Sunday marked Staehr’s 10^th Melbourne marathon and the seventh year in a row that Staehr has been pacing. 

Staehr has run a time of two hours and 50 minutes for the past six years and hoped to match that pace again but the conditions made for a difficult journey. 

Staehr managed to finish in two hours and 52 minutes, just two minutes short of his goal. 

“It was very windy and quite warm, pretty rough conditions,” Staehr said. 

“I had to do all the hard work into the wind for the group that was following me. 

“It was ok for about 25 to 30 kilometres but at about 35 kilometres I backed off the pace. 

“I finished with just one runner, two runners had already taken off.” 

Staehr said it a difficult marathon. 

“It was disappointing to have not maintained the time. The conditions were hard,” he said. 

Staehr originally planned to head to Portland to defend his marathon title but is holding off on making a final decision. 

“I think I will wait a bit longer and see what the weather forecast is doing,” he said. 

Staehr plans to take part in the Bordertown fun run on Sunday and said his training will be kept to a minimum regardless of whether he heads to Portland. 

“I’ll be doing very little really. I plan to do a few short jogs,” he said.