Marathon mum’s record

IRISH-BORN mum Sinead Diver smashed Lisa Weightman’s Medibank Melbourne Marathon race record and showed the world that 40 is not too old when it comes to marathon running.

Having only taken up running eight years ago, Diver, 41, was mobbed by her boys — Eddie, 9, and Dara, 5, as well as husband Colin — as she crossed the finish line in 2:25.29 to pick up a $20,000 bonus for breaking the women’s race record on top of her $20,000 first-place prize.

Four months ago, Diver wiped 40 seconds off the Launceston Ten race record as she defended her title.

More than 30,000 runners took part in Victoria’s premier running festival and the elite got the benefits of completing the course before the wind picked up and the heat took its toll as temperatures soared into the mid-twenties.

Diver had the benefit of a three-man pacing group for much of the way but, when two colleagues dropped off, she had to ask emerging Victorian distance runner Jack Rayner, who only got off a plane from the Cardiff Commonwealth half marathon titles on Friday, to continue beyond 32km.

“He [Rayner] was an absolute legend. I wouldn’t have done it with him,” she said.

“When we were heading up St Kilda Rd, the wind was picking up and he just said: ‘No worries, I’ll go a bit further.’

“By the time we reached 37km, he said: ‘You are fine, you’re killing it, you don’t need me to help you’.”

Diver’s time was the fastest ever by an Australian on home soil and only three other Australian women have run faster overseas.