Commonwealth Games : Australia’s Rob de Castella Keeps Marathon Title

Rob de Castella became the first man to retain a Commonwealth Games marathon title, and another Australian, Lisa Martin, won the first women’s marathon Friday.

De Castella won by 53 seconds. He led for all but a brief period midway through the race and slowed down near the end to win in 2 hours 10 minutes 15 seconds.

Dave Edge of Canada gained the silver medal, and Australia’s Steve Moneghetti, running in his first marathon, took the bronze.

The women’s race was scheduled to be a battle between Martin and New Zealand’s Lorraine Moller, winner of her last 12 straight races. But Martin led from the outset and was never seriously challenged as she won in a personal best of 2:26:07. Moller was second, and Odette Lapierre of Canada was third.

With finals still to be decided in boxing, wrestling and badminton, England leads in the medal count with 124. Australia has 110 and Canada 104. But Canada has the most gold medals, 46, followed by England with 43 and Australia with 39.