Heartbreak Hill to the Great Ocean Road: six of Australia’s best marathons and fun runs

Runners work up a sweat during the Two Bays Trail run on Magnetic Island in north Queensland. Photograph: Martin Keep

Running season is here, and that means running festivals. Whether you’re a beginner hoping to enter your first short-and-sharp fun run or a seasoned racer seeking a longer, stiffer challenge, Australia’s calendar of events has something for everyone.

From tropical islands and the red dirt of the outback to the best on offer in the big cities, we have selected some of the most unmissable long-distance running events from around the country. This selection of extracts from the newly published guide book, Weekend Runner Australia, will help get you over the figurative start line – and then seeking more.

New South Wales – City2Surf

Where: Sydney CBD to Bondi

When: 11 August 2024

Distance: 14km

Few things are more certain in life than death, taxes and Heartbreak Hill. The 2km incline up New South Head Road from Rose Bay to Vaucluse – about 6km into Australia’s most famous fun run – spares nobody’s soul. The term “fun run” is open to interpretation, depending on whether you are a serious competitor, an amateur or a walker. Whichever way you swing it, your legs will feel the burn at the midway point. If you actually look up from the top to appreciate the view, to your left you’ll see Sydney harbour in all its glory, including a peek at the Harbour Bridge.

With more than 85,000 entrants, this is the world’s largest fun run and, given that roads have a limited width, you feel the squeeze. Still, organisers have created staggered start waves ranging from the speedsters who pre-qualified to those with wheelchairs and strollers and those with service dogs. The course starts at Hyde Park under St Mary’s Cathedral and heads straight down the highway of William Street.

Do not get beaten by someone wearing a gorilla suit; this is bad for self-esteem.

The route features no fewer than 25 entertainment stations, which far exceeds the number of water stations, and includes live music, DJ sets, food trucks and bars. Some get so distracted by all this that they don’t finish.

If you reach Heartbreak Hill and you’re wearing regular activewear, spare a thought for those doing the hard yards in furry animal costumes. Do not get beaten by someone wearing a gorilla suit; this is bad for self-esteem.

An especially welcome touch is the array of hoses spraying competitors with water to offset the morning heat. And once you have negotiated another small uphill through Dover Heights and rolled all the way down to the finish at Bondi beach, you can enjoy a day full of surf, sand and frivolity.

Victoria – Great Ocean Road Running festival

Where: Great Ocean Road

When: 18-19 May 2024

Distance: 60km, 44km, 23km, 14km, 6km, 1.5km kids, 12km trail, 6.5km trail, 10km walk

So much of Australia’s surfable coastline can also be run. But to run perhaps the country’s most famous road (home to the dramatic Twelve Apostles, which rise up from the Southern Ocean) sets this event apart from the rest. This winding 240km stretch is about a 90-minute drive south-west of Melbourne. The event provides buses to ferry participants back to their respective start lines, which removes a potential logistical nightmare.

If you choose the full marathon, prepare for something longer – the “marathon” is 44km, which probably has to do with ensuring marathoners can start in the lazy coastal town of Lorne and finish at the lively Apollo Bay hotel. The “half marathon” is also 2km longer than a regular half, starting at Kennett River and finishing at Apollo Bay, while the 14km and 6km head inland. The last two are wheelchair accessible. There are nice touches at both ends, with free yoga classes, activities and entertainment. The reason everyone is here, though, is the in-between part.

The race sets off from Lorne Surf Life Saving Club; soon it’s forest to your right, beaches and rocky shoreline to your left. And lots of surfers, wetsuited to offset the autumnal chill. The ocean views are panoramic, and the road itself is well looked after and stable underfoot, so there is no excuse to let it pass you by.

The remoteness of the road means no spectators, and the relatively small field (in 2023, there were 9,350 registrations across nine events – the most in the festival’s 19-year history) makes this a comparatively quiet journey.

A tip: conserve energy on the hills. The whole course is undulating, but there are three bigger uphills at about the 7km, 22km and 25km marks. You will make up the time coming back down.

Western Australia – Busselton Runners Club bay run

Where: Busselton

When: 8 February 2025

Distance: 42.2km, 21.1km, 10km, 5km

Let’s go through the checklist. Flat and fast course? Check. Nice weather? Check. Holiday destination? Check. Family friendly? Check. The annual event in Australia’s stunning south-west region has a variety of distances on offer.

