Will Sydney Marathon Become The Seventh Marathon Major?

Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York… and Sydney? 

The Sydney Marathon is a candidate to become the seventh Abbott World Marathon Major. The 2024 running of the Sydney Marathon, which is on 15 September 2024, will be assessed and if it passes then Sydney will be added as a Marathon Major in 2025.

Here’s what will happen to the Six Star Medal and what this news means to marathoners around the world.

WHAT ARE THE ABBOTT WORLD MARATHON MAJORS?

In 2006, the marathons of Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City united to “collectively present the top echelon in the sport of marathon running,” calling themselves the World Marathon Majors. Tokyo was added as the sixth Major in 2013, then in 2016 a special Six Star Medal was introduced for runners who complete all six Marathon Majors. 

Here’s how to get into the World Marathon Majors, with most races also having qualifying times for faster runners.

HOW DOES A RACE BECOME A MARATHON MAJOR? 

Three candidate marathons were announced in 2022: The Sydney Marathon in Australia, Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in South Africa, and the Chengdu Marathon in China. 

There was an initial three-year process for the marathons to work towards with the possibility of one or more of them being promoted to a Marathon Major in 2025.

Candidate marathons have to pass two consecutive assessments to become a Major. The criteria which each race needs to meet involves looking at the race’s participation (and an increase in the number of finishers), the quality of the elite fields, race organisation and runner experience, sustainability, and legacy.

So far, only the Sydney Marathon has passed its first AbbottsWMM candidate assessment. The 2024 running of the Sydney Marathon will determine whether it will be a Marathon Major in 2025. 

WHY THE SYDNEY MARATHON?

“No city in the world has a better combination of natural beauty, love of sport and iconic infrastructure for hosting a marathon than Sydney!” That’s how the race organisers describe Sydney. 

The Sydney Marathon began in 2001 as a legacy to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and for the first few years it followed the same route as the Olympic Marathon before the course changed to make it a little flatter and faster, with further route changes coming as the race has grown.

And it’s grown quickly: There were 1,200 finishers in 2001, and still only 5,300 in 2022, but that jumped to almost 17,000 in 2023, and all 24,000 places sold out for 2024’s race. It’s now the largest race in the southern hemisphere, and the only Platinum Label marathon south of the equator.

WHAT IS THE SYDNEY MARATHON LIKE?

Sydney is a hilly city and the marathon has an elevation gain of 317m (1,040ft), and loss of 400m (1,312ft). It will be the hilliest Major if it’s introduced, so it’s comparable to New York City, meaning it’s a fun, scenic course rather than a flat, fast one. 

It has an iconic route which takes runners over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and ultimately leads to one of the world’s great finish lines right in front of the Sydney Opera House. 

There was previously a half marathon and a 10km race alongside the marathon, but in order to increase the size of the marathon, the half distance has been withdrawn. The 10km remains.

As well as being the hilliest Major, Sydney would have the earliest start time as the race begins at 6am. 

For anyone interested in running in 2025, the race has previously been an open sign up, which is first-come-first-served. That seems likely to remain in place for 2025 but if the race becomes a Major then we can expect it to become a ballot in the future.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE SIX STAR FINISHER’S MEDAL? WILL THERE BE A SEVEN STAR MEDAL? 

The Six Star Medal will remain!

So far, over 17,000 runners have got their Six Star Medal, and many thousands more are on their own journey to run all six. Everyone will still get their medal for running the original six, even if a seventh race is introduced. 

There hasn’t yet been an announcement made about a seven star medal, but there will be an additional award. 

IF SYDNEY IS ADDED WHAT WILL THE MAJOR MARATHON CALENDAR LOOK LIKE IN 2025?

If Sydney gets its promotion, then the 2025 Marathon Major calendar will be: 

March 2nd: Tokyo Marathon
April 21st: Boston Marathon
April 27th: London Marathon
September 14th (TBC): Sydney Marathon
September 21st: Berlin Marathon
October 12th: Chicago Marathon
November 2nd: New York City Marathon

WILL THERE BE MORE CANDIDATE MARATHONS?

So far there are just three candidate races, with Cape Town and Chengdu still being assessed for their first pass. There haven’t been any more announcements about further Marathon Majors being added to the race calendar. 

Images from Sydney Marathon