The Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon has witnessed Isobel Batt-Doyle surpass one of Australia’s most treasured national records, with the rising road racer claiming third place in 1:07:17 to take down Australian legend Kerryn McCann’s mark from 2000.

The late McCann’s long-standing record was set at 1:07:48 when Batt-Doyle was just four years old, and with the now two-time Olympian’s hopes of etching her name into the history books riding on risk-taking – Batt-Doyle did exactly that to breakthrough over the distance.

“This means a lot to me. We have some amazing women holding our records and to take a record from Kerryn that has stood since 2000 really shows how hard it was. It’s incredible she ran than 25 years ago!” Batt-Doyle said.

“She was an amazing woman gone far too soon, I hope she is up there and proud to see girls challenging her times. I watched her Commonwealth Games run coming into the MCG and it just gives me chills even thinking about it.”

Finishing third in the race behind Kenya’s Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (1:06:05) and Great Britain’s Calli Hauger-Thackery (1:06:58), the Australian coached by Nic Bideau was happy with her competitiveness on the day.

“I had the record in the back of my mind, but I really wanted to compete with the strong field. I knew that if I did that well, I would walk away with a good time,” Batt-Doyle said.

“There was a girl in front of me that I could see with five kilometres to go and I managed to pass her which really helped keep me in that mindset. When I came into the stadium and saw the clock, I knew I was going to be well under.”

Adding the Australian Half Marathon record to her 10km Road national record last September, the 29-year-old set herself up for another successful year in 2025, with all roads leading to next month’s Nagoya Women’s Marathon on March 9.

“This time gives me a lot of confidence. I’m looking forward to layering on this and building towards Nagoya in five weeks because I feel like I have found that really good balance of speed and endurance,” Batt-Doyle said.

Article courtesy of Australian Athletics / Lachlan Moorhouse