Marathon runner feels his identity was taken after losing national record

By Amanda Shalala

Topic:Marathon

Andy Buchanan admitted he was disappointed with his performance at the Gold Coast half marathon in early July. (Supplied)

In short:

Andy Buchanan and Ellie Pashley will lead the Australian charge at the Sydney Marathon.

This is the second year the event will be part of the world majors.

What's next?

More than 40,000 entrants will line up for the race on Sunday morning, which will finish at the Sydney Opera House.

Hours after seeing his national record broken by two seconds at the Gold Coast marathon, Andy Buchanan was sitting in his hotel room reflecting.

He was raw, 'going through the feels', and brutally honest as he articulated what it felt like to have something intangible, yet still his, taken from his grasp.

"I saw it pop up, new Australian record, and it just hit me like a thousand cement trucks," Buchanan said on his YouTube channel at the time.

"That's a huge run from Haftu [Strintzos], good on him. Obviously, the record was going to be broken at some stage.

"It feels like something's been stolen, I feel like that was a big part of my identity the last year."

His disappointment ran even deeper, having finished 18th in the half marathon the day before.

That was nearly two months ago, and when he was introduced as the former Australian record holder at the media launch for Sunday's Sydney Marathon, he visibly winced.

The pain has not disappeared, but the attitude to banish it is stronger.

"I hated that weekend up on the Gold Coast," he said.

"I raced poorly on Saturday and Haftu come out and ran so, so well and broke my record.

"But that's OK, that's what records are there for and it actually wasn't that deep and I just needed to move on.

"I'm still the same person with or without the record. I'm really eager to get it back but it's not that deep."

Going the distance

The record was unattainable for an Australian man for decades.

Rob de Castella's mark stood for 36 years, before Brett Robinson's breakthrough in 2022, then Buchanan in 2024, and now Strintzos.

And while it is unlikely to fall again on Sydney's tricky, hilly course, Buchanan will be the fastest Australian man in the elite field, headlined by reigning world champion, Tanzania's Alphonce Simbu.

They will be amongst more than 40,000 entrants in Sydney's second year as one of the world's eight marathon majors.

Buchanan (left) alongside several of the Australian entrants in the elite field for the Sydney Marathon. (Supplied: Sydney Marathon)

It is Buchanan's first marathon at home, and first since London in April last year.

"I had a stress reaction in my femur, and then I tried to get back for World Champs and then re-injured it, tried to get back for Valencia, re-injured it," he said.

"So it's just the same injury three times, which was very frustrating, but you've just got to try and learn something from every injury, and I think I've learned something, but we'll find out."

And as the second fastest male marathon runner in Australian history, the 35-year-old was always destined to go the distance.

"Growing up as a schoolkid, my parents were marathon runners back before running was cool," he said.

"And I grew up thinking the normal family holiday was to go to Gold Coast or go to Adelaide or go to Hobart or Perth, watch your parents run a marathon, then you get to spend a week or two around that state.

"But I'm very thankful for my parents that I got to have that upbringing.

"I fell in love with the marathon just by watching people at 30k and seeing the pain they were going through, and you'd see the same people then crossing the line at 42k and it's such a unique thing.

Pashley leading Australian women

The women's field also boasts the current world champion, Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir, while Ellie Pashley is vying to be the first Australian across the line — a title which pockets $30,000 for men and women.

The Tokyo Olympian won the Ballarat Marathon in April, her first after the birth of her second child.

Ellie Pashley is an Olympic marathon runner and a mother of two. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

"I'm really excited to be honest. I think time off from the sport really grows your hunger to get back into it," she said.

"Watching last year, seeing the course, seeing the race amongst the Australian women, I was really pumped to try and get a spot in the race this year and I'm excited to be a part of it."

And she is trying not to measure herself against some of Australia's other leading female marathoners.

"I feel like it takes me a while to get back after having a baby," Pashley said.

"I think some of the Australian women make it look fairly easy with how incredibly they run so soon after childbirth.

"I feel like I'm still building back up and I hope I'm a little bit fitter than I was in Ballarat.

"There's always a few hiccups along the way when you have young children with illness and things like that. But I'm feeling fitter and I'm hoping to give a good time."

Caitlin Scott won her debut marathon in Melbourne last year. (Nike Melbourne Maraton Festival)

Caitlin Scott, 29, is one of the other leading Australian women, having only made her marathon debut in Melbourne last year.

"I feel like I'm quite green and inexperienced as a marathon runner, so I'm really excited for Sunday … just to give the distance another crack and see what we can do," she said.

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