FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Top 10 moments of the Gold Coast Marathon
We count down our top 10 moments that helped define the 40th Gold Coast
Marathon as one of the greatest in event history:
10. Jordan Gusman breaks Michael Shelley's eight-year-old race record
Jordan Gusman broke an eight-year-old race record to win the Southern Cross
University 10km Run. Gusman, 24, put a gap on his rivals in the opening
kilometre and powered away to win his first 10km on the Gold Coast in
28:42, eclipsing the previous record held by Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth
Games gold medalist Michael Shelley by 11 seconds. The time was just
outside his personal best of 28:39 but under the race record that Gusman
predicted was going to be broken.
9. International participation numbers reach record heights
A record 4,307 people from 51 countries participated at the 40th Gold Coast
Marathon eclipsing the previous record set in 2017 by 1,063. The event
welcomed record numbers from several countries including China (571), Hong
Kong (529), Indonesia (188), Malaysia (363), New Zealand (538) and
Singapore (503) along with strong numbers from Japan (712), Taiwan (449)
and the United States (260). The large number of international entries is
estimated to generate more than 90,000 visitor nights and over $27 million
in economic impact for the city.
8. Inaugural champion Eric Sigmont and 1980 winner Andrew Lloyd return to
the Gold Coast
Inaugural Gold Coast Marathon winner Eric Sigmont and 1980 champion Andrew
Lloyd both returned to the home of their famous victories to celebrate the
event's 40th edition. Four decades since his 1979 victory (2:28:44), Eric,
69, ran the 42.195km race and clocked 4:47:10. Lloyd, 59, who ran 2:23:02
in 1980, unfortunately didn't complete the race on Sunday but enjoyed the
festivities in the lead up including attending the Gala Dinner on Friday
night.
7. Marathon sells out for the first time in event history
For the first time in event history, the 42.195km race sold out one month
before the starter's gun fired. The full-house sign for the signature event
meant more than 6,700 runners from 19 countries competed and reaffirmed the
event's position as one of the world's most desirable races for thousands
of participants from overseas, interstate and Queensland.
6. Five personal bests and back-to-back victories on the ASICS Half
Marathon podium
American Sara Hall made it back-to-back victories in an enthralling women's
ASICS Half Marathon race as she achieved a 10-second personal best and the
second fastest performance ever recorded to win in 1:09:27. Hall, 35,
pulled away in the second half of the race from Australia's Sinead Diver
who finished second in 1:09:53, a close to two-minute improvement on her
previous best while Laura Thweatt (USA) filled this year's podium in third
in a PB of 1:10:17. 22-year-old Jack Rayner from Victoria took more than
six minutes off his personal best to stop the clock at 1:03:12 while Edward
Goddard, 20, landed third place in a massive five-minute PB of 1:04:07.
5. Madison de Rozario goes back-to-back on the Gold Coast
Australian para athletics star Madison de Rozario returned to the scene of
her Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games marathon gold medal with a dominant
display of wheelchair racing. De Rozario won her first Gold Coast Marathon
in 1:48:21, the second fastest time ever recorded at the event. Coached by
Australian para sport legend and a former Gold Coast Marathon winner
herself Louise Sauvage, de Rozario finished clear of second placegetter
Eliza Ault-Connell (NSW) who clocked 1:51:22. In a repeat of recent
history, de Rozario and Ault Connell were first and second in the
Commonwealth Games, although only 13 seconds separated them on that
occasion.
4. Jessica Trengove crosses the line second and claims $40,000 incentive
Aussie Jessica Trengove, 30, improved her personal best to 2:26:31 and
claimed a special incentive for Australian athletes to run sub 2:28 in the
women's marathon. For the 40th edition of the race, organisers offered a
$40,000 prize pool for Australian athletes who ran sub 2:28 for women and
2:10 for men. As the only Australian to go under those marks, the South
Australian was awarded the AUD $40,000 and an additional AUD $8,000 for her
runner up finish. Trengove, who won bronze in the marathon at the
Commonwealth Games, said post-race that she would contribute some of her
incentive money to charities close to her heart.
3. Kenneth Mungara claims his third win in four attempts on the Gold Coast
Kenyan Kenneth Mungara won an amazing third Gold Coast Marathon in a
thrilling finish over Japan's Kenta Murayama. Mungara, 44, used a surge in
the closing stages to pull away from his 25-year-old Japanese rival to win
in 2:09:49. Exciting the grandstand crowd at the finish, Murayama made a
late sprint to close the gap on an unfazed Mungara and only miss by one
second. Jo Fukuda of Japan was also closing hard to finish third two
seconds later in 2:09:52. What a history Mungara has created at the event,
with three victories (2015, 2016 and 2018), a second placing last year, as
well as an Australian allcomers and race record of 2:08:42 (from 2015).
2. The Stewart siblings create record-breaking history on the Gold Coast
The Stewart siblings of Sydney wrote themselves into the record books and
marked their names as distance running stars of the future in the Garmin
Junior Dash races. Imogen, 12, not only won the girls' division of the
Garmin 4km Junior Dash, she was the first finisher overall beating juniors
aged up to 14 years. Her time of 12:48 took an impressive 31 seconds off
the record previously held by Katelyn Simpson in 2008. Kobe, 10, won the
boys' Garmin 2km Junior Dash in 6:33, slicing 10 seconds off the previous
race record set by Kobi Rutherford in 2011. The Stewart siblings now hold
all of the age group records in the Garmin 2km Junior Dash - 5-6 years, 7-8
years, 9-10 years.
1. Ruth Chebitok becomes the first Kenyan woman to win and smashes race
record in the process
Kenya's Ruth Chebitok set a race record and the fourth fastest time ever
recorded in Australia with her win in the women's Gold Coast Marathon.
Chebitok, the first Kenyan woman to win this race, won the AUD $20,000
winner's purse as well as a $10,000 time bonus for her race record of
2:24:49, breaking the previous record of Abebech Bekele (2:25:34) by 45
seconds. The only three times faster on Australian soil are the three
female placegetters in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games marathon event.
The 41st?Gold Coast Marathon will be held 6 - 7 July 2019 on the beautiful
Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
The Gold Coast Marathon is?organised?by Events Management Queensland, a
major event management company wholly owned by the Queensland Government as
part of Tourism and Events Queensland.
Visit goldcoastmarathon.com.au for more information.
###
|