The half marathon is easily the biggest drawcard and a great excuse for running-minded families from Perth to go “down south” for the weekend. The 750 participants, including most of WA’s fastest long-distance runners, make up half of the 1,500 total participants across the 5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon. This field size is one of the secrets of the BRC’s success in consistently hitting the sweet spot between a major race and one that holds that special parkrun-ish community feel.

After the gun goes off, the run out of town is on a dual pathway. You might not feel this good when passing this spot again on the way back, so take the opportunity to glance over to your right to enjoy the view of that magical combination of sand and a pristine, glass-blue ocean that is even flatter than this course.

Bonus: after the final sprint to the finish line, it’s a mere 50m walk to the ocean for a refreshing dip.

Northern Territory – Run Larapinta stage race

Where: West MacDonnell Ranges

When: 16-19 August 2024

Distance: Namatjira (short course) 11-30km stages, Malbunka (long course) 20-45km stages

Run Larapinta – a four-stage traverse along cherrypicked sections of the famous Larapinta Trail – markets itself on camaraderie, on treating this event as an experience rather than a race, and appealing to inclusivity. The Malbunka (long course) requires a qualifier, and over the four stages, runners will cover a total of approximately 128km. But the Namatjira (short course) can be done by just about any able-bodied person with enough determination. The cut-off times are so generous that the course can be walked.

A wide range of ages and body shapes come from all over Australia to chase a bit of adventure on the renowned walking trail totalling 223km from the historic Telegraph Station at Alice Springs to Mount Sonder in the MacDonnell Ranges.

Even in winter the days are hot – and runners are advised not to take any unnecessary risks. The access-only-by-foot rule applies here: if we hurt ourselves, but not seriously enough to warrant a big and expensive rescue operation, participants are told to “swallow a concrete pill and walk ourselves to the finish”. “Walk” is the operative word here because, unless you are a mountain goat wearing trail shoes, you can expect to hike full sections at a time. The water is flown in via helicopter. Large chunks of the route are in mountainous and rocky country, broken up by open savannah. It makes the runnable bits all the sweeter.

Queensland – Two Bays Trail run

Where: Magnetic Island

When: 25 May 2024

Distance: 21km, 12km, 6km

This tropical island off Townsville is more than three-quarters national park with sleepy koalas frequenting the trees. The Wulgurukaba people travelled between the island – Yunbenun – and the mainland long before Capt James Cook happened across it in 1770, and culturally significant Aboriginal cave art is still clearly evident in some of the island’s bays. One of them, Nelly Bay, is the starting point for all three running distances. It is the place I arrive without a few compulsory pieces of equipment, including a compression bandage (due to the potential for snakes) and a head torch (due to the potential for darkness). Thankfully the local supermarket comes up trumps with both, along with some sunscreen – those taking on the 21km course will need it for the midpoint stretch of bitumen road under the hot afternoon sun.

This is the event’s other quirk: it does not begin until well into the afternoon. The path goes off the road and into the scrub, where a single-file trail climbs up endless stairs to a peak with phenomenal views before descending just as steeply down the other side. The longer distances follow a path down into Horseshoe Bay where tourists cheer from the front windows of bars and restaurants, before the trail heads back down towards Arcadia and the finish line, emerging on to a road which winds all the way down to the pub, where stainless steel kegs line up either side of the final 20m.

Tasmania – Gone Nuts

Where: Stanley, north-west coast

When: 1 March 2025

Distance: 101km (individual or team of two, three or four), 75km (individual), 50km (individual or team of two), 25km (individual)

Gone Nuts is named as such because those who do the 101km event circumnavigate the Nut, an ancient 150m-high volcanic plug jutting into Bass Strait near the quaint colonial village of Stanley. From the start in a park near Rocky Cape Road, the path heads on to a long, straight road, the runners silently pacing themselves on the easy uphill before they reach the big one. The looming figure of Rocky Cape appears around the bend, an impenetrable shadow without a visible peak.

It is not until about the 14km mark that the descent towards Sisters beach begins properly. It is a proper descent, too – always look down. (I do not, and end up flat on my face covered in dirt and a bit of blood. I am not the only one.)

Once the track peters out, though, it’s time to glance up and around at Rocky Cape national park. It is a place of unspoiled, clear water and secluded bushland, and the only area in Tasmania where banksia serrata grows naturally. Vast cave middens, artefacts and rock shelters reveal much about the lifestyle of coastal First Nations people dating back thousands of years, and there is a real sense of moving through rarely touched territory.

It is so rarely touched, in fact, that it is easy to lose the track.

A nice local touch to this event is that organisers consult local property owners, who agree to open their acreage on the day of the race. So through cow paddocks you run, and past harvesters, before sprinting to the finish.