Marathon men's rivalry tested on hills of Waitakere | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

Rotorua marathoner Steven O'Callaghan might be ruing giving Tauranga Rambler Iain Macdonald a hard time for pulling out of the Rotorua marathon this year.

The Lake City Athletic Club runner said it had been a constant talking point when the pair rubbed shoulders at events but it was Macdonald who had the last word when the pair squared off at the Lydiard Legend Marathon in the Waitakere hills on Saturday.

O'Callaghan came third, behind second-placed Macdonald and winner Dale Warrander.

"He had something to prove and he did very well," O'Callaghan said of Macdonald.

"He caught me up and we stayed together until a big uphill and I got away but on the big downhill he caught me up and passed me.

"They were fast on the downhills - I wasn't. They were long and seemed to be always down. The ups were so much easier."

It was O'Callaghan's first attempt at the Legend race, noted for taking runners over the hills Arthur Lydiard trained the likes of Peter Snell and Murray Halberg over.

He finished third in 2 hours 36 minutes and 57 seconds, some nine minutes off his Rotorua best of 2h 27m 20s and almost seven minutes behind Warrander.

"It was hard, extremely hard," O'Callaghan said.

"This year they added more hills in as the flat part had roadworks on it.

"I enjoyed all the uphills but there were too many downhills and my quads were really burning.

"I thought I should have got second but I didn't, so that was pretty disappointing. I'll have to come back to redeem myself."

He said the course lived up to its reputation of being harder than the circumnavigation of Lake Rotorua, although there are hills just as tough in the Whakarewarewa forest.

Hill, Moerangi and Direct Rds have borne the brunt of O'Callaghan's training but a hamstring injury in his final weeks of preparation left him feeling underdone.

"My legs aren't feeling too bad ... They're tired but I've been in a lot worse shape.

"I've got a few niggles to get sorted and then the national road relays coming up - I've got to help the club out."

Results: Men: Dale Warrander 2h 30m 1s 1, Iain Macdonald 2h 35m 21s 2, Steven O'Callaghan 2h 36m 57s 3; Women: Shireen Crumpton 2h 59m 32s 1, Ady Ngawati 3h 3m 19s 2, Lesley Turner Hall 3h 7m 10s 3.