On his way to a 2:48:19 at the 2026 Gold Coast Marathon — a PB of around seven minutes.
The build-up
As with any big race for an intermediate runner, it starts months before the actual race weekend. For myself, planning started very early in the year with some semi-structured training and keeping the kilometres relatively high and consistently hitting a Sunday long run. The next few months that followed involved more structured training with key marathon sessions, practice races and joining the Chiron Beta. Chiron was the perfect place to plan, track and compare my training, race results and also strength training. The main points that stuck out to me during the training block were the two very successful key marathon sessions, one mediocre marathon session and a great result in the Brisbane Half Marathon, running a big PB of 1:17:02 and finishing 21st overall. After this successful result I revised my ambitious A goal for the Gold Coast Marathon to 2 hours 44 minutes and 59 seconds.
I revised my ambitious A goal for the Gold Coast Marathon to 2 hours 44 minutes and 59 seconds.
How that goal ended up looking in Chiron: an official net time of 2:48:19, a personal best ticked off, and the 2:44:59 stretch goal still unchecked.
Race morning
Training, taper and carb load completed, I wake up nice and early Sunday morning ready to launch into a lovely 42.2 with a great group of friends. The Bush Turkey Track Club has a number of great runners and people on the start line for the full marathon, as well as plenty of supporters that ran in the half marathon a day earlier. With a warm-up of a few hundred metres completed, we take our place as close as possible to the front of the A group. Taking on the challenge of a 2:45 marathon would be Dan Storey, Avishek Singh, Oli Jones and I. Avi and Oli gave up their priority starts so we could all start together as a group and try and achieve our goal.
The 2:45 crew ready to head to the start line: Michael, Avi and Dan, with Avi giving up his priority start so the group could run together.
Settling in — 0 to 30km
The first few kilometres are a blur of dodging, weaving, overtaking and trying to keep together through a sea of people. We eventually settle into a really nice groove around the 4 kilometre mark and form a group of about 10 people aiming for 2:45. Great running and great chats follow for the next hour or so. Staying consistently between 3:50min/km and 3:54min/km, everything is going well. For me personally, I was having some trouble getting down the amount of carbs I was aiming for, being on the lower end of my ideal carbs per hour.
The pack is still intact when we get to the 18km turnaround point; spirits are still high and the ambitious goal is still our target. There is so much support and people cheering; it is such a great atmosphere for running. In between 22km and 24km we lost good friends Avi and Oli off the group; Dan and I stayed on, but I could feel myself working a bit hard to stay on and stay on pace for the goal time from around 28km onwards. Still doing my best to struggle down my fuelling and get water down, but I was struggling with feeling extremely full despite being behind on my carbs per hour. Between the 28km mark and the 30km mark, Dan and I lose the group we had been a part of and they slowly start to get further and further ahead. Coming over the bridge back into Southport and the race precinct, I can feel Dan dropping off the back of me and the other stragglers left from our original 2:45 group.
The fade — 30km to the finish
The fade in one picture: 3:50s through halfway, 4:20s by the last few kilometres.
From 30-35km I’m still hanging onto running 2:45-something, and keeping some hope alive for sub-2:45 by trying to keep hanging in, although instead of running 3:53min/km I’m drifting out to 3:58-3:59min/km.
Michael at 32km, cheered on by supporters.
There is some fantastic support from my teammates around the 32km mark as I go past the Bush Turkey Track Club team tent and the accompanying water table. I was also lucky enough to get some support from the Chiron founder Clive Gross at the 35km mark, which was a great treat. For the next few kilometres I was able to keep the pace around 4min/km, but despite all the efforts of my teammates and the great supporters my kilometre times keep slipping down to 4:20s in the last few kilometres with a slower 41st kilometre and needing a few walk breaks to deal with cramping in alternating hamstrings. Some truly tough times in the last few kilometres until I was able to get back to the team tents and realise how close I actually was to the finish. I put every little bit I had into the last 600m and into the blue carpet with an official finish time of 2:48:19.
Official result certificate: 2:48:19 at the 2026 Gold Coast Marathon.
To be honest, it was a great relief to be finished with the race, and it was a great PB of about 7 minutes, but it’s hard not to be a little bit disappointed in not achieving a goal, even if it is an ambitious goal.
It’s hard not to be a little bit disappointed in not achieving a goal, even if it is an ambitious goal
Spending time with some great Bush Turkey friends straight after and again later on in the night was a great way to wrap up a very enjoyable race weekend.
What I’d do differently
Some reflections on shortcomings in the training block that may have led to a performance below expectations, and areas I’m looking to improve on, having just signed up for the Melbourne Marathon. Due to time constraints, a pregnant wife, and a toddler, my strength training was one of the things on the chopping block. While spare time is tight, there are always opportunities to focus on something as important as leg strength. Particularly given how gradual the fade was during the marathon, and hamstrings cramping, it’s hard to argue a better strength program would not have helped.
One thing I did not practice enough was consuming enough gel and water at goal marathon pace
The only other real point that stands out upon reflection is the struggle with fuelling. I knew how many grams of carbs I wanted to consume, and a brand of gel that worked well; one thing I did not practice enough was consuming enough gel and water at goal marathon pace. For me there is a big difference in the average speed of my previous marathon PB, about 4:08min/km, and my ambitious goal for this marathon, 3:52min/km. Looking back on the training and marathon workouts I know I didn’t practice getting enough gel down at or slightly faster than marathon pace; that, along with also not realising I hadn’t taken on enough water until it was too late, would have also contributed to the eventual marathon bonk. In my lead-up to a target time of 2:44 for the Melbourne Marathon I’ll be working on targeting these small skills that will hopefully pay dividends.