HALIFAX (May 23, 2010) - With arms raised enthusiastically, Oliver Hatheway crossed the finish in his first Blue Nose Marathon in decisive fashion. 

The 19-year-old from Hebbville, N.S., competing in the annual event for the first time, captured the men's Volkswagen Half Marathon in one hour 17 minutes 32.5 seconds, nearly three-and-a-half minutes faster than runner-up Lorenz Arsenault of Dartmouth (1:21:17.7). 

"It's never a sure thing until you get to the finish so when I finally realized that I had won it, adrenaline just came over me and it was great," Hatheway said of his celebration at the finish line. 

"I was really confident in my fitness going into the race. I knew basically at 10K (the 10-kilometre mark), the way I felt then, that I could keep it together for the whole race. I was at the right pace and I didn't have any doubt in being able to hold on." 

Colin Shepherd of The Pas, Man., was third (1:21:38.2) in the 21-kilometre event. 

Hatheway, a member of the Queen's University cross-country team who was using the race as "preparation" for next season, said he kept pace with the leaders through the first half of the race.
But when the leaders reached Point Pleasant Park in south-end Halifax, about the halfway mark of the half-marathon, Hatheway made his move. 

"There were a couple guys I was keeping an eye on in the first part of the race. I started reeling them in once we reached Point Pleasant," said Hatheway, a physics major who'll be entering his third year at the Kingston, Ont., university this fall. 

"I wanted to go at it relatively easy and then gradually pick it up during the race. I think I did a pretty good job at that. I probably could've finished even stronger but it's tough going out there when you don't have anyone to work with. 

"It definitely got tougher toward the latter stages. I didn't expect it to be that hard. But I was able to pull through."

- courtesy of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald