More than 7,500 participants turned out over the weekend for Victoria’s iconic Great Ocean Road Running Festival across Apollo Bay and Lorne. The two day festival of running offered people of all ages and abilities the choice of seven distances from the Great Ocean Road Walk to the 1.5km Kids’ Gallop, all the way up to the 60km Ultra Marathon.
Natasha Fraser – Girl Power
The 60 km distance was won by Natasha Fraser. She crossed the line with a time of 4:18:54, making her the overall champion. Malaysia’s Edan Syah came in overall 2nd and men Champion 11 minutes behind Natasha with a timing of 4:29:03. This makes it 3 wins out of 3 for Natasha. In the inaugural run back in 2016, Natasha won the race in 4:33:01. In 2017, she smashed her own record and won the race in 4:29:49. This year, she repeated her amazing feat again, and crushed her own record!
New Course Record In The Garmin 14 km Paradise
Sinead Diver set a new course record in the Garmin 14 km Paradise, winning in 44:28. She came in ahead of Charlotte Wilson 46:55 and Sarah Waters 48:27.
Steve Moneghetti Shows Us He’s Still Got It
Steve is a legend. He made popular what we now know as the Mona Fartlek. He is a true Aussie marathon legend. He came in 8th place in the Garmin 14 km Paradise. He ran alongside his son Matthew.
The Great Ocean Road Running Festival is a two day festival of running offered people of all ages and abilities the choice of seven distances from the Great Ocean Road Walk to the 1.5km Kids’ Gallop, all the way up to the 60km Ultra Marathon. The Great Ocean Road is an icon in Australia and is renowned throughout the world for its beauty and panoramic views of the Southern Ocean. It has a colourful history surrounding its construction and ultimate destinations along the coastline.
Source: Great Ocean Road Running Festival
Photo Credits: Great Ocean Road Running Festival
You should come and run the GOR next year Mel! Lorne is my home town and it’s a great run and lots of foreign runners. If you cut the corners on all the bends you can shave about 5% off the distance (I know this because I cut the corners myself and was shocked to see the distance on my GPS). But then again the distance between the two towns is 44 Km so you end up running a full marathon regardless 😀