For someone who has never been to Toowoomba, Tennille Ellis is about to get a good look at the place.

The 39-year-old Gold Coast-based international marathoner is a stand-out entrant in the Sunday 5 May Toowoomba Marathon presented by Wellcamp Airport.
And she says she’s ready and in good shape for the experience.

“I’ve never been to Toowoomba, but I am really excited get up there and experience the inland city by running a couple of laps around it on a spectacular Sunday morning,” Tennille laughed.

“The course has plenty of variation, which I find really appealing, and it will be a great layout to test myself over some elevation after being so used to the flat sea level courses that most of us like to compete on.

“For me, it’s an ideal challenge at the perfect time of year,” she said.

Tennille comes into the race with the experience of having run a swag of marathons and half marathons, including top 10 finishes in the Gold Coast and Kobe (Japan) marathons and a 16th place in this year’s Tokyo Marathon.

Remarkably, her appearance at the Kobe Marathon in 2019 was just her second marathon ever.
That trip was the spoils of her winning the 2019 Queensland Marathon Championship on the Gold Coast in her debut over the distance.

And Tennille says her training in the lead up to Toowoomba has been consistent and quite solid.

“I’ve built a strong foundation with strength training twice a week and include some cross training on the bike as active recovery,” she said.

“It allows me to increase my fitness without the extreme mileage, which I think is so important to optimise potential, as well as focus on nutrition and hydration.

“I’ll have to measure the energy I put in over the coming month, but Toowoomba will be a fun challenge only two months out from my home marathon on the Gold Coast,” she said.

Tennille’s time away from the bitumen is taken up with her job in pharmacy management and the beach and socialising with her running community.

“It’s a great balance of both worlds.

“I really enjoy running with a group, especially in tougher sessions.

“They are all an amazing bunch of people to spend so much of my time with” she said.

With courses designed to take in the historic sites, artistic streetscapes and colourful parks and gardens, the Toowoomba Marathon presented by Wellcamp Airport will host a race for the recreational runner, elite athlete and all ages and abilities.
Entrants can choose from the 42.195km marathon, the half marathon, 10km or 5km run or the 2km race for the juniors.