05.08.2009

Hunt, Fien on road to world half marathon championships

New South Welshman Jeff Hunt and Victorian Cassie Fien are on track to make their international debut this October following their selection for the world half marathon championships.

Hunt (27) and Fien (23) will represent Australia at the 18th edition of the championships in Birmingham, England, on October 11.

Their selection to the championships follows their outstanding results at the Gold Coast half marathon last month, Hunt placing fourth in 1:02.44 and Fien covering the 21.1km course in 1:12.24 to finish second.

Hunt, who clocked back-to-back personal best times over 10km on the Gold Coast, said his selection to the team capped what has been a notable season to date.

“I’m very, very happy to have been selected, I thought if we did send a team I’d have to be included because I thought I’d run pretty well,” Hunt said.

“Everything has been going really well the entire season, training has been great and all my races have been good key indicators that I can handle a fast, long race.”

Hunt, who has been a regular on the Australian track circuit over events ranging from 1500m to 10,000m, said the step up to the half-marathon distance was a key stepping-stone in his career.

“(Coach) Ken Green and I sat down with (Steve Moneghetti) up at Falls Creek and one of the things I said was that before I do a marathon I wanted to do a half and Mona thought that was a good idea because at least then I’d have a good benchmark as to what I can run,” he said.

Later this month Hunt will fine-tune his preparations for the Birmingham event at the national cross country championships in Nowra, NSW, where he hopes a home course advantage will help him regain the title he took out in 2007.

“I’m racing national cross at the end of the month on what’s effectively my home course, so I guess I have a slight advantage there,” Hunt said.

“I think I worked out the other day that I’ve run there every year since I was 12 and I’m 27 now so hopefully I get to win that again this year and that’s really the only thing that’s on the radar before Birmingham.

“After national cross I’ll start to build up for worlds and discuss with my coach what our expectations are but I don’t want to set too many goals because they can become limitations.”

Fien enters the world half marathon championships on the back of a stellar 12 months, taking out the national half marathon title in Melbourne in October in a time of 1:15.13 before placing second to Lara Tamsett in December’s Zatopek Classic, covering the 25-lap course in 34:34.16.

The Victorian went on to smash Kerryn McCann’s course record along the Great Ocean Road by five minutes in May, clocking 1:13.02 for the half marathon (1:19.38 over 25km). She then posted the tenth-fastest time ever recorded by an Australian female over the half marathon distance on the Gold Coast in July (1:12.24).

“I’m so excited and to hear that I was the only female selected, I couldn’t believe it,” Fien said.

The self-coached athlete said her selection to the team marked the realisation of a long-held dream to represent Australia.

“I feel like I’m in great shape, I’m coaching myself so it was one of those things where I didn’t quite know where I was sitting but I just kept training hard and to get the results I have, I’m flabbergasted,” she said.

“I was selected for the world junior cross country championships when I was 16 or 17 but unfortunately I didn’t have the funds to get over to the meet but my mum always said that if I was going to represent Australia and it was my passion I’d achieve it later in life and I have.”

Fien will head west later this month for her final hit-out in the lead-up to Birmingham, lining up in the Perth City to Surf half marathon event.

“I want to get out of this as much experience as I can, I don’t know quite where I sit on an international level and just to get as much race experience as I can and use that as a stepping stone for the Commonwealth Games or the London Olympics is the aim,” Fien said.

“If it’s a pretty flat course then to get a couple of seconds off my PB and get some great race experience is all that I can hope for.”

Fien said she was determined to master the half marathon distance before making the leap to the full marathon course in coming years.

“I still haven’t done my first marathon yet, I really want to master the half marathon and keep everything under my belt, keep injury free and hopefully progress as I get a little bit older onto the marathon,” she said.

“As long as I keep loving the sport and keep progressing the marathon is definitely what I want to challenge next.”

Australia has been represented at 13 editions of the world half marathon championships. In 2008 Queenslander Michael Shelley (1:04.44) and Victorian Mark Tucker (1:12.04) donned the green and gold, crossing the line in 16th and 69th places respectively.

Australia’s best ever result at the championships came courtesy of distance legend Steve Moneghetti, the Victorian claiming the silver medal in Brussels, Belgium, in 1993 in a time of 1:01.10.

In 2003 Queenslander Benita Johnson scored Australia’s only other podium finish, placing third in Vilamoura, Portugal, in 1:09.26.