Performance
Gallery: The 2019 Melbourne Marathon
Another thrilling edition of our hometown marathon
It seems like we get good weather for the Melbourne Marathon every second year. The 2018 conditions were warm and windy, which set us up for almost perfect marathon conditions this year.
A record number of participants raced across the events this year, with just over 8,500 pinning on a number for the marathon.
Naomi Jepkogei Maiyo won the women's race - despite pre-race talk that Maiyo would be paced to a sub 2:30 time, Maiyo was still able to comfortably take the win in 2:35:34, never really challenged by the local field.
Behind her, Western Australia's Nera Jareb was able to break clear of Lydia O'Donnell and then Marnie Ponton to finish 2nd in another PB (2:36:41). Ponton, who was believed to be targeting a huge PB herself, was able to take almost 3 minutes off her marathon time in finishing 3rd (2:37:19).
Isaac Birir dominated the men's race, taking his second win here after setting his PB of 2:14:08 here in 2017. While Birir didn't go as quick today, he raced nearly the entire course alone off the front, after dropping William Chebor coming out of Albert Park (11km in).
Behind Birir and Chebor, a chase group of 5-6 runners worked together for almost the entire race - Reece Edwards, Ryan Geard, and Dave Ridley doing a lot of the work.
Reece Edwards kicked away to take 3rd in 2:19:00, while Dave Ridley broke 2:20 for the first time with a 2:19:57. Debutant Ryan Geard finished 6th.