IT was a close call, but Bathurst’s Nick Zawadski managed to sneak onto the overall Carcoar Cup marathon podium last Sunday.

In hot and windy conditions, Zawadski crossed the line in a time of three hours, seven minutes and 50 seconds, which was one minute off his personal best.

The race was taken out in dominant fashion by Canberra’s recent Commonwealth and Olympic Games participant Martin Dent in a time of 2:36:11, with Barry Keem runner-up in 2:46:37.

Zawadski finished three seconds clear of the first woman home and fourth outright, Kirsten Molloy, in a tight race to the line.

Given the conditions, Zawadski was more than satisfied with his time.

“I was really happy with the race. Going into it I wasn’t sure whether I’d do the marathon or the half marathon, but I’m glad I ended up doing the marathon,” he said.

“There was a headwind for the majority of the race and because there’s not that many runners out there, you can get isolated. It then becomes a bit of a mental battle to get through it.

“Over the last 10 kilometres or so there used to be a lot of trees, but they’ve all been cut down so it’s a harder finish now.”

The Bathurst talent and Molloy spent the majority of the race running together, often taking the time to talk in a contest that otherwise had sizeable gaps between the entrants.

“I was with her for most of the race. At around the nine kilometre mark she caught up with me. From there it would change with who was in front. I was usually able to catch up to her on the hills,” he said.

“We had a good chat and she said it was good that we were able to keep up with each other because it was otherwise quite an isolated course.”

Zawadski said a change in the way he has trained this year set him up better for contesting the marathon.

“It shows that if you put in the hard work, it can pay off. It’s a mix up from what I used to be doing over the last couple of years. I used to do say a couple of six kilometres races and then one over 10 kilometres. Now it’s nothing under 10 to 20 kilometres. It’s obviously worked out well for me,” he said.

“That training is what helped me a lot for the Sydney Marathon and the Six Foot Track.”

It is a long break over the summer for the Bathurst runner with the February 27 Orange Half Marathon the next race he will likely contest.