Weipa’s Michael Collins celebrates with a huge grin and his mandatory banana after completing the 2024 Chicago Marathon in less than three hours on 13 October. Photo: Supplied.
Weipa’s Michael Collins has shown off the depth of the community’s running talent by finishing in the top 5 per cent of competitors at one of the world’s most iconic marathons on 13 October.
Collins travelled more than 14,000 kilometres from western Cape York to the United States to tackle the 2024 Chicago Marathon last weekend, and crossed the finish line in a time of 2 hours, 55 minutes and 58 seconds to exceed all of his wildest dreams about the event.
Repping his beloved Weipa running crew by attaching bib number 22346 to his 2024 Weipa Running Festival (WRF) singlet, Collins told Cape York Weekly he was still coming to terms with his achievement, which wiped a staggering 24 minutes, 31 seconds off his previous personal best performance.
“I definitely surprised myself with under three hours,” he said.
“It is still sinking in and feels like a dream; in the first 10km I beat my previous 10km PB, and then I beat my previous half marathon PB, which I set over 13 years ago.”
He added there was no way he was not going to pull on the WRF singlet for the run of his life.
“This year’s design was super epic, and I would not have even had the opportunity to participate in this event if it were not for WRF and the Weipa running community,” he said.
“Wearing the 2024 WRF singlet was by far the easiest decision that I made throughout the entire journey.”
Completing the race in the early hours of last Monday morning Cape York time, Collins’ remarkable effort resulted him placing 2,278th overall in a field of more than 50,000 competitors and 601st in his 30-34 male age division.
Michael Collins (left), wearing bib number 22346 and this year’s Weipa Running Festival singlet, leads a pack during the 2024 Chicago Marathon on 13 October. Photo: Supplied.
One of those competitors was Kenyan runner Ruth Chepngetich, who decimated the women’s world record by nearly two minutes in a time of 2:09:56, and in doing so became the first woman in history to break 2 hours, 10 minutes over 42.2 kilometres.
Collins said the atmosphere on the day of the race was like nothing he had experienced during previous marathons.
“The enthusiasm, energy and encouragement from the runners during the race was like nothing I had ever experienced before,” he said.
“The whole 42km was also lined with supporters, and it was the most passionate crowd I’d ever seen.
“There were some very interesting things called out from the sidelines, and the custom signs made by the crowd themselves were hilarious and entertaining.”
The race result was the culmination of almost 15 years’ focus for Collins, who first dreamed of competing in one of the major US marathons when he was just 20 years old.
In 2023, he fell less than 30 seconds short of the cut-off time to book his spot on the start line, and lined up this year through his involvement with charity World Bicycle relief, which empowers people and communities through providing bikes as an affordable and safe transport option.
Collins said more than $3,000 had been raised as the result of his marathon effort and thanked the army of donors, friends and family who had supported him on his Chicago Marathon journey.
“Thank you to everyone for all the support and encouragement, and for the amazing generosity towards charity donations that made this dream and opportunity possible,” he said.
“A massive thank you to the Girardi family, who are former Weipa locals, for having me in Chicago throughout the lead-up to the race, and for providing a solid training and acclimatisation base for the month leading into the event.”
For those who have reached this point in the story wondering about how Collins tackled the banana situation in one of the world’s largest marathons, he admitted he did not consume them with his usual gusto to minimise the chance of having to make a pit stop midrace.
And what’s next for Weipa’s banana-loving and now international marathoner?
“This is by far the best run of my life and it will be hard to top it, but with this finishing time in Chicago, I believe I can now enter straight into some of the other big marathons worldwide,” Collins said.
“For now, I look forward to Weipa Saturday parkrun and getting back into my regular training and volunteering routine within the community after having over three months away pursuing this Chicago journey.”
With a backdrop vastly different to that of his usual running environment of Weipa, Michael Collins has described his effort in the 2024 Chicago Marathon as the “best run of my life”. Photo: Supplied.
