A women’s race record and the first back-to-back men’s winner in 17 years headlined the 38th annual Gold Coast Airport Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, in glorious Gold Coast conditions today.
Misato Horie took out her first Gold Coast Airport Marathon in the record time of 2:26:40, making it five consecutive wins by Japanese runners in the women’s race on the Gold Coast.
Looking to repeat last year’s win in record time, Kenya’s Kenneth Mungara upstaged another previous winner from 2013 Yuki Kawauchi in an epic battle that went right down to a sprint finish.
The 42-year-old clocked 2:09:00 to break the tape only metres ahead of Kawauchi (2:09:01).
It was a Kiwi double in the IAAF Oceania Area Marathon Championships with Paul Martelletti (2:18:57) and Katie Kemp (2:40:05) claiming the spoils.
The large crowds along the marathon course today also witnessed the best wheelchair performances ever on the Gold Coast.
Australian Paralympic team co-captain Kurt Fearnley (NSW) broke a 16-year-old race record clocking 1:30:18 to win the men’s race, while an ecstatic Christie Dawes (NSW) automatically qualified for her sixth Paralympic Games with her win in 1:43:45 breaking Louise Sauvage’s 18-year-old race record.
Earlier this morning, two Australian distance running talents Duer Yoa (VIC) and Cassie Fien (QLD) were victorious in the ASICS Half Marathon and, in doing so, won the IAAF Oceania Area Half Marathon Championships and Australian Half Marathon Championships.
Glorious Queensland conditions greeted more than 26,400 runners across both days of the Gold Coast Airport Marathon this weekend.
There were four race records over the weekend with three today and Imogen Stewart’s Zespri 2km Junior Dash winning time yesterday.
A total of 109 teams enjoyed the conditions over the weekend with Griffith University (corporate), intraining Running and Triathlon Club (fitness), MND and Me Foundation (social) and Ming Dao High School from Taiwan (schools) winning the largest teams in the various team categories.
Event Management Queensland CEO Cameron Hart wrapped up the 38th annual event acknowledging the tremendous contribution of all sponsors, stakeholders, volunteers, staff and the community in growing the event.
“With the IAAF Road Race Gold Label as one of only 30 races in the world with that status, we believe we have the standard of delivery and level of racing to feature in the upper echelon of marathon events in the world,” said Hart.
“This weekend’s event has been the culmination of over a decade of work and collaboration with all of our key stakeholders. Each year, as the event management, we strive to improve on the previous years’ achievements and certainly those goals were realised this year.
“We have also received some tremendous feedback across the weekend on how well the city of Gold Coast embraces this event and understands its importance and heritage.
“This includes our over 1,200 event volunteers, the local residents and local businesses who embrace the event and support our endeavours as event management.
“The Gold Coast Airport Marathon is a vital part of the Gold Coast’s personality and showcases its value to the ongoing promotion of the city and Queensland as we look towards the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and beyond.”
Race Report & Top 10 Results – Gold Coast Airport Marathon
Race Report & Top 10 Results – ASICS Half Marathon
Race Reports & Top 10 Results – Wheelchair Marathon & 15km
Entries per race
TOTAL – 26,473
Gold Coast Airport Marathon – 6,216
ASICS Half Marathon – 9,891
Southern Cross University 10km Run – 5,281
Suncorp Bank 5.7km Challenge – 3,442
Zespri 4km Junior Dash – 645
Zespri 2km Junior Dash – 986
Wheelchair Marathon – 9
Wheelchair 15km – 3
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