Mary Davies in only her second marathon knocked nearly four minutes off her inaugural time in leading New Zealand to eighth place in the marathon world cup at the World Athletic Championships in Berlin.
Davies finished 35th in 2h 38m 48s, followed by Fiona Docherty in 41st in 2h 40m 18s and Shireen Crumpton 44th in 2h 41m 31s.
Davies, from Whangarei but now based in Houston, was 44th at half way in 1h 17m 11s. Davies said that she still has a lot to learn on running marathons.
"My strategy was to start out at 2h 40m pace, that I wanted to do. I think I started with the first group, maybe a bit too soon," said Davies.
"I managed to stay with a group of the US runners for a while which helped, still I think I could have done a bit faster - but that's ok,"
The 26 year old who has a birthday in four days, said that coming from Houston she did not find it too hot.
"It was good to run my first championships, the next time I want to place higher, I was hoping to do 2h 32m, so I was a bit disappointed.
"I still have a lot to work through on the strategy," she added.
Docherty and Crumpton ran together for most of the race passing through the half way mark in 53rd and 54th places in 1h 18m 9s.
Docherty (33), who comes from a triathlon back ground and resides in Boulder, was also only in her second ever marathon.
"It was my second ever marathon without a bike or a swim, so I'm just still learning, so it's sort of like be conservative to begin with and see how you feel, but I felt solid the whole way around and then I was pushed and kept honest on the last straight by a Mexican, that was good to see, I probably need to work on the sprint finishes," said Docherty.
The sister of Olympic Games triathlon silver and bronze medallist Bevan Docherty said that she was delighted to improve by two minutes in hot conditions.
"The crowds and stuff was just amazing and I liked the loop course," she added.
Crumpton from Dunedin found it a tough assignment.
"It was pretty hard and pretty hot and my legs sort of seized up over the last 10km," said Crumpton.
The 38 year old who was 33rd in her best time of 2h 37m 3s at the 2005 World Championship in Helsinki has had a joint problem.
"I had a bit of a SI (sacroiliac) joint problem going down my leg and its in my right calf, so I just had to pull back just to finish," said Crumpton.
"I did my best on the day and that's all that counts," she added.
Xue Bai of China won in 2h 25m 15s, from Japan's Yoshimi Ozaki 2h 25m 25s and Aselefech Mergia of Ethiopia 2h 25m 32s.
