Lisa's in her prime with record-breaking display

Lisa Weightman is proud to prove age is no barrier heading into an Olympic year, after powering to a record-breaking triumph during the Coast Half Marathon

7 Sunshine Coast Marathon and Community Run FestivalLisa Weightman wins the women's half marathon. Picture: Warren Lynam

RUNNING: Lisa Weightman is proud to prove age is no barrier heading into an Olympic year, after powering to a record-breaking triumph during the Sunshine Coast Half Marathon.

The 40-year-old didn't just win on Sunday but broke her own record for the quickest half marathon by an Australian athlete on Australian soil.

She bettered her previous record set on the Gold Coast in 2010 by 12 seconds with a 1hour8minutes 48seconds effort.

Along with bragging rights, the time earned her a lucrative $25,000 prize for breaking the record.

If that wasn't enough, she also snared a national title with the event doubling as the Australian championships and also cracked the fastest time in the world for a woman over the age of 40.

"I'm really happy, everyone thinks you're old, well people thought I was old at 28, so it's nice to be running my best at 40 and proving everybody wrong," Weightman said.

"It's funny getting those sort of things (world record) I don't think of myself as being over 40 but it's a bonus so I'm just glad to be up there with the girls and with the rest of Australia."

Weightman had been building some career-best form over the shorter distances prior to the event and was pleased to crack her third personal best in a fortnight.

"It's been a whirlwind two weeks actually with a sub 16 minutes 5km PB at Parkrun and then last week I did a 10km PB so I guess I'm on a high, but training has been going really well," she said.

7 Sunshine Coast Marathon and Community Run FestivalLisa Weightman wins the women's half marathon. Picture: Warren Lynam

The Melbourne athlete said the half marathon success was the ideal way to start her campaign towards competing in a full-distance marathon in October.

"We're up here for a month to train and hopefully I can go for a 10km, half marathon and marathon PB for the year and then it will be an absolutely amazing year," she said.

The three-time Olympian had her eye on a fourth campaign in Tokyo next year and said the $25,000 prize would be a major boost on her journey to that world stage.

"That's going to fund certainly our next two years so I can't thank the race enough for that," she said.

"Because having no sponsors to help me achieve this it means the family helps and pitches in and we've taken a bit of time off with work to spend a month here."

She was eager to not just earn a fourth Olympic campaign but to make it one of her best yet.

"When I ran in Rio I got a sinus infection but I went into it with the best training I'd ever done so I always had it in the back of my mind that if I could be in good shape again I'd try for a fourth one and see if I can get the result I was hoping for in Rio," she said.

"You never know what's going to happen, but I'll just keep trying and giving it a go and hopefully I'll get that result."

Sinead Diver and Ellie Pashley rounded out the podium in the Sunshine Coast Half Marathon.

"I think any of us could've won it but I was just glad that it was me today.

"I was going (hard) the whole last 5km so there wasn't much left in the tank, if anyone saw my face it was completely grimaced and I was just doing the best I could at that point."

Originally published as Lisa's in her prime with record-breaking display