Sydney Marathon nominated as candidate for the Abbott World Marathon Majors

The Abbott World Marathon Majors are looking to expand to a seventh marathon by 2025, and have announced Sydney Marathon as one of the three races being considered. The other candidates are South Africa’s Sanlam Cape Town Marathon and China’s Chengdu Marathon.

If successful, Sydney will join Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City as one of the top seven marathon cities in the world.

The Sydney Marathon is held during Australia’s largest running festival, the Sydney Running Festival, and attracts thousands of participants each year who run across the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and finish under the sails of the Sydney Opera House.

NSW Minister for Tourism and Sport Stuart Ayres said the candidacy acknowledges the Sydney Marathon as a world-class event and notes “no city in the world has a better combination of natural beauty, love of sport and iconic infrastructure for hosting a marathon than Sydney.

“Achieving the status of an Abbott World Marathon Major would cement Sydney’s position as one of the world’s great sporting event cities. It would attract thousands of visitors to the Harbour City and play a key role in the NSW Government’s ambition to make Sydney and NSW the major events capital and premier visitor economy of the Asia Pacific”

Destination NSW adds that a visit to Sydney is not complete without experiencing the city from one of the many walking and running tracks and offers the following five routes to consider:

Take in the harbour view: Try the 4km Bradleys Head to Chowder Bay trail starting at Taronga Zoo Wharf for impressive views across the harbour and its most famous icons.

Visit a lighthouse: Only an hour from Sydney’s CBD, the Barrenjoey Lighthouse walk offers unforgettable views along the coast. The lighthouse itself is set 91m above sea level at the famous Palm Beach, where Home and Away is filmed.

Bay or beach – you decide: In the Inner West, hit The Bay Run, a 7km loop around Iron Cove which links Leichhardt, Haberfield, Drummoyne and Russell Lea. Download a map of the run here. In the city’s east, run the iconic Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk taking in magnificent clifftop views and beautiful beaches.

Run between Sydney’s two famous surf beaches: The Bondi to Manly walk is an 80km track and is designed to be tackled in smaller sections, over a number of days. Explore Sydney, staying overnight at Sydney’s epic coast and Harbour locations along the way.

Go coastal in the Royal National Park: The Bundeena to Wedding Cake Rock coastal walk is truly a slice of paradise. This walk makes up just one section of the 26km Coast Track that runs along the sandstone cliffs of the Royal National Park.

The Blackmores Sydney Running Festival returns on Sunday 18 September 2022. Marking a special 20th anniversary milestone, thousands of participants will walk, skip, and run across the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, in one of four great races including the Blackmores Sydney Marathon, Blackmores Half Marathon, 10km Blackmores Bridge Run or 3.5km Blackmores Family Fun Run for a truly unforgettable experience. Register here

Image top: Blackmores Sydney Running Festival; image above Bradleys Head to Chowder Bay trail. Credit: Sydney Coast Walks