BALLARAT Marathon organisers are confident of building for 2025 on a boom in running events - starting on the Gold Coast.
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Entries officially open on June 30, one week ahead of the sold out Gold Coast Marathon where the Ballarat team will be peddling our city's new sporting festival.
Ballarat Marathon director Adam McNicol said this was a chance to entice tourists to "run the 'Rat" with an expected 60 to 70,000 people to take part in the Gold Coast Marathon's expo.
Mr McNicol said it was fascinating to see how registrations for the inaugural Ballarat Marathon unfolded last year and the team was keen to build on momentum.
"We don't know how many people are going to sign up this year but we're confident we'll get good numbers. There's such a boom in running," Mr McNicol said.
"We're prepared for anything...We're doing the best we can to get as many runners as we can from these big events to Ballarat."
A huge winter is ahead for major distance running events.
The Gold Coast Marathon distance events - the marathon (42.2 kilometres), half-marathon and 10km - on July 6 and 7 have each sold out.
Sydney's City2Surf 14km run in mid-August had sold out all elite and open waves, excepting a wave aimed for families and walkers.
Run Melbourne, headlined by a half-marathon, is more than 85 per cent full for its June 21 running ahead October's Melbourne Marathon festival, which launched waiting lists for its marathon and half-marathon late in 2023.
Leading into winter, the Great Ocean Road Running Festival in late May sold out eight of nine events.
Ballarat Marathon has a head start on entries with Mr McNicol confirming "a couple of hundred" of the 5100 participants who registered for the inaugural festival had instead delayed their entry to 2025.
An extra bonus for the 2025 Ballarat Marathon is the April 26-27 dates fall on the Anzac Day long weekend.
Mr McNicol has said having internationally-approved course measures and standards helped position Ballarat Marathon to a strong start. This attracted a strong band of elite marathon and half-marathon entries in 2024.
The marathon also becomes the city's largest sporting event in 2025 after the departure of the AusCycling Road National Championships to Perth for three years.
Running course reviews remain ongoing with likely minor tweaks but Ballarat Marathon will continue to offer five distances in a two-day road race event: a double-loop marathon, half-marathon, 10km, 5km and mile (1600 metres).
The aim is also to strengthen elite and ambassador programs while building recreational fields.
The only key change if the wheelrace will be extended to a half-marathon distance.
Para-athletes, led by Ballarat's Sam Rizzo, opted for a 10km exhibition race for the inaugural event amid a packed schedule in a Paralympics year.
Super early bird registrations for Ballarat Marathon launch on June 30 with prices matching early bird registration prices for the 2024 festival.
The festival has also teamed with Geelong-based sock company Steigen to offer exclusive Ballarat Marathon running socks free to all half-marathon and marathon entrants.
