Wheelchair Marathon

1^st Male – Josh George (USA) – 1:38:04

On living in Australia:

“I’ve been training here since 2008 and finally had the opportunity to come here and live here for a little bit and so I jumped at it. It has been fantastic.”

“I’m actually moving back to America (San Diego) in a couple of weeks.”

On the course conditions today:

“It doesn’t get any better than this. The weather is perfect with not much wind. The course is beautiful, the people are beautiful – it is a fantastic morning.”

“This is the first time I’ve done the Gold Coast Marathon but I’ve lived in Australia for two years now. This is a great race and I’m really impressed.”

On racing against Richard Colman:

“It is a great group of races that we have internationally now. I’ve been racing Colman since I was a teenager. We have seen each other three or four times a year for my entire life really. I’ve built some good friendships.”

On racing in a wheelchair:

“Being in this racing chair makes it a little bit difficult to breathe. You sacrifice comfort for aerodynamics and speed. Your neck starts hurting a little bit at the end of the race because you have to crane your neck to look up out of the wheelchair.”

“I don’t drink much during the race because my stomach is being crushed.”

1st Female – Madison de Rozario (AUS) – 1:48:21

On her win:

“It was an amazing race. It was a lot of fun and the crowds were amazing. I was pushing with Eliza Ault-Connell for the majority of the race but unfortunately she crashed at one point. It has been a good year and this has been another great race.”

On the atmosphere and crowd support:

“It was a great atmosphere out there – the vibe was amazing. I loved seeing everyone else running beside me. It was like a mini Commonwealth Games again. It would have been silly to pass up coming back to the Gold Coast for the marathon. This was honestly the most fun marathon I think I have ever raced.”

On her future plans:

“I’m going into a really heavy three month training block now to prepare for the Chicago Marathon in October and the New York Marathon in November. I would love to come back again next year for the Gold Coast Marathon.”