60: Andy Buchanan – First Australian at Sydney Marathon!

Andy Buchanan is back – and he’s the newly crowned Australian marathon champion!

After a challenging year of injuries, marathon withdrawals and a very patient return to running, Andy crossed the Sydney Marathon finish line in 2:10:14 as the first Australian. He joins Elise to debrief the race kilometre by kilometre: the wildly fast opening, an unexpected gee up from one of the world’s fastest 5,000m runners and the brutal final descent that left his quads completely cooked.

Andy also opens up about the difficult year preceding Sydney, including recurring femoral bone stress injuries, learning to fuel his body properly and watching Haftu Strintzos break his Australian marathon record by just two seconds. He reflects on separating identity from results, sharing the less glamorous parts of elite sport and why his coach Scott Westcott sometimes needs to remind him: “It’s not that deep.”

It's always great to catch up with Andy. And let’s wait and see whether he chooses the camera or the car upgrade?!

Content warning: This episode includes a short discussion about body weight and under-fuelling in the context of bone stress injuries (23-25 mins into the podcast).

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Run With It acknowledges the Wadawurrung People, the Traditional Owners of the land on which this podcast is recorded, and pays our respects to Elders past and present.

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