Record at beach run

A long-standing record held by former Olympian Steve Moneghetti has been broken by a single second in an action-packed morning at Cable Beach.

While the Broome International Airport Marathon was unable to host the traditional marathon and half-marathon, plenty of runners from Broome and around WA flocked to Cable Beach for the 10.5km Matso’s Dash on Sunday.

For professional runner Brad Kitto, it was his opportunity to break Moneghetti’s time of 35min. 9sec — a record that had stood since 2016, when the former Olympic marathon runner took part in the Matso’s Dash in a special guest appearance.

A final dash as the clock ticked down saw Kitto achieve his goal and finish first overall with a time of 35:08.

Kitto said beating Moneghetti’s record had been the goal for about five months, since he found out the event was still going ahead.

“I knew even if I ran my best, it would be pretty close, so I am pretty stoked to have achieved my goal and broken the record,” he said.

“It was great to see a good turnout since training for this wouldn’t have been easy because of COVID-19.

“It was awesome to see that turnout and such a good depth in the field.”

Hannah Jackson was the fastest female overall, finishing in a time of 44:59, followed by local triathlete Jude Millard.

The Broome International Airport Marathon is expected to return to its traditional form in August 2021.