More than 40,000 participants are set to take on the Sydney Marathon in a week but after they cross the finish line, one detail of their participant medal could feature a not-so-obvious mistake on the back of the keepsake.
The design of the back of the next Sunday’s race, which kicks off the fall major marathon season, appears to have the wrong building etched alongside other notable landmarks that runners will pass, with Munich, Germany’s Allianz Arena depicted instead of Sydney’s Allianz Stadium.
Race organizers Pont3 unveiled the medal design on Monday with a motif on the front by First Nations artist Ambrose Killian that displays blue and white beads in a disc formation at the center symbolizing people and communities coming together. The back of the gold colored medal is a mini visual tour of the landmarks along the course like the Sydney Opera House, Centennial Park and Hyde Park.
Eight circles up top near the ribbon eyelet acknowledges the eight Abbott World Marathon Majors. The medal was commissioned by MANA Group, which said on Monday that the themes converging on the combined design follows a focus on the people and sights of the city.
“From the overarching concept through to the final design, our ambition was to create more than a medal,” MANA Group said about the design on Monday. “We set out to develop a meaningful symbol of achievement that captures Sydney’s identity, tells the story of the course and celebrates the community of runners who bring the marathon to life.”
But the image of stadium landmark grouped with the other 11 landmark is not Sydney’s Allianz Stadium and appears to be the similarly-named Allianz Arena in Munich.
Allianz Arena has a widely recognized exterior that sports a facade made of 2,874 inflated diamond-shaped ETFE plastic panels that can be illuminated in a range of colors. The stadium is the home of professional German football club Bayern Munich, who have played at the venue since it opened in 2005.
Meanwhile, Allianz Stadium has a white roof canopy and the facade is constructed with long horizontal, bronze-colored panels and outside of sharing a corporate naming sponsor, the buildings are mostly visually different.
When asked about the back of the medal design, Killian told the BBC he was only responsible for the elements on the front. Sydney Marathon officials, however, have not commented on the apparent error on the design which is likely on thousands of medals that were produced in the weeks ahead of next Sunday’s event.
On Sunday morning after a wave of social media comments pointing out the error, organizers released a statement acknowledging the mistake and also attempted to turn the matter into a lighthearted moment despite the magnitude of the mistake.
“You may also be aware that a little too much international flavor has found its way onto the back of the finishers medal, with an incorrect depiction of the stadium,” the statement read. We’re not going to run from it, it was an unfortunate error, though it’s certainly given everyone something to talk about this weekend, mostly in good humor.”
“With the event a week away, this is the medal our finishers will receive,” the statement continued. “It’s a beautiful medal, and now a little more unique. What it represents does not change.”
The race is expected to host more than 40,000 participants with a professional field headlined by Alphonce Simbu and Peres Jepchirchir with Hailemaryam Kiros returning to defend his men’s title.
