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BLUE Mountains runner Brendan Davies has once more claimed bragging rights after the annual Bathurst Half Marathon yesterday.
The experienced Davies picked up his third win in the event to go alongside his 10-kilometre win in 2012, and did it in convincing style in warm conditions.
He crossed the line in one hour, 16.41 minutes to defeat Dani Andres, while Bathurst runner Wes Gibson was third past the post, and the first of the locals to finish the long course event.
As he prepares for another assault on the brutal North Face 100km race in a couple of weeks, Davies was pleased to get an idea of how well his fitness and speed is tracking.
“I just wanted to see how everything is going basically and get a gauge on how intense I will be able to run in the North Face,” he said.
“I know that I’ve run this race three or four minutes quicker in the past than what I did today, and it would have been better if I could have managed that again, but my back didn’t feel great.
“It was beginning to seize up after a while and made things difficult.
“I couldn’t push myself as hard as I would have liked today. But I’m really happy with the result and to be able to get through this after the amount of work I’ve been putting in is a good feeling.”
Davies was never really headed in the main event, and for much of his run he had to pace himself alongside 10km winner Paul Moran before Moran’s run came to an end.
From that point on, Davies was on his own and finished well clear of Andres who clocked 01:18:58.
Running more than 200km per week in preparation for the North Face clearly put Davies in good stead, and he was also pleased to see some of his training partners finish strongly.
“I coach with Wes and I’ve also been coaching Blair Hurst for the last six months, he finished fifth so it was great to see him perform so well,” the winner said.
“I’m feeling good about what’s coming up. I won the North Face in 2013 and finished third last year so I’d like to be up there again, but it is going to be a lot tougher this year I would think.
“The race has really started to pick up internationally and is recognised as a global ultra-marathon now, so there will be a lot of overseas competitors to try and beat. There will be some good runners from places like the USA and France.
“The thing I’ve got going for me, though, is the fact that I’ve spent more time on that trail than basically anyone else during the race, as well as training, so I’ll try to use that to my advantage.”