PREVIEW | Big Names Flock To Melbourne Marathon Festival

Australia’s distance running stars are set to spearhead thousands of runners at Sunday’s Melbourne Marathon, with deep fields assembled to scorch the roads and set the city alight as the elite meet the masses. 

Kenyan duo Timothy Kiplagat Ronoh and Cornelius Kipet Kiplagat are the best credentialed men to take out the 2022 Melbourne Marathon title with their personal best marks of 2:07:01 and 2:08:24 respectively, but hometown hero Liam Adams (Ken Hall) is bound to be at his brave best.

Long admired in the running community, Adams’ profile has been bolstered by strong performances at last year’s Olympic Games and more recently the Commonwealth Games, with the workhorse regularly celebrated for his gutsy performances.

A 2:10:48 man, Adams boasts strong form with his fourth place finish in Birmingham before returning home to finish in fourth place of the Australian Cross Country Championships and third in the Australian Road Running Championships.

Fellow Australians Reece Edwards and Riley Cocks add a further Australian flavour to the main contenders, holding personal bests of 2:13:33 and 2:17:44 respectively. Edwards clocked 2:17:45 at the Blackmores Sydney Marathon in September, while Cocks grinded his way to silver at the Australian Cross Country Championships in August and with a 1:02:54 performance to his name in the half – he may just be the big improver on the day.

Olympian over 5000m just last year, Isobel Batt-Doyle (Nic Bideau) makes her marathon debut in Melbourne off the back of a pair of eighth-place finishes over 5000m and 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games.

Batt-Doyle is backed by years of substantial mileage and will draw confidence from her half marathon personal best of 1:10:16, along with experience in pacing elite-level marathons through 30km. Welcoming the South Australian to the marathon will be Ethiopia’s Yenebeba Maru Ejigu and Kenya’s Beatrice Cheptoo who both hold 2:25 personal bests and bring world class credentials to the streets of Melbourne.  

An intriguing head-to-head battle looms in the Half Marathon between two of Australia’s freshly dubbed Marathon Mums, with Commonwealth Games duo Jess Stenson (Adam Didyk) and Sinead Diver (Nic Bideau) set to put friendships aside over 21.1km.

Stenson boasts strong form headlined by her historic Commonwealth title in Birmingham, backed up by a win at the Australian Road Running Championships over 12km at Adelaide’s City to Bay. The 35-year-old has only been served one loss in her six performances on the roads this year and will be eager to add some Melbourne Marathon silverware to her 2022 collection.

Diver returned to the fray after her fifth-place finish in Birmingham with a dominant win at the recent Blackmores Half Marathon in Sydney when clocking a time of 1:13:09 – not revealing all her cards ahead of Sunday’s main event. No stranger to her local streets, Diver holds the course record of 2:25:19 in the marathon and alongside Stenson will be eyeing off Isobel Batt-Doyle’s 1:10:16 record over the 21.1km trip en route to the title.

World Athletics Championships representative Sarah Klein (Peter Schuwalow) adds further class to the deep field of endurance talent, along with 22-year-old Rose Davies (Scott Westcott) who makes her debut over the distance.

On the Men’s side of the equation, Jack Rayner (Nic Bideau) is the hot favourite to continue his dominance on the road running scene, but he will have to shake a quality field of contenders before even considering casting his eyes to the clock.

Fellow Olympians Matthew Clarke (Adam Didyk) and Sam McEntee (Nic Bideau) headline the chase, along with Commonwealth Games marathoner Andrew Buchanan (Scott Westcott) and Australian Cross Country champion Seth O’Donnell (Sean Williams).

Rayner won 2021’s instalment with a swift performance of 1:02:30 and recently took out the Australian Road Running Championships ahead of Clarke, who is beginning to make an impression on the roads despite being known for his steeplechase prowess. McEntee flexed his form last month with a run of 1:02:32 to clinch silver at the Australian Half Marathon Championships on the Sunshine Coast.

Queensland duo Jack Bruce (Nic Bideau) and Liam Boudin (Jackson Elliot) will be out to cause an upset on enemy territory, as will South Australia's Jacob Cocks,  while Andre Waring (Steve Dineen) will be a crowd favourite at home.

The Men’s 10km race features Australian 3000m champion Jude Thomas (Collis Birmingham) and World Under 20 representative Archie Noakes (Charlotte Wilson), while Natalie Rule (Tim O’Shaughnessy) returns from her Oregon and Birmingham quests to take on Caitlin Adams (Adam Didyk) and Melissa Duncan.

The Melbourne Marathon will be streamed via their social media channels.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 1/10/2022