The Australian marathon record has been shattered by 41-year-old Kenyan, Kenneth Mungara, who took 32 seconds off the mark in winning the Gold Coast marathon.
Mungara pulled away from his rival countrymen over the final two kilometres to collect the finish tape in 2:08:42, breaking the race record set last year and shaving two seconds off his own Masters 40+ world record.
The Kenyan, who only took up marathon running in his early 30s and believes his best is still to come, beat last year’s race winner and previous record-holder Silah Limo by 12 seconds with Evans Ruto a further second behind in third.
Mungara was understandably rapt with the win and running a personal best.
“As I was finishing, I saw the time and thought ‘I have to get it’ and I kept going,” Mungara said.
“I was targeting the Gold Coast Airport Marathon record and the (weather) forecast and track helped.
“I know I can go faster again in the future and will keep training hard. When you run at this age, you have to plan ahead and keep working.”
Kenya stood one-two-three on the podium in the men’s marathon and it was Japan which provided first to fifth in the women’s 42.195km battle.
Risa Takenaka, 25, clocked the second-fastest time ever at the event by a woman, crossing the line in 2:28:25. Takenaka finished more than a minute ahead of Keiko Nogami (2:29:34) with Manami Kamitanida in third (2:33:43).
