Fiona Docherty 41st at marathon worlds
New Zealand citizen and Boulder, Colorado resident Fiona Docherty finished 41st of 60 finishers and recorded a personal best time of 2:40:18 at the IAAF World Championship women’s marathon Sunday in Berlin. Docherty, the 2003 Powerman Zofingen duathlon champion and international long course triathlon competitor, topped her previous marathon best of 2:42:10 set in May at the Ottawa Marathon in which she finished fifth.
Docherty, sister of 2004 ITU World Champion and two time Olympic triathlon medalist Bevan Docherty, finished 15 minutes 3 seconds behind World Champion Xue Bai of China and 12 minutes 30 seconds behind top American finisher Kara Goucher, who finished 10th and 90 seconds behind top New Zealand finisher Mary Davies, who placed 35th.
Docherty, who lives in Boulder, Colorado and trains with coach Steve Jones, a former marathon world record holder, has her sights set on competing for New Zealand in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and in the 2012 Olympics. To meet New Zealand’s women’s Olympic marathon standard. Docherty likely has to improve her marathon best to 2:33 in the next two years.
