Melbourne Marathon Festival
East Melbourne, Australia
- Marathon, Wheelchair Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K, 5K, 3K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
The Melbourne Marathon Festival is set in the heart of Melbourne with event courses running through Yarra Park, St Kilda, Flinders Street, the Shrine of Remembrance, and finishing with one lap of the iconic MCG. Be a part of Australia’s premier marathon festival and race alongside marathon legends. Circle around … MORE
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melbourne shines in the heat
melbourne is a great city. this is a good marathon. i make that distinction straight away. it has some really cool bits and some areas they could improve. the star … MORE
melbourne is a great city. this is a good marathon. i make that distinction straight away. it has some really cool bits and some areas they could improve. the star of the show is the mcg or “the G”. you start in its morning shadows in the sports precinct of melbourne and finish inside its cavernous dimensions.
2018 was hot. we started (approx 7000) at 7am and it was 16C. it got much warmer pretty quickly. the course winds past one of the cities most prominent corners where the main train station sits, flinders street. you then head off towards st kilda with several kms detouring onto the grand prix track at albert park. its pretty flat. its kinda scenic. its kinda crowded. fortunately i carried a small water bottle for the first hour. i say fortunately because the water stations were chaotic. considering i was near the front (on the back of the 3 hour pace group) i could only imagine what it was like further back in the field.
the run along the waterfront was nice (ish). two out and back sections basically and then the last 10kms back to the G. a couple of small hills around the botanic gardens/shrine of rememberance and then its the last few kms back around flinders street station and onto the mcg.
i found running into the ground very emotional. it is vast. it is beautiful. crowd support was much larger than what i expected inside and the finish was as good as anything i have experienced before.
the medal is nice without being super duper. the free race gift (t-shirt) was ok. the post race refreshments really need more. bananas, jelly beans and sports drink aren’t enough.
the free massages were excellent and wait not long. the bag check was well organised. the expo was ok, without being startlingly good. our purchased asics race shirts ($40) were excellent quality.
without completely dissecting this race, there were good bits and some chaotic bits. pre race toilets were scarce with long queues. not a lot of volunteers directing runners unfamiliar with the start zone and bag check. when marathoners joined the half marathoners it was pretty messy too. fortunately that section wasn’t too long, but it probably needs some work or slightly different start times.
i liked it. i didn’t love it. it is good without being amazing. it makes a pretty cool destination race because the city is such a great place to visit all by itself.
my review may be a little coloured by the temps being in the mid to high 20’s. that said i was finished relatively early (in the first 500) so lots of others did it much tougher. i was told some water stations were filling up on the run which is sub standard.
would i do again ? probably not. would i still recommend it ? yes, just maybe keep your expectations realistic.