Sydney Marathon ballot opens tomorrow and is the latest marathon to join the World Marathon Majors. The original Six Star medal won’t change and they won’t be making a 7-star medal, rather waiting for a 9-star option, likely when the two other candidate races (Cape Town and Shanghai) join the fold. It seems that current Six Star Medallists won’t get anything at the finish line aside from the standard Sydney Marathon medal which I’m a little disappointed by. I’d love them to reconsider this and offer a clip on for the original Six Star medal, or an extra t-shirt at the very least (especially since they gave the Age Group Championship runners an extra medal this year!). There are options to buy commemorative coins and a 7-coin holder on the WMMajors website which will set you back $180!
For non Six Star finishers, by running the Sydney Marathon (or if you ran the 2024 race as part of the Age Group championship) you will earn a star.
Listen to the latest Cook Eat Run podcast about the Sydney Marathon with Heather Jenson.
When is the Sydney Marathon 2025?
This year’s race is the 31st August 2025 – it’s been brought forward from its original September date to fit within the World Marathon Majors autumn race schedule (with Berlin in Sept, Chicago in October and New York in November).
The Sydney Marathon Course
Start: Miller Street North Sydney
Finish: Sydney Opera House
Cut off times: 7 hours
Starting in North Sydney, the route heads down across Sydney Harbour Bridge, loops around Darling Harbour and into the Pyrmont suburb. From there, runners head back toward the Harbour Bridge and into the Royal Botanic Gardens. The course then takes runners south to Kingsford (a new part of the route for 2024), before looping around Centennial Park and finishing at the Sydney Opera House.
How to run the Sydney Marathon 2025
Because of the popularity and the Candidacy Club (which gave runners from that ran the Sydney Marathon during the race’s Six Star candidacy period a guaranteed entry to the 2025, 2026 or 2027 race- they will have received email info about this) so this year’s race is a ballot entry. It opens on 10th December 2024 at 10am and closes 11.59pm on 30th December. The random draw will be announced on 8/9th January 2025.
Tour Company – Tour companies are a great option if you don’t get in through the ballot. and covers both your race entry and hotel. For those in the UK you have the option of Sports Tours International, 2.09 events and Marathon Tours UK. (note none of these are on sale yet but I”ll update with entries/costs when they are released!). For those in the US, options include Fitness International Travel, I run the Globe, Marathon Tours (from $1460 pp) and Destiny2Sport. For other countries check out the Sydney Marathon website.
Charity Entry – as like the other World Marathon Majors there are bibs available for those wanting to raise money for charity. International charity spots are limited with only five charities with bibs; Children with Cancer UK, Alzheimers Research UK, American Cancer Society, St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and Endure to Cure Paediatric Cancer Society. Minimum fundraising amounts start at £1800. There are also a number of Australian charities with places available.
Are you entering the ballot? Have you run the Sydney Marathon?
