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| Alemayehu Shumye in last year's marathon. |
ORGANISERS of the Gold Coast Airport Marathon have described the death of 2012 champion Alemayehu "Alex" Shumye as a terrible tragedy, saying the 24-year-old had spoken about returning to the city and defending his title this year.
Shumye died as a result of injuries from a car accident in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday, six days after finishing 10th in Xiamen, China with a time of 2hr 12min 57sec.
Gold Coast marathon chairman Kerry Watson said organisers fully expected Shumye to return to the Coast this year after praising the event.
"He loved our marathon; he considered it one of the better ones to run on because it's so flat," he said.
"He wanted to come back and we were expecting him to return and defend his title."
Shumye came to the Gold Coast Airport Marathon twice -- in 2011 and last year -- and became the first Ethiopian male to win the event when last year he posted the fourth-fastest time ever with 2:10:35.
Marathon officials posted a tribute to Shumye late last night on the event Facebook page, which attracted hundreds of comments or likes within an hour.
Mr Watson said the whole marathon community was shocked.
"We're extremely sad. With such great talent as a runner, he was certainly well respected in the world," he said.
"As an Ethiopian, he was a very quiet person, as most Ethiopians are; he was very respectful and quite humble."
His marathon career began in 2008 and with much promise he won his first three races at the distance in Vercelli (Italy), Warsaw (Poland) and Beirut (Lebanon).
His lifetime best, 2:08:46, was set at the 2009 Frankfurt Marathon, where he finished fifth.
www.goldcoast.com.au
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