The Melbourne Marathon has been held annually since 1978. The 42.195 km run over the traditional marathon distance is the main race within the annual Melbourne Marathon Festival. The race celebrated its 30th birthday in 2007 with a new course which featured the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as both the starting point and finishing point. A total of 3328 competitors completed the 2008 race. Another 17,000 people participated in Half Marathon (21.1 km), 10 km and 5.5 km events.

The 2019 running of the marathon saw an Australian record of 7037 finishers, 1880 of whom were female (27%). In 1978 approximately 4% of the 1947 finishers were female.

The 2020 event was cancelled on 9 September due to the COVID-19 crisis. A virtual marathon was run for the period 5 December to 13 December.

In September 2021 it was decided to postpone the 2021 event until 11 and 12 December. The marathon and half marathon were run on Sunday the 12th, starting an hour earlier to escape the heat. The shorter events were held on the afternoon of Saturday the 11th.

The 2022 event returned to October with all events being run on Sunday. There were 6215 finishers in the marathon.

The marathon was owned by IMG from 2006 until 2025, when ownership was transferred to MARI.MARI Group Portfolio

The course A variety of different courses have been used for the Melbourne Marathon although the most common course has begun at Frankston and concluded at either Albert Park or at The Arts Centre on St. Kilda Rd. It is normally run on the second Sunday in October.

Since 2007 the event has started near the MCG and finished with a lap of the ground. The predominantly flat marathon course goes through some of the most scenic areas of Melbourne. It skirts the Botanic Gardens and Albert Park Lake with several kilometres on the road parallel to the beaches of Port Phillip Bay. The other events share parts of the course but staggered starts ease congestion.

Past winners Key:

EditionYearMen's winnerTime (h:m:s)Women's winnerTime (h:m:s)1st1978 2:21:04 2:53:382nd1979 2:26:44 3:12:353rd1980 2:17:37 2:46:164th1981 2:19:03 2:42:125th1982 2:11:08 2:37:576th1983 2:13:15 2:37:567th1984 2:15:31 2:43:408th1985 2:12:35 2:44:569th1986 2:17:21 2:36:0610th1987 2:14:16 2:44:1811th1988 2:18:14 2:47:3812th1989 2:18:13 2:49:1813th1990 2:20:35 2:39:0014th1991 2:17:02 2:39:5715th1992 2:16:04† 2:33:02†16th1993 2:15:07 2:44:2217th1994 2:19:02 2:47:3718th1995 2:17:19 2:38:5019th 1996 2:22:40 2:41:5320th 1997 2:15:49 2:48:3221st 1998 2:12:48 2:37:5622nd 1999 2:25:04 2:33:2723rd 2000 2:25:53 2:49:2224th 2001 2:23:58 2:39:4425th 2002 2:22:28 2:47:0826th 2003 2:14:00 2:49:0127th 2004 2:26:51 2:54:0128th 2005 2:23:30 2:50:3529th 2006 2:23:43 2:53:0630th 2007 2:19:16 2:40:3431st 2008 2:17:43 2:38:1632nd2009 2:17:32 2:34:0833rd2010 2:11:04 2:32:2034th2011 2:11:12 2:35:1235th2012 2:12:35 2:36:2936th 2013 2:10:47 2:26:0537th 2014 2:11:30 2:31:0538th 2015 2:16:00 2:27:4539th 2016 2:20:53 2:34:2740th 2017 2:14:08 2:29:2741st 2018 2:15:13 2:25:1942nd 2019 2:16:31 2:35:34 2020 postponed due to coronavirus pandemic43rdResults: Melbourne Marathon Festival 2021. (11 December 2021). Watch Athletics. Retrieved 21 December 2021, from https://www.watchathletics.com/page/2735/results-melbourne-marathon-festival-2021 2021 2:14:33 2:26:5944th Results: Melbourne Marathon Festival 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022, from https://www.multisportaustralia.com.au/races/melbourne-marathon-2022 20222:09:12 2:27:5845th20232:14:352:35:2646th Results: Melbourne Marathon Festival 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2025, from https://www.multisportaustralia.com.au/races/melbourne-marathon-202420242:11:492:28:1347th Results: Melbourne Marathon Festival 2025. Retrieved 15 October 2025, from https://www.multisportaustralia.com.au/races/melbourne-marathon-202520252:15:022:30.26 † = short course

Spartans

Qualification Spartans are runners who have completed 10 or more Melbourne Marathons and are recognised today by their distinctive green, gold, red, maroon or navy running singlets. Every Spartan has their own personalised race number. The singlet is worn with pride by all Spartans as a sign of their dedication to marathon running and the Melbourne Marathon in particular. Club records reflect over 1400 males and 150 females who have qualified as Spartans. Most come from Victoria but there are many from other states with at least two from Japan.

Legends and Hall of Fame members

Spartan Legends are a select group of runners who have completed every Melbourne Marathon since the beginning. After the 45th running there were three remaining Spartan Legends. Runners who have completed at least 30 marathons are eligible for the Melbourne Marathon Hall of Fame. The runners marked with an asterisk in the following list completed the first 30 marathons.

NameCompleted runsPeter Battrick *37Frank Biviano *40John Dobson45David Foskey45Neville Gardner *41Bruce Hargreaves43Manuel Karageorgiou * (deceased)39Peter Ryan *37Wayne Thompson45Roger Weinstein43Ian Campbell42Bryan Flegg41Chas Harcoan44Antony Martin37Dennis Nish41Richard Tann37Ken Bowes40Laurie Glover (deceased)34Jim Hopkins43Conor McNeice34John Burt35John Dean *33Brian Gawne32Grayson Summers42Carlo Iovenitti (deceased)37Steven Lightowler40Jack Gubbins (deceased) *30Keith Hunter30Brian Walsh34Clarke Whitehand30Shirley Young (deceased) *30Hugh Creamer33Russell Harris34Con Zanetidis36Stephen Barker36John Kaparelis34Brett Thiele32Jim Yatomi-Clarke34Andy Moore36Peter Moore (deceased)31Duncan Bartley34Lorraine Allen34Eric Heine34Francis Kaszmarek31Trevor Marsh31Greg Payne31Jay Fleming31Ken Watt31Clarke Whitehand31Greg Moore32

Wheelchair Spartans

The Melbourne Marathon has always included wheelchair entrants. Two have attained Spartan status: Dean Callow who has completed 12 and Ian Gainey who has now completed 31 races and was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 2022 Annual General Meeting.

References

"The Wall: The history of the Melbourne Marathon 1978–2012" by Chris Muirden List of winners Melbourne Marathon. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2013-10-15). Retrieved 2013-10-26.

External links Melbourne Marathon Site Melbourne Marathon Facebook Group Melbourne Marathon Spartans Site Melbourne Marathon results 1978–2019 2013 Melbourne Marathon TV Highlights