The Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 Marathon has been held every year from 1978. It is run over the traditional marathon distance. (42.195 km). The Race celebrated its 30th birthday in 2007 with a new course which featured the Melbourne Cricket Ground

Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...

 (MCG) as both the starting point and finishing point. 3328 competitors completed the 2008 race. Another 17,000 people participated in Half Marathon (21.1 km), 10 km and 5.5 km events. The 2010 running of the marathon saw a record number of 5026 finishers, and race records set for both men and women.

The course

A variety of different courses have been used for the Melbourne Marathon although the most common course has begun at Frankston

Frankston, Victoria

Frankston is a suburb within the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area in Victoria, Australia. It is located 40 km southeast of the state capital Melbourne at the southernmost edge of Greater Melbourne, near the beginnings of the Mornington Peninsula...

 and concluded at either Albert Park

Albert Park

Albert Park may refer to:In Australia:* Albert Park, Lismore, home to international baseball stadium Baxter Field* Albert Park, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne** Albert Park and Lake, the park itself...

 or at The Arts Centre

The Arts Centre (Melbourne)

The Victorian Arts Centre is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the inner Melbourne suburb of Southbank in Victoria, Australia....

 on St. Kilda Rd. It is normally run on the second Sunday in October.

Since 2007 the event has started near the MCG and finished with a lap of the ground. The predominately flat marathon course goes through some of the most scenic areas of Melbourne. It skirts the Botanic Gardens and Albert park Lake with several kilometres on the road parallel to the beaches of Port Phillip Bay. The other events share parts of the course but staggered starts ease congestion.

Previous winners

MALE

Year	Winner	Time	Year	Winner	Time
1978	William Scott	2:21:04	1995	Osamu Monoe	2:17:19
1979	Andrew Lloyd Andrew Lloyd Andrew Lloyd is best known for coming from behind in the last lap to take the 5000m gold medal in the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games....	2:26:44	1996	Zerhun Gizaw	2:22:40
1980	Andrew Lloyd Andrew Lloyd Andrew Lloyd is best known for coming from behind in the last lap to take the 5000m gold medal in the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games....	2:17:37	1997	Greg Lyons	2:15:49
1981	Andrew Lloyd Andrew Lloyd Andrew Lloyd is best known for coming from behind in the last lap to take the 5000m gold medal in the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games....	2:19:03	1998	Daniel Radebe	2:12:48
1982	Bill Rodgers Bill Rodgers (athlete) William "Bill" Henry Rodgers is an American runner and former American record holder in the marathon who is best known for his victories in the Boston Marathon and the New York City Marathon in the late 1970s...	2:11:08	1999	Michael McIntyre	2:25:04
1983	Juma Ikangaa Juma Ikangaa Juma Ikangaa marathon runner from Tanzania, a sentimental favorite in Boston after finishing second three years in a row atthe Boston Marathon from 1988-1990...	2:13:15	2000	Jamie Harrison	2:25:53
1984	Juma Ikangaa Juma Ikangaa Juma Ikangaa marathon runner from Tanzania, a sentimental favorite in Boston after finishing second three years in a row atthe Boston Marathon from 1988-1990...	2:15:31	2001	Todd Ingraham	2:23:58
1985	Fred van der Vennet	2:12:35	2002	Phillip Sly	2:22:28
1986	Richard Umberg	2:17:21	2003	Magnus Michelsson	2:14:00
1987	Ric Sayre	2:14:16	2004	Magnus Michelsson	2:26:51
1988	Thomas Hughes	2:18:14	2005	Nick Harrison	2:23:30
1989	Takeshi So Takeshi So is a retired long-distance runner from Japan, who represented his native country at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. He won the 1976 edition of the Košice Peace Marathon in Czechoslovakia. His twin brother is also a retired Olympic marathoner....	2:18:13	2006	Kazunari Suzuki	2:23:43
1990	Russell Foley	2:20:35	2007	Rohan Walker	2:19:16
1991	Victor Muzgovoi	2:17:02	2008	Asnake Fikadu	2:17:43
1992	Slawomir Gurny	2:16:04	2009	Asnake Fikadu	2:17:32
1993	Jerry Modiga	2:15:07	2010	Japhet Kipkorir	2:11:04
1994	Manabu Kawagoe	2:19:02	2011	Japhet Kipkorir

