THE Mansfield Marathon was a huge success, with 300 runners enjoying the Great Victorian Rail Trail over two, five, ten, 21.1 and 42.2 kilometres.

People travelled from all over Australia for the event confirming Mansfield has what it takes to hold a major running event.

Bendigo's Virginia McCormick took out the women's Marathon in an elite time of 2:43:35, Melbourne's Shane Grund won the men's Marathon in 2:38:11, a solid time for the 40 plus age group win too!

Wodonga's Kaitlin McIntosh came in first for the Half Marathon in 1:24:12 and Somalian Abdi Rhoble now based in Melbourne and coached by race director Liam Delany made the Half Marathon look easy in a slick time 1:12:23. Wangaratta's Penny Townshend won the ten kilometre in 39:45 and Mt Beauty's Ryan Blackwell who is competing with the Mansfield Athletics club this year took out the race in 33:58.

"It was great to have Mansfield Athletics young gun Charlie Watts win the five kilometre in a personal best time of 17:47 and Wangaratta's Amy Ledger beat a trio of Mansfield ladies home in the women's," said Delany.

"Mansfield's athletes of the future also charged home in the primary two kilometre dash with Lexie Meek in 9:29 and Angus Vasey 8:29 taking the win."

With the cost of organising events constantly rising race director Liam Delany was pleased with how the event went and with good potential to grow but said we will need to build the numbers to over 500 people to make the event sustainable.

"The local support from the Mansfield Shire and our major sponsors Mansfield Constructions, Proactive Tax, The Delatite Hotel and Sportsfirst makes the event possible," he said.

"The volunteers from Mansfield Athletics and The Friends of the Great Victorian Rail Trail and our stall holders Mansfield Scouts and the Coffee Merchant ensured all participants had a great day."

Full results for the event can be viewed on the Mansfield Marathon website.

If anyone would like to connect with the Mansfield running community Mansfield Athletics is keen to build the regular training groups and help you prepare for your next race, you can get in touch via mansfieldathleticsclub@gmail.com