“It was my first time I’ve done the marathon at this race,” Harris said on Sunday, “but I’ve done a few of their short events in the past.”

Harris admitted crossing the line first was almost an afterthought to one of the six world marathon majors.

“I kinda just wanted to use it as a bit of a training run to see where I was at,” he said.

“My main marathon that I am looking forward to is in Japan in seven weeks. I kinda just wanted to feel out and wear out what I have to do.”

He expects to run quicker on a dead flat Tokyo course. 

The Invermay runner stayed in touch with the leading bunch in the first half of the 42.195km race before putting the burners on his rivals around the 30km mark.

“I knew if I was running this comfortable as I was that if they had only put that much into me that chances were I probably be able to outrun them,” Harris said.

The 26-year-old clocked 2:28:56, three minutes ahead of Wagga’s Mick Donges.

Latrobe’s Brad Taylor came home in fourth, nearly 17 minutes behind Harris.

One-time national rower turned endurance athlete, Ali Foot ran through for a remarkable sixth in only his second full marathon. 

The Launceston-raised Foot, who ran an ironman in June last year, won the Ross Marathon at his first attempt.

Foot finished Sunday’s marathon in 2:48:45 to better his September run by nearly seven minutes.

Port Macquarie’s Kirsten Molloy was a clear winner in the women’s marathon to finish 18 minutes ahead of Launceston’s Amy Lamprecht in a winning 2:52:40 time.

Ex-Launceston resident Milly Clark beat Invermay’s Kate Pedley inside four minutes in the half-marathon event. The Melbourne-based Olympian tracked the 21.1kms in 1:14:56.

Newnham’s Nathan McLachlan had a top-10 finish in the men’s halfer claimed by Melbourne’s Nick Earl.

Prospect Vale’s Dylan Evans won the Get Fit TAS 10km in 31:28. West Launceston’s Matthew Zegveld came sixth.