Date July Established 1979 Event type Road running | Location Gold Coast, Australia Distance Marathon | |
Official site www.goldcoastmarathon.com.au | ||
The Gold Coast Marathon (branded Gold Coast Airport Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon race on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is "Australia's premier road race", and is one of only two marathons in Australia to hold a IAAF Gold Label status (the other being Sydney). The event is held on the first Sunday of July each year with races also being held the day before. The event was first held on 2 September 1979 as part of a health awareness campaign for the Gold Coast. The 37th edition took place on 5 July 2015.
The men's course record of 2:08:42 hours is held by Kenneth Mungara (2015), while Misato Horie is the women's course record holder with her run of 2:26:40 hours in 2016.
History
The inaugural Gold Coast Marathon was held on 2 September 1979 in the suburb of Evandale. It started and ended at the Evandale Civic Centre and consisted of 6 laps over Chevron Island Bridge, through Surfers Paradise and over the Isle of Capri Bridge. There were 124 competitors in the marathon, 144 competitors in the half marathon and 423 competitors in an additional fun run. The winning male and female were Eric Sigmont from Victoria and Mary Murison from Lismore.