Aussie golden couple’s surreal embrace after heroic feat

Genevieve bawled tears of joy as her head sunk into Ryan’s shoulder, and after no more than four seconds of separation, they again melted into each other’s arms.

Almost two years after being carted from the Tokyo Olympics athletics track in a wheelchair, and just over a year after giving birth to her first child, Genevieve blitzed her debut marathon, powering through the streets of her home town and stopping the clock at two hours, 28 minutes and 33 seconds (2:28:33).

Posting the second-fastest debut time by an Aussie female in history, Genevieve was the third woman home and the first Aussie woman, hauling in the Oceania marathon championships women’s title in the process.

In the women’s 3000-metre steeplechase final at the Tokyo Olympics, Genevieve had taken a heavy tumble and ruptured her right Achilles as she charged through the last water pit.

The devastating blow threatened to end her career, as would two surgeries, the second of which was undertaken 20 weeks into her pregnancy.

And while the arrival of their baby boy Archer would deliver a gift more precious than Genevieve and Ryan could imagine, the decision to try for a child had placed a huge question mark over her future as an elite athlete.

Genevieve’s Gold Coast heroics were not a completion of her stirring comeback, rather one step closer to potentially conquering a colossal challenge; she’s desperate to make the cut for Australia’s marathon team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But smashing her marathon debut represented a major moment in her Paris Olympics pursuit.

The words exchanged by Genevieve and Ryan as they embraced on the Gold Coast summed up the enormity of the achievement perfectly.

“I said, ‘Bet you thought we wouldn’t actually be here’, and he said, ‘We did it, but I always knew you would’,” Genevieve told Wide World of Sports a couple of days after the run.

“Even on the drive home back to Brisbane, we talked about it inside-out again, and we cry every time we talk about it.”

In the words of Genevieve, it was a weekend of “body abuse” for Ryan.

He rose at 2.50am on Saturday and, just over three hours later, punched out a half-marathon personal best of one hour, three minutes and 40 seconds (63:40).

Then, an 11th-hour curveball meant he did not get a wink of sleep on Saturday night.

“The day before the marathon we had a technical meeting and they mentioned that if you would like a designated person at every water stop you just had to put their name forward and they’ll allow them to be in that section helping you with your drinks,” Genevieve explained.

“And I just turned to Ryan, who had absolutely no plan on being at every water station, and I just said, ‘I want you to be at every station’, because I knew I’d be in a big pack and it would just be a nightmare trying to find my bottle with 50 guys around me.

“He was always going to ride in the race with my brother Tom, but he just said, ‘Are you sure? What if I can’t get there? … There’s a good chance I’ll be blocked and I can’t get to the 15-kilometre mark after I’ve been at the 10-kilometre mark’. I said, ‘I won’t rely on you being there, but if you could it would be great’.

“And so that night Ryan didn’t sleep. He sat up all night studying the course, writing down landmarks on a piece of paper of where every drink station is, made sure he knew the technique that would make it easiest for me to get my bottle and not get in anyone’s way.

Gregson completes dream marathon debut

“I think I was at 1500 metres to go when he just screamed at me. For the first time in the race he yelled at me and really put in a good cheer to say, ‘You’ve done it, just get there now, you just need to get there’.

“And at the finish line we both just broke down. It was just like, ‘Wow, we did it’.”

Genevieve made her half-marathon debut in Japan in April, but as anyone who’s experienced it can attest to, going the full distance is a different beast.

Genevieve estimates that for the best part of the first 30 kilometres she was nestled in a pack of 50 runners.

Water bottles and gels were thrown around, as were some laughs, as those in the pack surrounded the beloved three-time Olympian “like a protection shield”.

In Scott Westcott, an Aussie marathoner at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Genevieve had a metronomic pacesetter.

“From the gun of the race all the way to the finishing tape, it wasn’t a blur in the sense that I don’t remember it, but it was just like being in a video game, because every kilometre that you get closer to the finish line is a kilometre closer to finishing such a long road,” Genevieve said.

“By the time I made it to 300 (metres) to go, where you enter that finishing shute, it was almost like the only way I wouldn’t finish was if I completely broke down with emotion. It was that cool.”

Genevieve said she felt “pure bliss” as she dashed over the finish line with her baby boy Archer in sight.

“When I crossed the line and could see Mum holding him up I was just so emotional that my little boy, who wouldn’t have had a clue what was going on — I was able to cuddle him and kiss him and just think, ‘You’re a product of one of the biggest upsets of my life, yet you’ve brought me so much joy and allowed me to transition into this new life’,” Genevieve said.

“He’s just a little resemblance of success and happiness, and I’m just so happy I had him and Ryan there in that little finishing shute.”

It’s amazing to think Genevieve Gregson (née LaCaze) is a two-time Olympic finalist in the 3000-metre steeplechase, is still the Australian women’s 3000-metre steeplechase record-holder, is a 5000-metre Olympic finalist and is now an Oceania marathon champion.

The variety of her resume is phenomenal.

While she’s doing little more this week than resting her destroyed legs on the couch, she thinks she’ll next race on the Sunshine Coast on August 13, lacing up for the Australian half-marathon championships.

Genevieve, who’s coached by Nic Bideau, is hoping to shoot for the Paris Olympics marathon entry standard of 2:26.50 by the end of this year, but which marathon she tackles is yet to be decided.

For the time being, she’s riding Sunday’s high for as long as possible.

One remark from Ryan — a cricket, rugby league and athletics tragic — put into perspective just how special the day was.

“He said Sunday was honestly the best sporting experience he has ever witnessed in his life,” said Genevieve, who admitted with a laugh that Ryan may be a little biased.

“But it was everything in a bundle. It was the doubt, the trauma from Tokyo, the fact that I had a baby and he was there at the finish line, Ryan sticking by me and making sure I never quit my dream. It was just all these things bound together that just made it one of those fairytale moments.”

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