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On 31st August 2025, I took part in the Sydney Marathon. This was the inaugural event as a World Marathon Majors, as Sydney joins: Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City as the 7th World Marathon Major. For many Marathon runners, who like to travel, the World Marathon Majors offer fantastic events around the world. Sydney has been long anticipated, and for those who wish to continue collecting their stars, this was the first opportunity in Sydney (apart from the championship event last year where runners got a prospective star).

This was my 171st Marathon (plus) and my 126th time as an official pacer (including 63 marathons). It was my 10th marathon of 2025, and 7th as a pacer this year.

My adventure to Sydney started on 15th August, with a wonderful family holiday through Singapore and Perth, but I will write about this in another blog. On Friday 29th August it was time for my family to travel home, with my children starting school on the Monday (tomorrow), it just was not possible for them to come to Sydney. As they got on their flights direct to London, I flew in the opposite direction to Sydney, landing late on Friday evening.

I checked in and went straight to bed, followed by an early start for an 08:00 parkrun in Sydney. It was a great flat route, but a little congested. This event was just over 1 year old, and have never experienced anything like the impact the Sydney Marathon had. Participants usually were around 200 to 300, and over 1000 people finished this parkrun.

I was happy with a 21:25, and 54th place. It was a great way to shake out my legs, before making my way to the expo.

As an official pacer for Sydney Marathon, I completed a 2.5 hour shift at the expo. The purpose of this was to be available to speak with runners about pacing and ask questions. It is a great way to spend some time and helping nervous runners.

I didn’t have to go and get my bib, as all of my kit (including bib, finishers tshirt and 7 star sleeves [for those taking part in their 7th star]) was all with my pacing kit.

It was a good standard expo. I had hoped to buy some Sydney Marathon merchandise but Asics looked like it had been robbed, there were clothes all over the floor and everything was bare. I wanted a visor, a vest with the aboriginal print and the jacket with the aboriginal print. I couldn’t find anything I wanted, so clearly they had underestimated the amount of kit needed. I would advise not leaving it until the Saturday if you desperately want some gear.

I didn’t mind, it saved me a bit of money, and I enjoyed speaking to runners for a few hours before heading off. I was really hungry when I left, so I went for a delicious steak before going back to my hotel.

Then I wanted to go and walk around the finish line. The course profile for Sydney looks very challenging, but clearly this is just the scale used. I was told the hardest parts were at 16k and 40k, so I wanted to go and walk the final 4k so I knew what to expect and avoid any surprises. I wanted to be familiar with this section to better prepare the runners.

On the way I met up with Marco for a beer and a catch up, and we walked together. It was great to have company, and also someone to take pictures with. It was a little chilly but I kept warm in my adidas mens hoodie. The course profile is indeed hilly from start to finish, but on my initial inspection of the final 4k, I didn’t consider it too challenging.

I went back to the hotel after getting some more food, and attemped an early night, after ensuring all my kit was together. I also packed my bags ready, as I needed to check out in the morning.

Sydney Marathon 2025

On race morning the pacers had to meet at 5am, which meant leaving the hotel at 4am, so I set a 3am alarm. I struggled to get to sleep, and then was worried about not waking up, so was pretty much awake the whole night.

Race morning was cold. Really cold. We had to wait around for about 2.5 hours and I struggled to stay warm. But it was dry, and cold mornings make for the best race conditions, and it really was perfect running weather.

After a long wait, it was finally time to start. All pacers ran alone, with the 120 pacers spread amongst the waves and runners. With 35,000 runners this was a big increase for Sydney, which I think they managed incredibly well. I had a huge group of runners with me, and I spoke with them at the start to get to know them and start motivating them.

The start of Sydney Marathon is fast, its all down hill, and it felt faster than the start of Boston Marathon. As a pacer it is hard to control pace with such descents. But our brief was to keep it even pace throughout and not go out to hard, so I had the brakes on and took in the fantastic surroundings, including crossing over Sydney Harbour Bridge, which is the first incline of the course.

Honestly, the course profile looks hard, but as someone who doesn’t like hills, I found it to be really mild. New York Marathon and Boston are significantly harder in my opinion. This course is constantly rolling, but all hills are gentle and the down hills keep you going fast. I would argue that this could be a reasonably quick course.

16k was supposed to be the first hard hill. I was chatting to runners, and also a little tired, but genuinely didn’t notice an incline. To the point that I was waiting for it, and it never came.

The course was very windy, but this worked well for spectators as it was really busy and full of support. We had a lot of out and backs, so we saw runners coming in other directions on numerous occasions which was nice. Water and powerade was given out in cups regularly and I never struggled to get hydration.

Towards the end of the race it was getting a little warm, but there was a lovely cold breeze, which kept body temperature down. As we approached 38k it was the first challenging part of the course for me, but this was because of congestion, not elevation. The section was narrow with runners running both ways. I slowed slightly at this section, but again, whilst there was an incline, I did not find it particularly challenging. After 40k it was all down hill. I encouraged runners to pick up the pace and many of my group went ahead, and I picked up more runners on the way.

The finish line was one of the most beautiful in the world, as you run towards the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Harbour Bridge to your side.

My official finish time (according to the app) was 3:59:51, but my watch was 3:59:41. I am not sure why there is a 10 second discrepancy, but considering I was aiming for 3:59:45 I’m pretty happy with the result.

Afterwards it was time to party. Beer, pizza, laughs with friends… more beer and pizza. It was a great after party and then I went for a walk and more pictures with Marco.

There is more to say, and I will cover more in my blog about my family trip, but for now, I am about to board for a 27.5 hour flight home. It’s been a long day, but an incredible adventure.