Inside Athletics

27-year-old Sydney distance runner Jeff Hunt has finished third at the prestigious Beppu-Oita marathon in Japan on his debut at the 42.195km distance.

Hunt's time of 2 hours, 11 minutes (2:11:00) is the fastest debut marathon by an Australian, surpassing the 2:11:18 effort by distance running legend Steve Moneghetti in his 1986 Commonwealth Games bronze medal winning performance.

Hunt moved through the field during the second half of the race, joining the leading pack with 3km remaining and challenging for the win.

Moneghetti, now an Australian selector, was impressed by Hunt's peformance.

"It's fantastic. It goes to show that we are on the way back," Moneghetti said.

"Hopefully it is a sign that marathon running is getting back going in Australia."

"To do that on debut shows that he has a great future."

"I ran 2:11:18 on debut in 1986 and then Lee Troop ran 2:11:21 in London in 1999. It's two pretty well credentialed people that Jeff has jumped ahead of so it gives you some understanding of how significant the run is.

"The other thing that was important was that he ran on through the field, got up to second at one stage and then finished third in the race. It's not as if he has done it just being dragged along, he has been really competitive in the race.

"The fact that he has run on... to win marathons you need to be running on now days, so that will be a good sign and great for his confidence as well."

Hunt's previous best performances were winning the 2007 Australian cross country title and placing fourth in both the 2009 Gold Coast Half Marathon and 2009 Australian 10000m championships.

Hunt's performance bettered the A-qualifying standard for the Commonwealth Games, as did the 11th placed finish by Martin Dent.

"To have two under the Commonwealth Games qualifying time today is just terrific," said Moneghetti.

The race was won by Kenya's Jonathan Kipkorir in 2:10:50, with compatriot Daniel Njenga second in 2:10:55.