More than 3500 athletes of all abilities gathered in Noosa on Saturday to celebrate their collective passion for running at the inaugural Runaway Noosa Marathon.
Each had their reason for entering whether it was in search of a personal best, a marathon debut, much needed training or just some plain old fashioned fun.
Brendan Cato and Mooloolaba triathlete Katey Gibb were victorious in their marathon debuts and in the inaugural year are now the proud holders of the Runaway Noosa Marathon course records. For Cato competing was great way for him to return to Noosa and show his respect for friend, the late Garth Prowd.
“The course was fantastic and there was amazing support out there. I am stoked to win my first marathon on debut. I always wanted to run a marathon so that I could stop running. Now I have done that I don’t know what will happen,” he said.
For Katey Gibb Runaway Noosa Marathon was a journey into the unknown and some valuable training to prepare her for IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast in August.
“As this is the first marathon I have run I had no idea of what to expect. I had hoped to run three hours but did a 3:05. Time wasn’t great but the four lap course was excellent, I loved it and had a really good time. It was great to have all the entertainment and the spectators. When there were less people on course was when I started to hit the wall but it was a really good all round event and the volunteers were excellent.”
“I come from an elite triathlon background and I hadn’t ever concentrated as much on my running, so I tried to build my kilometres without getting injured I maxed at 100 km a week. Looking back now there are things I will change if I do another one in the future, but I was pretty happy with getting the kilometres in my legs.”
People entered the event in teams, as families or with friends and travelled to Noosa for the event from across the country.
Ricky and Jacqui Swindale of Mt Coolum met through a running club and love running together. Both entered the half marathon with Ricky coming in third in the men’s division.
Jane Webb travelled from Melbourne to run the half marathon. Having never been good at sport at school she took up running later in life.
When Yvonne Ahchee, 64, began the sport she couldn’t run from one tree to another but after putting her mind to it is now inspiring others to run. “It’s just perseverance,” she said.
