When preparing the story New Records in Two Events During 2019 last November I never imagined that a third record would be broken before year end.

But on 8 December, less than one month later, Tonya Nero set a new marathon record of 2h42:58 in Sacramento, California, breaking the 2h43:14 national record  she did at the 2012 Rotterdam marathon.

The first national marathon record (4h25:12) was set by Flavia Marin at the 1983 TT marathon, and was improved to 3h53:29 by Cecilia Ferguson in 1984, and to 2h57:18 in 1987 by Deborah Snagg in the USA (Richmond, Virginia).

That mark lasted 25 years until the 2012 clocking by Tonya Nero.

To date only Snagg and Nero have run under 3 hours, while three others have done under 3h10:

• 3h01:23 Morvine Parris, 1996
• 3h05:00 Cyrelene Nero, 2000
• 3h06:55 Sjaelen Evans, 2018

(Parris is a Guyanese born athlete who naturalized in 1995, and Cyrelene is the mother of Tonya).

Tonya Nero is currently our best distance runner, but she is not a marathon specialist. Nevertheless, in each of the last four years she has run the distance under 3 hours.

• 2016 Dubai 2h59:47
• 2017 Trinidad 2h56:33
• 2018 Dubai 2h47:19, Commonwealth Games 2h55:14, Toronto 2h54:55
• 2019 Sacramento 2h42:58

Her next run over the marathon distance is eagerly awaited.

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