Heat, virus cannot stop run into record books

LAUNCESTON’S Dylan Evans has again conquered the world’s toughest halfmarathon, taking out his fourth consecutive Point to Pinnacle.

Evans crossed the line in 1hr 27min 22sec, becoming the first to claim four wins on the trot.

However, it almost did not happen, with the 24-year-old last week battling a virus that forced him to take time off.

“I wasn’t sure if I was even going to start, it definitely knocked me around,” he said.

Local 18-year-old Meriem Daoui secured her first Point to Pinnacle win in yesterday’s race, crossing the finish line ahead of Kate Pedley.

In-form Daoui was runnerup last year, and took honours in the City to Casino fun run earlier this year.

She finished in 1:38:52, less than a minute off the women’s race record of 1:37.53, set by Pedley in 2015.

Evans’s fastest time was 1:25.49 for the summit run in 2015. He clocked 1:11.7 last year when an Antarctic blast closed the mountain and saw the event staged as a run to Bracken Lane and return.

He said he started to feel the heat about halfway through yesterday’s race as Hobart’s temperature hovered above 21C.

“I thought it was going to cool down again coming up, but I felt my body temperature getting higher and higher,” he said.

“I thought I was in a bit of trouble at halfway, but I managed to keep on pushing on to the top of the hill.”

Last year’s runner-up Alan Craigie, of Canberra, finished in fourth place behind Sam Crowther, who crossed in second, and Stuart Gibson in third.

Daoui said it was great the weather had held up this year — in stark comparison with her second-place run last year.

“I just want to tell everyone who ran or walked today well done,” she said.

“It’s a hard run and it doesn’t matter what time you did it [in] at the end of the day.”

The 23rd Point to Pinnacle attracted 3530 competitors, including 410 interstate and 13 overseas runners.