Mike Hurst writesWEEKENDS transform sportspeople from ordinary to awesome. On Saturday, Jeff Hunt, from Campbelltown, was unknown to most Australians.
By Sunday night he was the top marathon runner in the nation, bursting out of nowhere to run faster on debut than Steve Moneghetti and Rob de Castella
Hunt clocked 2hr 11min exactly in finishing third behind a pair of very well credentialled Kenyans, Jonathon Kipkorir (2:10.50) and Daniel Ngenja (2:10.56) in the 42.195km race in Japan.
"I ran 2:11.18 on debut in 1986 and then Lee Troop ran 2:11:21 in London in 1999. It's two pretty well credentialled people that Jeff has jumped ahead of so it gives you some understanding of how significant the run is," said Moneghetti, a world championship bronze medallist and now a national selector.
"The other important thing was that he ran on through the field, got up to second at one stage and then finished third. It's not as if he has done it just being dragged along, he has been really competitive in the race."
Hunt had plenty of motivation to excel. As Athletics Australia head coach Eric Hollingsworth revealed yesterday: "Jeff and his coach Ken Green approached me for assistance and I agreed to pay Jeff's way to Japan and when - not if - he ran the Commonwealth Games A-qualifying time [of 2:13.59] I said I would pay the rest of his fare.
"If he hadn't run the time he would still be up there looking for a way to get home. That's the truth, or thereabouts. Anyway, he wanted to run the A-qualifier so my investment was good."
Hunt's whole journey from under the radar to podium contender for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi - he suddenly ranks No. 5 on the Commonwealth rankings list adjusted to three athletes per nation - has a sense of stealth about it.
"I never had an interest in running a marathon," Hunt said yesterday on his return.
"I tried to run the 3000m steeplechase at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games but wasn't fast enough to be selected. I missed selection again trying for the steeplechase at the Beijing Olympics, so it was only after 2008 that I decided to move up in distance.
"It took my coach Ken [Green] two to three years to convince me to run a marathon but all along he was training me to do it."
The best indication of this marathon success came in October when Hunt, 27, a computer systems engineer, placed 43rd in the world half-marathon championship in Birmingham.
But even that run gave little indication of how competitive he would prove in Japan, taking on 2:07 man Kipkorir and 2:06 performer Njenga with a scintillating 5km split of 15min 3sec from 30 to 35km.
Perhaps it has something to do with training partner Jeremy Roff, who ran 3min 34sec to rank 31st in the world at 1500m last year."For 75 per cent of the year we do the same training," Hunt revealed. "I do a slightly longer Sunday and Wednesday run.
"Jeremy would do 70 minutes and I'd run for 90 minutes, and on a Sunday he'll do 1hr 45mins and I'd do 2hr 15mins.
"If the Commonwealth Games marathon is a tactical race I know I'll have the speed at the finish."
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