New South Wales speed machine Eloise Wellings made it three wins from her three starts over the half marathon distance this morning when she was an emphatic winner of the ASICS Half Marathon at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon event.

Her win in 1:10:10 inflicted an Independence Day (American time) defeat on USA’s Sara Hall (1:10:49) while Queenslander Cassie Fien, who set a 17 second personal best with her time of 1:11:28, was third.

South Australia’s Olympic and Commonwealth Games marathoner Jessica Trengove lunged at the line to finish three seconds behind Fein, declaring she had “never tried this hard at the end of a race”.

In the men’s race, Japan’s Takehiro Deki put daylight between himself and the rest of the field to win the ASICS Half Marathon in made to order running conditions on the Gold Coast.

The top ranked 25-year-old marathon specialist bettered his personal best time over the shorter distance by over two minutes, recording 1:02:11 to beat Victoria’s Liam Adams (1:03:29) by over a minute and the UK’s Ben Moreau (1:04:32) by over two minutes.

Deki said he was happy with his result as he eyes an Olympic ambition.

“This is the first time I have seriously gone for a half marathon time,” Deki said.

“I am definitely aiming for the full marathon in Rio next year.

“I’m not much of a track runner, I’m more of a road specialist, so I wanted to run a good road race, and this time of year there really aren’t many road races as good as this,” he said.

Deki said he now knows the loneliness of the long distance runner.

“At halfway I knew it was possible to beat my personal best, but after seven kilometres I was completely on my own, and running on my own it was hard to keep that pace.

“I am comfortable running on my own when I have to, so it wasn’t too hard, and the wind wasn’t a problem – the conditions were great,” he said.

Adams missed his personal best by a second.

“I’m a little bit disappointed right now,” Adams said.

“I went at the pace I thought I could before the race, but obviously I’m not at that fitness just yet so I blew myself up.

“I really struggled towards the end, but still, it was close to a PB,” he said.

The 2012 winner of the event said illness had impeded his preparations.

“It was a big gamble today as last month I had a chest infection and it took a while to get over.

“I’ve had a couple of good weeks of training and my training before the infection was strong.

“I really thought I’d be going for a good time, but I guess the infection affected me more than I thought it would.

“It’s a good start for my marathon preparations later in the year, so all in all I suppose it’s a reasonable result,” he said.

Adams said Deki’s early race surge was hard to counter.

“We were all running at an even pace at the start, then at about the eight kilometre mark Takehiro made a surge and that was danger zone for me.

“That pace was way faster than what I wanted, so I had to hold back a little bit and thank God I did, because otherwise I’d be blowing up a lot worse than I am.

“It was a very strong run from Takehiro, a gutsy effort,” he said.

The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games marathon runner said it’s time to look at a full-distance return.

“I’m hopefully targeting a marathon now in late September or early October so it’s good preparation and reasonable shape to be in,” he said.

Moreau, who notched his second third placing in the event, also rued the early pace.

“I was running about a minute ahead of my personal best pace and actually felt pretty good,” Moreau said.

“I wanted to go pretty aggressively, but that (early pace) was probably a bit too aggressive.

“The problem was, as soon as I let them go a little bit, I was stuck in no man’s land and it was quite a long second half of the race.

“I actually caught myself looking at the sunrise coming over the sea and had to snap myself back into it.

“I wasn’t displeased with it, but wasn’t over the moon. It was a tough run, but all part of marathon preparation, so it was still a good run for me,” he said.

Moreau knows he has some work to do to realise an Olympic ambition.

“I’m going to do Chicago Marathon in October and try to qualify for the Rio Olympics next year for the UK.

“I’ve just got to run a couple of minutes quicker than my current marathon personal best,” he said.

Three time Commonwealth Games representative and London 2012 Olympic Games marathoner Wellings set a 31 second personal best with her maiden win on the Gold Coast.

“This sort of course definitely suits me, so I feel like I had some sort of advantage there today,” Wellings said.

“It definitely wasn’t easy, but I’m just so happy to have the win and it’s a real confidence booster before the (2015) world championships.

“There is so much energy and atmosphere. The Gold Coast is a bit of a party town. It’s a lot of fun coming here and it was great having the men in the same race,” she said.

Wellings is tip-toeingly setting her sights on graduating to the full distance.

“Short term this was a hard, long race before the world championships and all about increasing my strength and getting my legs ready for the pounding of the roads for a marathon one day.

“I have no desire yet to go double this distance, but I know that desire will come one day.”

Hall set a new personal best by the barest of margins; a second.

“It has to be one of my most memorable races I have ever run,” Hall said.

“They were great conditions, and there was a great group of people to run along with.

“I was kicking really hard to beat my personal best, so I’m glad I got under,” she said.

The American could have used a pocket calculator on the course.

“It was a little tough having to convert everything into kilometers, because I have never done that before. The maths gave me something to do, I guess. It’s a long race.

“Next I’m going to run a full marathon. I was doing this one to see how I would go,” she said.

Fien, who also has two ASICS Half Marathon second places to her name, was keen to do it all again.

“I feel amazing; let’s do it again,” she said. That was 17 seconds under my personal best.

“I’m stoked, elated – this is the best feeling I have ever had after a race,” she said.

Despite her post-race energy, Fien said it wasn’t a race without a measure of self doubt.

“At the six kilometre mark, I thought ‘I haven’t got this’. I just needed to hang on and just stay with the pack.

“But I did the work, and got the result in the end,” she said.

10,142 half marathon entrants faced the starter to race in picture perfect Gold Coast conditions this morning.