Ballarat runner Julian Spence successfully finished the men's marathon at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha.
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Spence finished 39th in a time of two hours, 19 minutes and 40 seconds in the race held on Saturday.
He finished 19 minutes behind Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa, who out-sprinted his compatriot Mosinet Geremew to claim the gold medal.
Spence was the only Australian to take part in the event which was scheduled at midnight to spare runners from running in unforgiving heat.
He qualified for the race after smashing his personal best to finish under the world championship qualifying time in the Lake Biwa marathon in March.
Leading up to the event, Spence's training regime became a thing of town folklore, with the runner turning the heat up to boiling point in his shop to train on his treadmill.
He also ran at night around Lake Wendouree as a way to tune his night running perception, wearing out training shoes every couple of weeks.
When he got to Doha, he began cooling his pre-race core temperature with ice vests, ice baths and slushie drinks.
He told The Courier before leaving, the race will be the toughest he would ever undertake and admitted he hated running in hot weather.
Spence was one of only 55 runners to finish the race out of almost 80 that started.
Desisa's win gives Ethiopia its first world championship marathon gold medal in 18 years.