Paul Nigel Addicott (MM15822) – Sydney Marathon 2025
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).
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.
originally posted at https://pickupthepacepaul.com/2025/08/31/sydney-marathon-2025/
Photo and Post Credit Paul Nigel Addicott
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