A beautiful winter's morning welcomed Australia's only Gold rated IAAF marathon, but did it live up to its gold label standard? Sure did.
Did my effort? What was an attempt at a PB ended up being my worst marathon result rather than my best! But that's illness - and it will fuel another blog post one day.....
Here's my event ranking of a great event. In short, I'm labeling it deserving of the title "best marathon in Australia".
#GCAM16
#thisisqueensland
My event ranking:
Organisation
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9
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Overall, excellent. Hard to fault. World class indeed. Deserving of that gold class. Its not 1 outstanding thing, its lots and lots of little things all combined. Its easy (free transport); its user friendly (lots of space, signs, etc); its runner friendly (huge drink stations and a dedicated runners area after the finish line). Compared to Melbourne and Sydney it really is a notch above.
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Course
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7
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Great start and great through 30km. Nice and flat throughout and alongside the beach is cool and definitely the highlight. All the pretty stuff is missing from the last 10km. Great finish shute.
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Atmosphere
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8
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Best in Australia. Four elite runners under 2:10 gets a gold standard and also gets the story pumping and the crowds excited. Who doesn't love hearing Deeks cheer for you personally over the PA? Who doesn't love watching Kurt Fearnley fly past to win his event? Who doesn't love the "motivators" who come alongside and help you with 10km to go? Outstanding.
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Crowds
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7
| Again, best in Australia. Crowds alongside all the main areas and even those having bacon & eggs in street-side cafes get into the spirit of it. |
Expo
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7
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Best in Australia again.
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Medal
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6
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Pretty good.
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Runner’s pack
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7
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Good tshirt
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Injuries
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6
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One massive blister and one black toe nail!
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