Barry Keem and Russell Dessaix-Chin
ATHLETICS
Wollongong distance runners Barry Keem and Russell Dessaix-Chin finished on the podium at the Cadbury Marathon and Half Marathon in Hobart.
The record field enjoyed a respite from the heatwave conditions, with Keem finishing a strong second in the marathon and Dessaix-Chin also second in the half marathon.
In the marathon, Canberra's Matthew Fenech led from the 10 kilometre mark, with Keem running a determined back half of the race to finish runner-up in a time of 2 hours 32 minutes.
"I was a bit crook the week before the race, but I'm glad that I was able to pull through and deliver a solid performance," Keem said.
In a very competitive 21.1 kilometre half marathon, Dessaix-Chin finished 90 seconds behind Canberra's Marty Dent, who was 28th at last year's Olympics.
"I was really confident in my training over the Christmas period, confident enough to believe that I could take on Marty and give him a shake, but he was just way too good on the day," Dessaix-Chin said.
"Still, I was rather happy with the way that I ran after Marty dropped me."
