Bendigo athlete Andy Buchanan smashed his personal best time in Sunday’s running of the Hamburg Marathon and now holds the equal 9th fastest Marathon time by an Australian ever. Buchanan clocked an incredible time of 2 hours 10.20 minutes.

It was consecutive starts in the German classic and first marathon since he was seventh in the 42.2km duel at last year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

On Sunday, Buchanan clocked an incredible time of 2 hours 10.20 minutes – the ninth fastest marathon recorded by an Australian athlete.

He was 11th to finish as Kenya achieved a one, two, three result. The 5km splits for Buchanan were 15.33, 15.13, 15.23 and 15.20.

He reached the 25km mark in 1:16:51 and ran the next 5km splits in 15.27, 15.28 and 15.42.

A year ago, Buchanan ran the Hamburg course in 2:12.23 to be 15th.

A big year for Buchanan included representing Australia in the 10km race at the world cross-country championships in Bathurst.

He was 33rd overall and fourth of the Aussie team which was fourth in the race for a teams medal behind Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda on the Mount Panorama course.

After his recovery from Hamburg, Buchanan’s focus will switch to leading Athletics Bendigo’s Region team the Bendigo Bats to more success in Athletics Victoria’s cross-country series.

Andy Buchanan - Hamburg 2023