Kenyan Kenneth Mungara claimed his third Gold Coast Marathon victory in four years after crossing the line in 2:09:49

Kenyan runner Kenneth Mungara won an amazing third Gold Coast Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, this morning 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, while last year’s winner Takuya Noguchi placed fourth in 2:10:15.

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).

Only Australian Pat Carroll has more victories in the men’s Gold Coast Marathon with four.

This year Mungara takes away the winner’s prize money of AUD $20,000 and a $2,000 time bonus.

In the race for the IAAF Oceania Marathon Championships, Australian Jack Colreavy (2:17:48) was the first athlete from Oceania across the line and 14^th overall.

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The 40th  edition Gold Coast Marathon will feature eight races including the Gold Coast Marathon, Wheelchair Marathon, ASICS Half Marathon, Wheelchair 15km, Southern Cross University 10km Run, Gold Coast Airport Fun Run, Garmin 4km Junior Dash and Garmin 2km Junior Dash.

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.