The rise in social run clubs across Sydney over the past few months can’t solely be attributed to our single population’s hunt for a new way to meet the one. Sydneysiders just love to run – and at the moment, it's marathon training season. Thousands are pounding the pavement in training for the Sydney Marathon, which is taking place on Sunday, September 15, 2024. If you're planning to run the full marathon, that's all good, but there's bad news for those who were planning on just running the Sydney Half Marathon on that day – the 21.1km (instead of the full 42.2km) part of the event will no longer be able to take part.
Here's everything we know...
Has the Sydney Half Marathon been cancelled?
Yes, the Sydney Half Marathon (21.1km competition) has just been axed. The announcement was made via email to competitors on Thursday, March 14. And though details are currently thin on the ground, it appears that the decision has been made to facilitate a greater focus on the longer (42km) competitive event, which Athletics Australia is trying to get "majors" status for.
Has the full Sydney Marathon been cancelled?
No, it's all good if you're planning to run the full 42.2km Sydney Marathon – it will still be going ahead on that same day.
Why has the Sydney Half Marathon been cancelled?
According to the Australian Financial Review, Athletics Australia are keen to attain what is known as “majors” status for the Sydney Marathon – bringing it on par with the world’s leading marathons, which take place in cities including New York, Boston, Tokyo and London.
The growing popularity of the Sydney Marathon (which attracted more than 17,000 participants in 2023, 5,000 more than the year before) makes achieving this status more likely, and organisers have decided to focus their energy on the longer race in order to achieve world-class status – with the 21km event an unfortunate casualty.
What's the benefit of the Sydney Marathon achieving majors status? Well, it'd make it more likely to attract more serious runners from all over the world, which would be good for tourism and our economy. Plus, the major marathons attract far more first-timers – with extended cut-off times welcoming runners from across the world of varying abilities.
Details of how the event (which will still include a full marathon, a 10km run and a 4.2km "mini marathon") is set to be managed are still being confirmed – you can keep track of updates over here.
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