Baynes, Cree and The Marathon Revival | 2025 NZ Marathon Champs Preview

On the eve of the New Zealand Marathon Championships, we turn our attention to the 2025 Christchurch Marathon in anticipation of who will be crowned champions of the 42.2km distance. 2:10 marathoner and Christchurch local, Cameron Avery, previews the event.

A city’s main marathon is a phenomenal barometer of potential. You need the infrastructure to support quality roads; the corporate buy-in to drive required sponsorship; and, most importantly, a population with enough energy to put themselves through months of preparatory hell just for the chance to run their local streets. With that said, for the first time in many years, it can be said with confidence that the Christchurch Marathon—and the city it represents—is back.

A record-breaking 6,700 athletes will take to the streets this Sunday. This is the largest field size the city has ever seen, and a whopping 24% increase on the already impressive numbers we saw in 2024. Certainly, some of this success can be attributed to the undeniable boom ‘run culture’ is experiencing worldwide, but in a time where traffic management is a minefield, credit needs to go to a local organising committee that has created an event people don’t just want to participate in, but truly experience. 

After some shaky years post-earthquakes, where the race rotated through naming-rights sponsors and runnable roads, a 10 km loop through the city has been found, which allows spectators outstanding opportunities to see some of NZ’s best domestic athletes, who will be battling it out for the New Zealand Marathon Championships, incorporated into the Christchurch Marathon for 2025. 

If you sampled a group of Christchurch locals and asked them who the men’s national marathon record holder was, 50% of responders would probably say, “Oska Baynes.” Such is the legacy the 37-year-old 5x national champion, and owner of ‘The Frontrunner Colombo’ local running store, has created in his own city. While Oska’s PB of 2:16.46 (set in 2022 at the Reboot Marathon) may be a tad shy of the national record, it’s within spitting distance of Tom Birnie’s 20-year-old Christchurch Marathon race record of 2:15.12, and Oska hasn’t been shy in his desire to attack the time this Sunday. He’ll likely need a perfect storm, but with wins over the Christchurch Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10km in the past, nobody has a more intimate knowledge of this race or what it’ll take to achieve his goals. “It’ll be tough,” he admits, “but you’ve got to try tough things in life.” 

Last year, Oska paced his training partner Andy Good to race victory, but Oska is excited about the refinements made to the course, especially the corners, which should help to avoid congestion on later laps, a huge hurdle Good had to contend with in 2024. Even so, 2:15 is a tough time no matter which way you slice it, and attempting such a task comes with risk. Murphy’s Law; what can happen, will happen; is a personal favourite of the marathon gods on race day, and if Oska blows, he could find himself in a real tussle for the title. 

Two of those who will be hoping to take advantage of any such situation will be Orestas Rimkus and Blair McWhirter. With a 2:28 PB, Orestas (31), a teammate of Oska at the University of Canterbury Athletic Club, has quietly put together a domestic resume of distinction over the past few years, which includes back-to-back podiums at the Queenstown Marathon in 2023 and 2024. Blair (42, Sumner) has an even more impressive run of consistency. Since 2012, the only years he has FAILED to break 2:30 in the marathon are 2020 (a year where he still placed 2nd at the historic Rotorua Marathon) and 2022. In an event that punishes swings and misses, this is Kipchoge-level consistency, so even experienced gamblers would be sweating at the thought of betting against Blair.

The men’s event may be a chaser’s affair, but don’t be surprised if a cagey cat-and-mouse race develops on the women’s side. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a favourite, though. Because it’s 2025, and Ingrid Cree has forgotten how to lose. 

In 2022, Cree (42, Olympic Harrier and Athletics Club) began an insane run of titles with a win at the Hawkes Bay Marathon. She returned and won it again in 2023. Then, in 2024, she decided that wasn’t enough, throwing the Christchurch (April 21st) AND Hawkes Bay (May 18th) marathons on the calendar for the year. Less than four weeks between races? No problem; she won them both, and in almost identical finish times (2:46.43/2:46.47). Her PBs keep coming down, and her aura keeps getting stronger… will anyone be able to stop the domestic juggernaut that is Ingrid Cree in 2025? 

Enter Clara Fergus. Showing up to last year’s Christchurch Marathon, Fergus (28, Don Greigs Racing Stables) had zero expectations, and was content to idle in the throngs of people on the starting line rather than forcing her way to the front of the crush. It was only after the race, where Fergus narrowly missed the podium by 10 seconds, with a “chip time” that would’ve seen her wearing bronze, when she realised her lack of confidence might have come back to haunt her. She will come into this year’s race as one of the hungriest competitors, and rumour on the street is that DGRS club mate (and 2:11 marathoner) Caden Shields will be on pacing duties for Clara, on a tempo that would shave almost 10 minutes off her 2:58.13. It’s a bold strategy, but one that highlights Clara’s confidence, all of which may be required to counter the experience of someone like Ingrid Cree, who’s unlikely to make a mistake, even on such an illustrious stage.

While she’s been flirting with the ultra-distance scene for the last couple of years, finding huge success as the 2024 NZ 100km champion, Mel Aitken (48, Wellington Scottish) is far from slowing down. She has one of the spiciest PBs in the field at 2:47 and has broken 3 hours more times than I’d care to count. But getting on the podium in Christchurch won’t be easy for anyone, as a whole host of women will be scrambling to prove they deserve a place on the dais. Amanda Waldron (31, Napier Harriers), Kate MacDonald (43, Night Ninjas), Annabelle Bramwell (35, Whippets Running Project), and Maisey Kilner (29, North Harbour Bays) will all be competitive, as will Julia Grant; who is currently unregistered (and therefore ineligible for the NZ title), but is allegedly in incredible form and using this as a final hit-out before her 100km debut in May.

With sunny conditions forecast, the NZ Marathon Champs are ones you won’t want to miss. Will Oska Baynes come away with his long-coveted race record of 2:15.12? Will Ingrid Cree continue her illustrious vein of form with another win? Or, as the races develop, will the winds of change begin to blow? 

It is Christchurch, and I’d never doubt what the winds are capable of.