12 Oct 2009

Kimberley Smith seventh in world half marathon champs

6:42 am on 12 October 2009

The New Zealand runner Kimberley Smith finished an outstanding seventh in the world half marathon

championship at Birmingham in England.

Smith set a New Zealand national record of 1h 9m 35s, exactly one minute quicker than Nina Rillstone's record set in New York in August 2007.

She was the first non-African to finish and was just 2m 59s behind the winner Mary Jepkosgei Keitany of Kenya who was 11 seconds outside the world record.