second time Campbell had finished runner-up in the event.
Third was Meg McKay, who finished in 3hr 3min 7sec.
By Wayne Parsons