FEMALE

Year	Winner	Time	Year	Winner	Time
1978	Elizabeth Hassell	2:53:38	1995	Lyn Clayton	2:38:50
1979	Jane Kuchins	3:12:35	1996	Sylvia Rose	2:41:53
1980	Rosemary Longstaff	2:46:16	1997	Tracey Newton	2:48:32
1981	Jackie Turney	2:42:12	1998	Sherryn Rhodes	2:37:56
1982	Sue King	2:37:57	1999	Susan Hobson	2:48:32
1983	Rhonda Mallinder	2:37:56	2000	Nellie Marmy-Conus	2:49:22
1984	Margaret Reddan	2:43:40	2001	Samantha Hughes	2:39:44
1985	Margaret Reddan	2:44:56	2002	Sherryn Rhodes	2:47:08
1986	Tani Ruckle	2:36:06	2003	Loretta McGrath	2:49:01
1987	Jackie Turney	2:44:18	2004	Belinda Schipp	2:54:01
1988	Coral Farr	2:47:38	2005	Sherryn Rhodes	2:50:35
1989	Colleen Stephens	2:49:18	2006	Karen Natoli	2:53:06
1990	Alevtina Chasova	2:39:00	2007	Hanny Allston Johanna Allston Johanna Allston is an Australian orienteer.Johanna Allston, or Hanny Allston as many know her, won the 2006 Junior World Orienteering Championships for the long distance event. She won by an almost unprecedented margin of 4 minutes and 38 seconds...	2:40:34
1991	Irina Petrova	2:39:57	2008	Mai Tagami	2:38:16
1992	Alena Peterkova	2:33:02	2009	Lisa Flint	2:34:08
1993	Dominique Rembert	2:44:22	2010	Mulu Seboka	2:32:20
1994	Winnie NG	2:47:37	2011	Irene Mogaka Irene Mogaka Irene Mogaka Kemunto is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon.She began running at national level around 2005 and took second at the Kisii cross country meet that year. She made her marathon debut at the Nairobi International Marathon and finished in tenth place with a time of...	2:35.12

Spartan Qualification

Spartans are runners who have completed 10 or more Melbourne Marathons. Spartans are recognized today by their distinctive green, gold, red, maroon or navy running singlets. Every Spartan has their own personalized race number. The singlet is worn with pride by all Spartans as a sign of their dedication to marathon running and the Melbourne Marathon in particular. Club records reflect more than 1100 who have qualified as Spartans. Most come from Victoria but there are many from other states and one from Japan.

Spartan Legends

Spartan Legends are a select group of runners who have completed every Melbourne Marathon since the beginning. After the 30th running there were only 13 remaining Spartan Legends, named below with the total number of completed runs, including 2011, shown in brackets:
Peter Battrick (34)

Frank Biviano (34)

John Dean (32)

John Dobson (34)

David Foskey (34)

Neville Gardner (34)

Jack Gubbins (30)

Bruce Hargreaves

Bruce Hargreaves

Bruce "Digger" Hargreaves is an Australian based marathon runner who has completed more than 100 marathons and 38 ultra-marathons. He is also a Melbourne Marathon Spartan Legend which means he has completed every Melbourne Marathon since the event began in 1978.Bruce is the Australian Ambassador...

(34)

Manual Karageorgiou (34)

Peter Ryan (34)

Wayne Thompson (34)

Roger Weinstein (34)

Shirley Young (30)

Other Spartans Who Have Completed 30 or more Melbourne Marathons

Since 2008 the following runners have also completed their 30th Melbourne Marathon:

Ken Bowes (32)

Ian Campbell (33)

Bryan Flegg (33)

Laurie Glover (33)

Chas Harcoan (33)

Brickley Hepburn (31)

Jim Hopkins (31)

Keith Hunter (30)

Patrick Larkins (31)

Antony Martin (33)

Conor McNeice (32)

Dennis Nish (33)

Grayson Summers (31)

Richard Tann (32)

Clarke Whitehand (30)

Wheelchair Spartans

The Melbourne Marathon has always included wheelchair entrants. Two have attained Spartan status: Ian Gainey who has completed 23 races and Dean Callow who has completed 12.

External links

• Melbourne Marathon Site
• Melbourne Marathon Facebook Group