At the 7km mark he held a 2min 54sec lead over Shaun Barlow and Peter Codyre (Timaru), battling it out for second and third. Incredibly, over the next 3km Smith had almost doubled his lead, and had stretched it out to 10min at the halfway stage.
Smith, who was on 2hr 27min 30sec pace through the first half, fell victim to a gnarly head wind as the course turned north to Port Chalmers.
"I think I really paid for that early pace," he said.
"I was cramping up pretty badly over the last 10 km or so."
But his cramping over the last 10km was nothing like he experienced last year, as he was quickly able to stretch it out and continue running, albeit at a reduced pace.
Smith said he was aware of a slight tail win on the run down Portobello Rd, but wasn’t expecting it to be as strong as it was running up the cycleway towards Port Chalmers.
"I knew it was coming. But not to that extent. It probably cost me four of five minutes. I just felt so bad in those last 3km.
"It knocked about 10 minutes off my goal, but that’s running. I’ll take the result."
Smith, who registered a provisional time of 2hr 41min 25sec, added that, when it came to marathons, it was always pretty good to finish "no matter what time you do".
Despite another battle over the final 10km, Smith was stoked to have come away with a time 5min quicker than last year and to have won.
"You can’t complain about that. It’s pretty awesome," he added.
One of the first to congratulate Smith at the finish was 2010 champion and course record holder Sam Wreford, who minutes earlier won the half marathon section.
Codyre won the battle for the minor places, securing second in the last 2km from Barlow.
"We got to the hill and I thought it was time to settle up a bit," Codyre said of making a break on Barlow to secure second place.
Mel Aitken made it four Otago marathon titles in succession with a convincing victory in the women’s section.
Aitken, who put in a strong run in the Jacks Point Challenge the previous weekend, appeared fully recovered from sore quads during the week, taking to the front of the women’s field early on, and, just like Smith, secured her place at the front of the pack by putting daylight second.
At the 10km mark, Aitken had a 3min lead on Megan Grant and Michelle Cobby, with Rozie Robinson and Katherine Baker a minute further back.
By halfway, Aitken had stretched her lead out to a commanding 7min, with Grant beginning to own second place, while Cobby and Robinson were beginning to feel the pinch as Barker started to make her move.
Despite a heavy sea mist covering the course early on, Aitken, whose provisional time was 2hr 59min 1sec, said afterwards she fell into a comfortable, steady pace and was relieved when the wind died down as she turned towards Port Chalmers.
"It was good fun. It was great. It felt good. I had the energy. I was happy with that," Aitken said.
"I’ve been doing longer runs in my training and I think that’s really paid off."
Despite juggling an increased workload with training, Aitken has nevertheless had a successful year to date.
"I find that running balances the stress in my work life. It’s a great leveller."
Rotorua-based Grant, who was running her first marathon, ran the marathon with her father, Robin Grant (New Plymouth), to finish second, with Barker (Invercargill), who contested the Boston event in April, third in a personal best time.
