SCOTT Rantall mastered the open road in a couple of ways yesterday.The Geelong athlete, originally from Warrnambool, claimed first place in the Koroit to Warrnambool Half Marathon.His trek home was simpler than the 21.1-kilometre run.``I just bought a motorbike, so I've been cruising around on that,'' he said.So does he prefer using his legs or wheels?``The motorbike, it's much easier,'' he laughed.Rantall looked like he was doing the half marathon easy as he cruised to the finish line at AquaZone in a time of 69 minutes and 50 seconds.He revealed the pace he ended with was only a fraction quicker than the pace he ran most of the race in.``It felt pretty good,'' he said. ``I wanted to run it in 70 minutes but that all depended on the weather.``It was actually quite good.``There was a tail wind for most of the day and it wasn't so cold that you had to freeze.''The 28-year-old didn't devise a plan for the race.``I just wanted to do my own thing,'' he said. ``Vin (McCarthy) started off holding the lead for about the first two kilometres, then I caught him.''From then, Rantall didn't give up the lead.``I think I had a 400 to 500m lead at the 10km mark . . . and a two-minute lead with four kilometres to go,'' he said.He used the half marathon as preparation for the Melbourne Marathon, which he will contest for the second time on October 11.He completed it two years ago and came fifth.While his training for the event will include running 80-100km every week, his preparation for yesterday's race was minimal in comparison.He has just returned from a two-week holiday in Oklahoma, where he ran about 12km every second day.Despite an interrupted lead-up, he was pleased to notch up his second Koroit to Warrnambool victory.He took out the event in 2007 while last year he finished second.Ten-time winner McCarthy was third across the line in a time of 73.08 while Ben Fahey earned second place (72.26).The first female across the line was Koroit teenager Elizabeth Doueal (86.54) while the top walker was Anthony Malady, of Laang (two hours, 17 minutes and one second).Cobden's Emma Smith (2.19.04) was the best female walker.Warrnambool Athletics Club president Peter Auchettl was impressed with the number of entries in the event considering the weather leading up to it.``I thought it was a terrific day,'' he said. ``We had nearly 200 competitors overall in running, walking and relay, which is pretty close to a record, if not a record.''He was also impressed with the standard of entries.``Sixty-nine minutes, that's travelling pretty swiftly,'' he said.