EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCES AT GC100

Contributed by Ian Cornelius, Gold Coast 100 Run Festival event organiser

The 17th edition of the GC100 Run Festival conducted at the BLK Performance Centre (formerly known as the Sports Super Centre) at Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast on 9 June, 2019 saw some exceptional performances.

First the emergence of the women. For the first time in the history of the event the number of female starters across all event categories exceeded males.

The main race, the Gold Coast 100, was won by Marita Eisler outright in a time of 8:26:10 with outright 2nd going to Corrina Black with 9:03:20. M50 veteran Mal Gamble was first male and 3rd outright with 9:09:31. This was Eisler’s 7th victory in the female category of this event and first outright.

Mick Francis (M60) finished 4th outright and 2nd male with 9:23:53. He broke the M60 race record previously held by the late Keith Sullivan and hopes to be back next year to tackle Cliff Young’s Australian record of 8:53:04 set in 1984.

The M75 category was won by Robert Dickison with 15:46:45 who becomes the race record holder in that division.

The Fisiocrem 50kms was won by Anderson Moquiuti 3:23:56 (now three-time winner of this event) and Shannon-Leigh Litt (NZL) with 4:03:23. John Nuttall, returning from injury, won the M65 division with a very creditable 4:54:49.

To round out the program there were other shorter events on offer.

The stand out performance was by young marathon winner Zachery Cacciola with 3:07:40. Zack is a budding ultra marathoner and it is comforting to think of this festival as a nursery for nurturing future ultra runners.

Detailed results can be found here.

Thanks to our many sponsors including Topo Shoes, Fisiocrem, Ultimate Direction, Jetts, Trail Brew, T8 Typhoon Wear, Gold Coast PT, Impi Sportswear, Revvies Performance Strips and BLK Performance Centre. ‘

Thanks to our many on-the-day volunteers and to race director Shelly Coleman. Thanks also to Paramedics Gold Coast for the runners’ safety and well-being and to Timing Plus for the real time timing.

The 18th GC100 Run Festival will take place at the same venue on Sunday, 7 June, 2020.

Pictured: Rick Patzold, Ken Marsh, John Nuttall, Mick Francis and Kelvin Marshall at this year’s Gold Coast 100.