Marnie Ponton had a break from running competitively for three years to have kids and now she’s back with a vengeance.
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The 32-year-old from Glenbrook hopes to run her debut Six Foot Track Marathon in less than 4 hours. That’s significantly quicker than last year’s first woman across the line – Ella Jamieson of Sydney completed the 45km race in 4 hours 14 minutes 32 seconds.
“I won't be happy if it’s over 4 hours,” Ponton said.
Her plan of attack for Saturday’s event is to “run hard.”
“I don’t plan, I just run hard,” the Nepean Hospital nurse practitioner said.
Trained by renowned ultra runner Brendan Davies, Ponton has been running up to 120km a week on road and trail, including plenty of time on the Six Foot Track, which winds its way from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves. She’s also been getting the kilometres under her belt on the Oaks Firetrail and out to Mt Portal and Nepean Lookout.
More than 800 runners from around the world will take part in the marathon on Saturday, including a healthy contingent of local runners.
I don’t plan, I just run hard.
- Marnie Ponton
Last August when Ponton had only just returned to running she was the fourth woman in the 14km City2Surf in 49:56sec.
