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Upset win in record-breaking City 2 Surf
- From: AAP
- August 08, 2010
BEN St Lawrence has pipped the race favourite Micheal Shelley at the post to win Sydney's 14km City 2 Surf run in an official time of 41:05mins.
The first woman to cross was the line was Lara Tamsett, the favourite for the race, who completed the course in just under 47 minutes.
A record turnout of about 80,000 people were estimated to have started running when Olympic swimming champion Grant Hackett fired the starting gun at 8.30am AEST. Hackett then joined the race after climbing down from his cherry picker perch.
The City 2 Surf was run for the first time in 1971 with just over 2000 entrants.
Before the race, Reg Wilkinson, 66 and Bob Edwards, 68, from Port Macquarie, said they expected to complete this year's run in a leisurely two and a half hours.
It was Mr Edwards third City2Surf, and Mr Wilkinson's second. "Because of the number of people you don't know how it's going to end up," Mr Edwards said.
The men had worked with a personal trainer as preparation for the run, and were also raising money for heart support in NSW.
Other runners pounding the pavement included NSW Premier Kristina Keneally, a group of RailCorp employees decked in bright orange and blue t-shirts and Westpac employees wearing "here for the long run" t-shirts.
Aiden Hobbs, dressed as Superman and setting out in the first group, said he could not remember missing a City2Surf. It is not known if his finishing time was faster than speeding bullet.
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