More than 27,000 participants took part across eight races over the weekend at the 2018 Gold Coast Marathon, including a record number of 6,700 runners in the Marathon category.

The Gold Coast Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race and is organised by Events Management Queensland, a major events management company, wholly owned by the Queensland Government as part of Tourism and Events Queensland.

And winning the 42.195km Marathon event had been Kenya’s Kenneth Mungara in the Men’s race and fellow countryman Ruth Chebitok in the Women’s category.

It had been Mungara’s third Gold Coast Marathon victory, in a thrilling finish over Japan’s Kenta Murayama. 

And only Australian Pat Carroll has more victories in the Men’s Marathon, with four wins to his name.

In the final stages of the race, Mungara, 44, had surged away to win in 2 hours 9 minutes 49 seconds.

Murayama had attempted to make a late sprint in an attempt to close the gap, only to miss out on the win by just one second.

For his efforts, Mungara wins a cool AUD $20,000 as well as an AUD $2,000 time bonus.

Finishing in third place in the Men’s Marathon had been Jo Fukuda, also from Japan, in 2 hours 9 minutes 52 seconds. Last year’s winner Takuya Noguchi, had finished fourth in 2 hours 10 minutes 15 seconds.

And in the Women’s Marathon, Chebitok’s win makes her the first Kenyan woman to win the 42.195km race, crossing the finish line in 2 hours 24 minutes 49 seconds.

For her efforts, she walked away with the prize money of AUD $20,000 as well as an AUD $10,000 time bonus for a new race record – the previous record had been set by Abebech Bekele (2 hours 25 minutes 34 seconds).

And Australian marathoner Jessica Trengrove came in second with a new personal best timing of 2 hours 26 minutes 31 seconds, clinching the AUS $8,000 prize money as well as a special AUS $40,000 incentive.

This is because to celebrate the 40th edition of the Gold Coast Marathon, the organisers had offered the AUD $40,000 cash prize for Australian athletes who could run under 2 hours 28 minutes for women and 2 hours 10 minutes for men. Trengrove had been the only Australian to go under these timings and she will contribute a portion of the prize money to charities close to her heart.

Finishing in third placer was top seed Agness Barsosio from Kenya with a timing of 2 hours 27 minutes 46 seconds, after losing touch with her Kenyan compatriot with about 10km left to go.

Coming in fourth was Miharu Shimokadu in 2 hours 29 minutes 38 seconds and rounding up the top five was Australia’s Celia Sullohern, who finished in 2 hours 30 minutes 19 seconds, after being on target to run sub 2 hours 28 minutes until the 40km mark.

The event organisers are very happy with how the race went. Said Kerry Watson, Chairman, Events Management Queensland, “The 40th edition of the Gold Coast Marathon went above and beyond our expectations. The combination of great weather, elite field performances and record marathon participation, has set us a platform for the next decade. We believe the Gold Coast Marathon will be one of the top marathon in Oceania and South East Asia for a long time.”

And added his colleague Cameron Hart, Events Management Queensland CEO, “We have been planning this year’s Gold Coast Marathon since well before 2017. Events Management Queensland has been organising and delivering the event for 17 out of the 40 years and we continue to learn and develop the event each year. And operationally, we were very pleased with the feedback from participants and stakeholders.”

Here is a full list of results for the Gold Coast Marathon 2018.