Course record broken at Geelong Half Marathon

Despite the dreary and dark conditions, around 1,000 competitors hit the pavement for the annual Geelong Half Marathon.

Returning for its 35th year, the sold-out event was held last Sunday (April 7) along the Barwon River.

Held by the Geelong Cross Country Club, participants had the choice of competing in the 21km or the 5km run.

Course director Ken Walker said it’s always fun to see people make it to the finish when they have set themselves the goal.

“It’s the sort of thing where if you set your mind to it, you can run a half marathon.”

“You can make the effort and it’s just terrific to see so many people that have done their half marathon for the first time, that to me is always a highlight.”

Finishing the half marathon in 1:06:47 was male winner Harry Norman.

Australian athlete and Tokyo Olympian Ellie Pashley took out the women’s half marathon, breaking the course record with a time of 1:13:04.

The 5km winners were Ashley Ferguson (male winner) and Dee-Ann Dawson (female winner).

Funds raised from the event are donated to the Andrew Love Centre.

“Last year, we gave $20,000 to the Andrew Love Centre and I feel there’s a very good chance we’ll be able to match that again this year.,” Mr Walker said.

“A couple of our organisers in the early days had to use the centre, so it’s nice to pay something back for the people that kept this race going in the early days.”

Mr Walker recognised the help of the rowing club and cycling club.

“Events like this don’t go ahead without lots of help from our volunteers and even the sporting clubs down by the river.

“If we didn’t have these people helping us, we couldn’t put this event on and we couldn’t make it a lovely safe event for people.”

Plans for next year’s event are already in the works with April 27 locked in.

For the full list of results head to: tomatotiming.racetecresults.com