Sydney Marathon takes its place as seventh wonder of the running world

Sydney is taking its place as the seventh long-distance wonder of the running world, joining six other cities as a marathon major.

After a three-year candidacy, Sydney was on Monday named an Abbott World Marathon Major alongside New York, London, Tokyo, Boston, Chicago and Berlin, a feat cemented after a record field of 25,000 runners hit the streets in September.

The Sydney Marathon has achieved major status.Credit: Edwina Pickles

The state government says Sydney’s new status is expected to drive a wave of international and interstate runners, along with families, friends and event support crew, to visit NSW.

Destination NSW estimates visitors will bring in an extra $73 million for the NSW economy over the next three years as a result of Sydney Marathon’s elevation. Over a decade, an extra $300 million will be added to the economy, it said.

Premier Chris Minns said the confirmation of major status was a huge honour for the event and the city. He said the number of runners participating in the Sydney Marathon had jumped from 5000 to 20,000, meaning the city had surpassed Melbourne and the Gold Coast as the nation’s most popular marathon.

“These runners, their supporters and fans who come to watch will bring a huge boost to the local economy,” he said, quickly ruling out speculation he could join participants at next year’s event.

The associated costs of securing major status were “very modest” in comparison with the estimated $300 million economic boost.

Tourism Minister John Graham pointed to the oversubscription of the London Marathon, where just a “fraction” of the 840,000 applicants to run the 2025 event were able to race.

“That’s the scale of the demand,” he said. “Those runners will now turn to Sydney, and many of them will be on a plane here, hoping to run this race next year as we step up to become the World Marathon Major.

“Adding the world’s most beautiful marathon course to the world’s toughest marathon courses around the world, this is a great addition.”

Graham said the government was looking at whether it could bring back the “blue line”, the strip of paint that stretched along the marathon course during the Sydney Olympics, to celebrate the elevation to major status.

Sydney Marathon operations director Simon Bryan said Sydney’s status as the seventh major would exist in perpetuity. With demand for the event expected to peak for future events, a ballot for places would be introduced, but those who ran in the past two years would be given a guaranteed spot in the next three editions.

Bryan said a quota of participants would be designated for Australian runners.

with Billie Eder

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