Sydney Marathon poised to enter elite global championship, thanks to new sponsor TCS

An Indian tech giant has partnered with Sydney’s premier marathon to bring it to the level of those in New York and London.

Sydney has secured the backing of Indian tech titan Tata Consultancy Services to catapult its marathon to the same status as New York and London’s races.

In return, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will be able to showcase its technology, which includes replicating a digital version of someone’s heart to help treat a range of conditions, to more Australians.

It will also help improve the Sydney Marathon app to predict when a runner will finish the 42km event and could even help friends and family find the nearest pub to cheer them on as they complete the course.

Sydney is competing with Cape Town in South Africa to join a prestigious group of six global races known as the Abbott World Marathon Majors — a championship-style series which also includes the Berlin, Boston, Chicago and Tokyo marathons.

TCS, which sponsors the London and New York races, believes Sydney — home of Australia’s biggest running festival — is ready to be elevated to the global stage.

It became a candidate race for the majors in 2022, kickstarting a three-year evaluation period for its entry into the elite global group.

“Our focus is to come in as the partner and really support the TCS Sydney Marathon and its candidature for the majors,” TCS chief marketing officer Abhinav Kumar told The Australian.

“Should it attain the major status, I think that would be a historic moment for Australian sport, but it will also be fantastic for the country and also for the City of Sydney, because, as you know, all the all the six star finishers who’ve done the other six races, then Sydney becomes the next destination on the table

“It would be a historic moment in Australian sport but it would also be fantastic for the country and also the city of Sydney.”

The Sydney Marathon, which will be held on September 15, sold out weeks ago. Event owner Athletics Australia axed its 21km half marathon event this year, citing the increased popularity of its full 42km event.

“This decision, though difficult, has been made to ensure the success of the Sydney Marathon becoming one of the truly premier marathons of the world,” marathon organisers said in an email to competitors.

TCS is the latest Indian tech giant to partner with a major Australian sport event. Bengaluru-based Infosys has been the technology partner of the Australian Open since 2018 and this year showcased its artificial intelligence capabilities to help tennis stars identify crucial shot selection to outplay their opponents.

TCS is also harnessing AI to assist with athlete performance analysis and help crack a sub two-hour marathon.

It has also partnered with French software giant Dassault Systemes to create a “digital twin” of an elite runner’s heart.

TCS is supporting Sydney Marathon’s bid to join the Abbot World Marathon Majors, which include the London, New York and Boston marathons. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

Mr Kumar said a digital replica of a heart would be able to help monitor performance in real time and provide analysis to athletes for when they could increase or decrease their effort. It has created a digital replica of two-time Olympian and Boston Marathon champion Des Linden’s heart, and plans to roll out the technology to more athletes.

“It’s not the basic performance data that we get from (usual fitness) devices. It’s not your heart rate, steps and all that, but it’s actually tissue movement, blood circulation, many other things. They’ve got about 26 different variables.

“Based on all that data, what it’s going to lead to is that using AI and machine learning and doing a lot of analysis with it is to come back to her and give her some insights on, how does she (Linden) improve her run – where is she leaving some space and she can push ourselves harder, or where is she straining too much, and that’s going to cost her later down the race and things like that.

“We will expand that to other athletes as well, potentially here in Sydney as well. The end goal of this is great for the marathon, if it can improve the athletic performance. But on a larger level, what I’m more excited about with this technology, is that once it gets to that level … we can democratise that and have it used at a retail level — so, for example, on our smartphones, we can get a digital twin of our heart … you can predict heart attacks and help people take preventive action. So I think that will become the real fantastic use of technology, because it is technology that can be used to save lives.”

For runners and their friends and family, TCS will also elevate the marathon app experience with updates — such as the ability to predict when a runner will cross the finish line.

“You can pretty much time it down to the last second when you’re going to finish. And therefore, if your family wants to be there to give you a hug at the finish line or send your congratulatory message, that’s something it enables,” Mr Kumar said.

For the London Marathon, TCS — which has a brand value estimated at $44.8bn, according to Kantar BrandZ — was able to help friends and family find a pub nearest to their runner as they complete the course.

“So, I could get out there on the line and wave to you and say, ‘keep going’. And then in a minute, I’m in the pub and enjoying my pint. So that really was one of the popular features,” Mr Kumar said.

“For us, there are two areas we’re really working on in using technology in sports. One is the spectator experience, some of which we’re just talking about. The second element, which is a much more serious one, is improving athletic performance.”

But, Mr Kumar said the updates won’t all come at once, saying this year was only the “first step”.

“We have a few months to go, so we’ll activate but our focus on the Sydney Marathon is, you know, to be a long term partner and work on this.”

TCS has also partnered with the NSW Department of Education to “empower” students aged 6-17 to use design thinking and technology to create sustainable solutions for the marathon. University students can also contribute ideas through a TCS Sydney Marathon-specific challenge during the “TCS Sustainathon, a real-world problem-solving competition”.