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FREDERICTON - Former Frederictonian Travis Saunders had just the perfect gift for his mother Sunday.

The student at Queens University who was home for Mother's Day won the 30th annual Fredericton Marathon with both his parents watching.

He crossed the finish line in two hours, 43 minutes and 34 seconds, a full 10 minutes ahead of runner-up Len Falkenstein of Fredericton and just under two minutes off the course record.

"It feels great to be able to come home and win this," Saunders, who's now living in Kingtson, Ont., said. "I ran two marathons before in Calgary and Winnipeg but I really wanted to be able to run one where my mother and father could see it and it being Mother's Day. it was a good excuse to come home and do this."

Falkenstein, the winner of the 2006 marathon, said he was happy finishing second.

"Coming in, I was going to be happy if I broke three hours so to do 2:53, a personal best, is great," he said. "I felt good all the way through today which is unusual. I kept waiting for a point where I would start hurting but it never happened."

Rothesay's Bruce Rosvall rounded out the top three, posting a time of 2:55.53.

None of the top three finishers from last year ran this time around including six-time champion Chris Brake of Saint John who opted to run the half marathon this time around. He won that in a time of 1:15.42.

"It would have been nice to run against Chris," said Saunders, a good friend of Brake's. "It gets kind of boring when everyone spreads out and Chris would have been someone I could have talked with, run with and competed with."

In the women's division, the first time proved to be the charm for Halifax's Janice Ashworth who, competing in her first marathon, crossed the line first in 3:06.27.

"This means I'll have to run another one, just not right away," said Ashworth. "I didn't really have any goals or anything today. I just wanted to finish it and feel good about it."

Halifax's Daun Lynch and Quispamsis's Maggie Johnson rounded out the top three for women with times of 3:14.14 and 3:21.03 respectively. Top Fredericton female finisher was Silvy Moleman in 3:31.31, which put her 6th among females and 22nd overall.

Finishing second to Brake in the half marathon was John Lyons of Doaktown in a time of 1:21.24. Wade Minaker of Moncton was third in 1:24.17. Cynthia Moulin of Halifax was the top female in the half-marathon with a time of 1:27.00, fourth overall. April Lambert of Saint John was second in 1:29.41, seventh overall. Allyson MacDonald was the top Frederictonian in 1:36.56, 19th overall. Some 450 people ran the half marathon.

New Maryland's Chris Brannon won the J.D. Irving 10K event in 33:29. Jill Seymour from Fredericton was the top female in 42:50 which placed her 14th overall.

Bob Bardsley from Rothesay won the half-marathon walk in 2:38.02 while Nicola Cassidy from Fredericton won the 10km walk in 1:16.55. Fredericton's Ian Forbes won the 5km run in 18:13. Rebecca Barton, also from Fredericton was the top female with a time of 22:13, good enough for seventh overall.