Gold Coast Airport Marathon exceeds expectations with record attendance, running and economic benefit

THE Gold Coast Airport Marathon exceeded all expectations on the weekend with record-breakings runs, crowds and economic benefit.

Gold Coast Airport Marathon. Marathon- Men's winner Silah Limo. Picture by Scott Fletcher

MORE than 27,000 runners from 66 countries pounded the pavement in the Gold Coast Airport Marathon over the weekend as the event cemented its place on the world stage.

On the course, the previous Australian marathon record set by Robert de Castella in 1982 was smashed by Kenyan winner Silah Limo, who ran the race in 2hr 9min 14 sec and Japan’s Asami Kato won the women’s title in just her third marathon, crossing in 2:28.51, just under her previous best.

ALL THE ACTION FROM THE GOLD COAST AIRPORT MARATHON

But the winners weren’t the only ones celebrating with the event attracting more international participants and spectators than ever, and the city expecting a record $17 million injection thanks to the event.

In its first year as an IAAF gold race status event, the marathon saw international participants increase by more than 40 per cent since 2013.

More than 3000 international participants ran across all events over the weekend. The country with the highest representation was Japan with 846 competitors, while China showed the greatest growth, its 161 runners almost five times the country’s participation rate last year.

Though overall numbers were down, with a close to six per cent decrease in Australian runners and 528 fewer participants all up compared to last year’s races, organiser Cameron Hart said he was more than happy with the numbers.

Gold Coast Airport Marathon. Marathon men's winner Silah Limo. Picture by Scott Fletcher

“We’ll sit down after the event and do a fair bit of work on those statistics to understand why people might not be coming back, but we’ve been quite strategic in growing those international markets,” he said.

“The growth we’ve had this year will certainly continue, the Asian market, particularly China is going to be our biggest potential growth market, and we’re confident we can double those international numbers in a couple of years.”

Event Chairman Kerry Watson said it wouldn’t be unreasonable to hit 10,000 international participants by 2018, when a similar course would feature in the Commonwealth Games.

“There’s no doubt this is the best ever Gold Coast Airport Marathon we’ve hosted,” he said.

“It’s a world class event and you can see that in the participation, and its reputation is only going to grow overseas too.”

Gold Coast Marathon - Krista Rogers receives help over the finish line. Pic David Clark

Tourism Minister Jann Stuckey was also unfazed by the slight drop in numbers, saying the boost from international visitors to the city more than made up for it.

“Overall numbers are down only marginally, but in terms of spending one international visitor is equal to 10 in terms of economic benefit,” she said.

“We’ve had probably around 100,000 spectators come through and what we’re going to see is the status of the event go up, and the economic benefit go up with that.

Gold Coast Airport Marathon. Full Marathon- Jut Ling and Chieh Hu in his banana suit. Picture by Scott Fletcher

“Events like this really show what we’re capable of, it’s a good preview for the Commonwealth Games.”

Mayor Tom Tate was keen to look forward to 2018, predicting the spotlight that will shine on the city when the Commonwealth Games title is handed over in just three weeks would give the marathon’s reputation a boost.

“My prediction is the numbers of international runners here is going to accelerate even more because there’s going to be people dreaming about running the course that was the Commonwealth Games course,” he said.