FAMILIES that exercise together, stick together or so the old saying goes, and the Rentsch family certainly fits this bill, as they posted personal best times during their exploits interstate.

Matt and his kids, Jonathan, Lachlan and Gabriella, 13, have all enjoyed success on the running tracks across the nation with the family having completed in various events before competing in last weekend’s Adelaide Marathon.

Only Johnathan competed in the full marathon (his third overall), while Lachlan completed the half marathon, Matt took on the 10km and Gabriella the 5km event.

Gabriella was so successful that she won the event in a personal best time of 29 minutes, while the rest of the family also posted personal best times for the various distances they covered.

Jonathan posted a sub-3-hour time (2:57) for the full distance, Lachlan went 1:43 for the half marathon and Matt posted 50.03 for the 10km.

Having participated in Parkrun events, the family decided to take on the Adelaide Marathon (and the various distances) together.

Jonathan and Lachlan have been involved with running since they were young through school sports, as has Gabriella, but Matt looked to different sports growing up such as football, tennis, basketball, and squash before taking up running later in life.

“This was the third marathon Jonathan has competed in, and he has dropped his time by 30 minutes to get under the three-hour mark, while Lachlan was competing in his first half marathon and he wanted to get under two hours,” Matt Rentsch said.

“I wanted to make sure that I could run the 10km distance before I put my name down and to finish in 50 minutes is something I’m happy with.

“The kids all competed in School Sports Victoria events while growing up, while I was more a sprinter at school.

“It wasn’t just our immediate family either in Adelaide, as Thomas Schwarz (cousin) also ran in the full marathon, and he also posted his best ever time.”

While the family has no set in stone commitments to run in other events, Matt did mention that the Melbourne Marathon and the 3-Bays Marathon were on the horizon and that there may be a Rentsch or two on these starting lines.