A VICTORIA University student has become the first Australian in two decades to win back-to-back Sydney City2Surf races.
Runner Liam Adams jumped to the front of the field of about 85,000 last weekend, winning in 41 minutes 31seconds.
The 14-kilometre-long City2Surf is one of the world’s most popular races. Competitors set out from Hyde Park in the city and made their way via ‘Heartbreak Hill’ to Bondi Beach.
Despite the wet and blustery conditions, Adams, 25, crossed the Bondi Beach finish line just 20 seconds short of his 2011 winning time.
It was a great day for his club Athletics Essendon, with fellow representative Mitch Brown taking out third place in 42 minutes 28 seconds – less than a minute behind Adams.
Adams, a five-time Australian cross-country champion, began the race as favourite.
He made it two wins from two starts to become the first runner to win back-to-back City2Surf races since Dickson Marwa in 2006-07 and the first Australian to achieve the feat since recordholder Steve Moneghetti in the early 1990s.
“I was confident in my ability to finish, but I knew if it was a slow tactical race I wouldn’t be working to my strengths,” he said. “I got out quickly and somehow established a little break on the field.”
Adams feared he had made a tactical mistake and gone out too hard from Hyde Park before reaching the notorious Heartbreak Hill.
An exhausted Adams continued to push the pace in an attempt to hold off being run down by his nearest rivals, including Brown.
“I spent the last half of the race battling into the headwind and thought it was only a matter of time before I was caught. I had spent my last couple of races practising sprint finishes but hadn’t attempted front running from the start in a long time. It was a nerve-racking tactic to use and I was quite fortunate that it worked.”
An exercise and human movement student at Victoria University’s Footscray campus, Adams is working on the VUnite community events
program and helping develop the university athletics club.
He will bounce straight back for his next challenge: defending his Australian national cross-country title in two weeks.
He will then take on the world half-marathon championships in Bulgaria in early October.
