MEET THE PACE SETTERS
These guys like to run marathons – not for themselves but for everyone else. Want to break four hours? Then follow Steve and Andy
AT first glance, you may laugh when you see them running by with a big balloon bouncing over their heads.
But look closer and you’ll quickly realise they’re indispensable in a marathon race.
They’re called pace setters and they will help thousands of runners set personal bests during the Gold Coast Airport Marathon next week.
Their role: bring groups of amateur runners to the finish line under a certain time.
Their guarantee: marathon runners will achieve their goal.
Gold Coasters Steve Gamble and Andy Baxter are part of an elite group of runners who can run 42.195km at a constant pace.
For exactly four hours, they will act as coaches, nutritionists and cheerleaders to those who follow their steps closely.
“Every few kilometres I tell them we’re on pace and how good they’re looking – even if they’re not looking good,” Andy says.
The two Varsity Lakes mates each run with a bright balloon marked with “4.00” on the day so that no one can miss them on the start line.
“It’s the biggest group,” Steve says of those wanting to break the mark.
“They’re the runners who want to run the whole race in under four hours, ” Steve, who has completed 10 marathons, explains.
“It’s a big milestone for first-time marathoners.
“We’ll start with about 150 runners in the group but only about 30 of them are usually left by the end.”
Andy, 38, says he likes to talk to his group of runners throughout the marathon to “get their mind off the pain”.
“We’ve been there before, we’ve tried to break goals so to help someone break theirs is pretty cool,” he says.
“Some people train for a marathon for a year; it’s a massive deal for them.
“You give them advice on the way but you get asked random questions about shoes and stuff.
The whole group is jolly at the start, excited to undertake the race of a lifetime but Andy admits the group becomes silent by halfway.
“It gets frustrating when you see guys suffering and you know they’re not going to make the time.
“You get to know people after four hours so it’s not nice when they disappear. It happened to my best mate last year. I had to watch him disappear and I couldn’t do anything to help him.
“You can only do what you can do.”
After pacing three marathons, Steve has found tricks to get runners across the finish line in their goal time.
“Now I always carry salt tablets and I tell them I have a magic pill for them once it starts hurting,” the 42year-old says.
“When they do start to hurt I give them one. It might be a placebo but it does the trick.”
Steve and Andy met at the Sunshine Coast marathon a few years ago when Steve was pacing those trying to break three hours and 45 minutes.
Andy finished 20 minutes quicker and they have stayed friends ever since.
“We’re running husbands,” Steve jokes.
“I started pacing about five years ago because I just wanted to give something back to the running community.
“We do all these events and there are lots of volunteers so it’s nice to help out.”
Andy agrees and adds he gets emails thanking him for pacing a race.
“In four hours they tell you their life story,” he says.
“At the end of it, they hug you and they’re all sweaty.
“I was getting emails three weeks after the race from people saying they had been training for the race for 12 months and that I made it possible. “It’s a great feeling.” More than 5000 runners will attempt to run the Gold Coast Airport Marathon this year and about a dozen pacers will lead them.
There will be two pacers every 15 minutes between five and three hours – one on runner’s actual chip time and one on the start gun time.