Gold Coast Marathon

1st – Ruth Chebitok (KEN) – 02:24:49

On her win:

“I came to the Gold Coast because I wanted to improve my time. Winning today was a surprise. The people cheering and clapping help make me run faster. I will be back again next year.”

On being the first Kenyan woman to win the Gold Coast Marathon:

“I’m very happy. I’m surprised I won. I enjoyed the race.”

On why she competed at the Gold Coast Marathon:

“I was invited here but I wanted to the win the title.”

On running a personal best and breaking the race record:

“I am very happy as I was looking to run a PB (personal best).”

2nd – Jess Trengove (AUS) – 02:26:31

On her second place:

“The crowd support always keeps me going. I knew it would be there in that final kilometre, so I was just hanging out for that. I was my biggest challenge out there today – it was definitely a mental battle.”

On winning $40,000 as an incentive for Australians to run under 2:28:

“It feels pretty good to have gotten the incentive prize. It hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

On the local support:

“I love you Gold Coast. I want to thank everyone for the support – it was awesome. I was hearing it and it got me through the tough times.”

On her brother debuting for Port Adelaide Football Club yesterday:

“I want to acknowledge my brother Jack (Jack Trengove). He debuted for Port Adelaide yesterday. He played well and got a win – that got me fired up.”

On the race:

“We raced in a small pack working together, both men and women.”

On the 25km of the race

“I did drop off a bit but I wasn’t too worried-the wind was too strong, so I was happy to run my own race-as a team we saw this and made the decision to do 2:25:00 to get the bonus”

On her future plans:

“To be honest I’ve just been concentrating on this race but now that this is over I will have to sit down and make a strategic plan for Tokyo 2020.”

On her use of the incentive prize:

“I said to my boyfriend Dylan before the race that if I win some money there would be some charities that I’d like to support. The Little Heroes Foundation and the Jodi Lee Foundation are my main charities I support at home. The Jodi Lee Foundation is trying to prevent bowel cancer through screening.  I never got to meet my Nan because she passed away from bowel cancer so that is very close to my heart. Also Eloise Wellings, who is an Australian distance runner, started up the Love Mercy Foundation. My boyfriend’s coach unfortunately passed away late last year and she had a charity that she wanted to support so between those I’d really like to contribute something. And I’d like to support running in South Australia, as well as put some towards saving for the future.”