Sydney Marathon 2025: Harbour city race to be seventh Abbott World Marathon major, joins New York, London

Sydney will join the world’s most iconic running club when it becomes the seventh Abbott World Marathon Major in 2025, joining New York, London, Boston, Tokyo, Berlin, and Chicago in the elite group.

The announcement of Sydney’s inclusion in the elite marathon circuit was made at the New York Marathon overnight, bringing an end to years of campaigning by organisers that Abbott WMM CEO Dawna Stone said was “deeply impressive”.

“The team in Sydney has been working towards this day, every day, for more than three years, and to see the improvement in their operations and event experience to the point where we can now call them a Major has been deeply impressive,” Ms Stone said.

“We cannot wait to see our community embrace this race as a Major and start planning their visits to run the streets of one of the finest cities in the world. Runners, your Sydney star awaits.”

The Sydney Marathon is the largest marathon in Oceania and saw a record 20,272 finishers in the 2024 race on September 15 — which allowed the race to pass its second consecutive assessment criteria to join the Majors squad.

The Harbour city’s inclusion in the Abbott series is projected to bring more than $73 million into the NSW economy over the next three years and an extra $300 million over the next decade by making the race a bucket list event for runners around the world.

Sydney Marathon organisers have pushed for the event’s inclusion in the majors series over an intense three-year judging period, during which the event has grown from just over 5000 entrants in 2022 to more than 25,000 in 2024.

The number of runners hitting the starting line is expected to grow to 33,000 in 2025, 38,000 are expected in 2027.

To meet the judging criteria, the event required a significant amount of government funding — upwards of $10 million, according to The Daily Telegraph.

NSW Premier Chris Minns told the newspaper the inclusion of the Sydney Marathon in the Abbott series was a “huge honour” and would be a boon for the state’s economy — tourism, particularly. He said it was a “feather in our cap”.

TCS Sydney Marathon race director Wayne Larden said the inclusion was “really special” for his team.

“Becoming the seventh Abbott World Marathon is just incredible for the event, the city of Sydney and State of New South Wales,” he said.

“Our team are first rate and have put in so much work to make this happen. It is really special for all of us.”

Mr Larden anticipates the event’s promotion to the major leagues would “have a profound impact on running in Australia” and inspire thousands more to pick up the sport to “do something special for themselves, their families and friends”

“Community health will benefit alongside a huge increase in fundraising,” he said.

The Sydney Marathon is considered to be one of the most picturesque tracks in the world: taking runners over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, past Barandaroo and the Royal Botanic Gardens before finishing at the Opera House. It is the same running course used in the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

The last city to be included as an Abbott World Marathon Major was Tokyo in 2013.

Sydney is the seventh in what is expected to be a Nine Star series — after the Abbott Majors’ Six Star medal for completing the six marathons — when two more races are added to the series.

Sanlam Cape Town Marathon and Shanghai Marathon are currently in the candidacy process and could join the series as early as 2026 and 2027 if they pass two years of assessments.