Men's race record set in 2011 Gold Coast Marathon

The long-standing 22-year-old Gold Coast Airport Marathon men’s race record has finally been broken on another groundbreaking day for the event which drew a record 24,726 runners.

Kenyan Nicholas Manza, 26, breasted the tape to set a new low mark of 2:10:01 at today’s marathon weekend headliner on the Gold Coast.

It lowered by 10 seconds Brad Camp’s previous best mark of 2:10:11 set in 1989.

It was a Kenyan trifecta with Albert Matebor 2:10:13 and Japhet Kipkorir 2:10:50 in second and third.

Ethiopia’s Goitetom Tesema blitzed the women’s race in 2:30:08, 11 minutes ahead of Caloundra’s Roxie Fraser  2:41:17 and Japan’s Chihiro Tanaka  2:43:04.

Both winners pocketed $10,000 for their win but, after agonisingly missing a $25,000 bonus for breaking 2:10:00 by one second, organisers (Events Queensland Gold Coast) decided to present Manza with a $10,000 bonus for breaking the race record.

Events Queensland Gold Coast Chairman Kerry Watson said in recognition of Manza’s exceptionally strong run and smashing the race record by 10 seconds, it was fitting to reward him with a further $10,000.

“Even though Nicholas didn’t quite reach the 2:10:00 standard set for the bonus prizemoney ($25,000), his performance was exceptional and lowered Brad Camp’s longstanding race record. We felt it fitting to further reward his performance.”

Manza’s and Tesema’s wins delighted a bumper race day crowd and 18-strong group of visiting African VIPs including Olympic and world middle and long distance champion, African legend Dr Kip Keino.

The men’s race looked an African result from the halfway mark when Matebor and Manza audaciously broke away from US-based pacesetters Jason Hartmann and Patrick Rizzo and led a group of eight runners.

At the 36km mark, Manza made his winning move, putting 50 metres between himself and Matebor over the next kilometre and keeping himself well on race record pace. He maintained a handy 100 metre buffer for the final six kilometres.

“I’m just happy to win the race. It is very special for me to win the race. I am so happy,” he said.

“It’s hard in Kenya because there are so many marathon runners. A lot of guys run 2:05.

“It’s been a great race and it’s very special to me because it’s my first time in Australia,” he said.

Matebor said he felt the going tough over the closing stages after a great duel with his Kenyan compatriots.

“The second half was tough. He [Manza] ran away at 36 kilometres and I knew I couldn’t hold on,” he said.

Third placegetter Japhet Kipkorir said his plan was to run with the leaders, but the pace was faster than he expected.

“They broke away from me at 30 kilometres,” he said.

“I was in better shape at the Melbourne Marathon last year [where he set his previous PB of 2:11:04].

Tesema, who was determined to break the two and a half hour mark, had to run solo for most of the race.

“I was trying to run under 2:30, but it was a hard run. I was out there by myself,” she said.

Fraser, who rarely runs with a wristwatch but did so today, improved her personal best by over a minute.

She decided reeling in the early frontrunners one-by-one was the best way to stand on the victory dais.

“I could see the second, third and fourth ladies 100 metres ahead and I caught the fourth at 23ks and the third and second at 34ks,” Fraser said.

“I stayed with them for a bit and then thought I’d try to get rid of them.

“Most of the elites don’t run the way I do. I don’t have a coach and I don’t train with a stopwatch and my goal is to have fun and make my husband proud,” she said.

Tanaka’s target was to come within the top three.

“So that’s completed and I’m happy,” Tanaka, who finished outside of her 2:35:15 PB, said. 

“At 25km I got a cramp. I had to stop and I slowed down after that,” she said.

Tanaka said she drew inspiration from her daughter Nozomi’s win in the 4km Junior Dash on Saturday.

“I wasn’t expecting Nozomi to come in first. It was a good stimulant for me to do well today.”

Victorian Lee Troop was hampered by a problematic hamstring in today’s attempt to post a London 2012 Olympic qualifying time of 2:12:00. Troop crossed the line in sixth place in 2:15:45.

“Unfortunately I was restricted in my left hamstring and never really got into rhythm early,” Troop said.

“I’ve raced [Kenyans] for 20 years and they are good. I knew they were all going to work together.

“Bottom line, I just had to control myself, I couldn’t control the Kenyans,” he said.

Troop said he’s not giving up on his London Olympic dream and will make the most of the two more qualifying opportunities still available to him.

Today’s Gold Coast Airport Marathon action was played out in front of an Africa Region delegation on the Gold Coast to inspect the city’s suitability to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The delegation comprised 14 National Olympic Council presidents, two secretary generals and two Olympic committee board members.

They arrived on the Gold Coast on Saturday night from Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda and Zambia.

A delighted Events Queensland Gold Coast General Manager Cameron Hart said he couldn’t be more proud of the achievements today by not only the elite runners but also the fun runners and joggers, volunteers, officials and especially the event staff.

“This weekend was a weekend of records – record numbers of people running, record numbers of visitors to the event, a record amount of money raised for charity (over $300,000) and finally the race record in the men’s marathon was broken.

“With another record-breaking Gold Coast Airport Marathon conducted, this city’s credentials for planning and delivering world class sporting events have again been on show.

“With the Commonwealth Games delegation from Africa here to assess the event, we feel we’ve done all we possibly can to give the 2018 Commonwealth Games bid a boost.”

2011 Participants – Total 24,761

Gold Coast Airport Marathon                          5,086
ASICS Half Marathon                                     8,901
Southern Cross University 10km Run             5,998
Queensland Health 5km Challenge             3,625

4km Junior Dash                                        420
2km Junior Dash                                        721
Wheelchair Half Marathon                          10

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