The fast and flat roads of the China Airlines Half Marathon will play host to the 2025 Australian Half Marathon Championships on the Gold Coast this weekend, launching the Chemist Warehouse Australian Winter Series featuring a host of Olympic-calibre talent.
Australia’s two fastest marathon men in history will go toe-to-toe over 21.1km as defending champion Andrew Buchanan (VIC, Scott Westcott) takes on former champion Brett Robinson (VIC, Nic Bideau), along with a charge of emerging names including Isaac Heyne (SA, Adam Didyk) and Sam Clifford (TAS, Gary Armstrong).
In the women’s race for national glory, Olympic star Jessica Stenson (SA, Adam Didyk) is gearing up for another domestic dust-up with Leanne Pompeani (NSW, Des Proctor), set to be joined in the chase by Sarah Klein (VIC, Peter Schuwalow) and Vanessa Wilson (VIC, Paul Wilson) who have both been selected for the marathon at the 2025 World Athletics Championships.
While Buchanan stole Robinson’s Australian marathon record with a run of 2:06:22 in Valencia last December, Robinson still holds the ascendency in the half marathon stakes with his 59:57 national record making him the only Australian in history to have shattered 60 minutes in the event.
Buchanan will be eager to make it back-to-back wins after breaking the tape in 2024 with a barnstorming finish, but Heyne looms as the in-form man having been the first Australian man home at last month’s Launceston Running Festival with a 1:01:13 showing.
Five Japanese athletes headed by Yuma Nishizawa (1:00:29) will also feature at the front of the field but will be ineligible for the Australian Championships.
Stenson was also a winner in the Women’s Half Marathon at the Launceston Running Festival in 1:09:51, now meeting Pompeani who is out to defend her 2024 Gold Coast title, along with Caitlin Adams (SA, Adam Didyk) who has been on the rise over the distance and Tara Palm (SA, Peter-John Bosch).
Pompeani’s 1:09:01 personal best is the fastest in the field and will hold her in good stead as she continues to build her career on the roads, but Stenson’s experience may prove the defining factor on the Gold Coast as she plots a winning move.
Line honours will also be up for grabs as four Japanese women including Yuri Mitsune (1:10:23) look to spoil the Australian party.
The 2025 Australian Half Marathon Championships will take place as part of the China Airlines Gold Coast Half Marathon at 6:15am AEST on Saturday, July 5 with more information available HERE.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 3/7/2025
