The fall marathon season gets an early start on August 30 with the Sydney Marathon in its second year sporting its upgraded status as a major. And on Monday, organizers gave a glimpse of the finisher medal with a design details that not only are unique to the host city, but to the people of Australia.
Up front, the metallic gold medal is accented with blue and white beads in a disc formation at the center and was created by First Nations artist Ambrose Killian. The motif symbolizes people and communities coming together and is surrounded by a ring of arches that drapes the inner beads and a line of small domes make up the perimeter of the medal.
MANA Group commissioned the design from Killian and said the look of the medal is meant to show Sydney as a meeting place and is using the race to highlight its place on the world stage.
“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.”
Meanwhile the back is engraved with a 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 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.
Simbu and Kiros will face a strong group that also includes Timothy Kiplagat, Vincent Ngetich, Dawit Wolde and Leul Gebresilase while Jepchirchir is set to line up alongside Irine Cheptai, Magdalena Shauri, Ruti Aga, Stella Chesang and Vivian Cheruiyot.
Sydney was selected as the seventh major marathon in November 2024 and was quickly adjusted to reflected its status alongside Boston, Tokyo, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York and moved from its previous September date to late August 2025 as the lead fall race.
Organizers also expanded the general field and introduced a lottery system for the first time ever as demand for the event soared for the 2025 marathon, its debut as a major.
The race would only last just over a year as the newest Abbott major before Cape Town was announced in June as the eight major city and the first major marathon in Africa and dividing the world’s top races evenly between spring and fall seasons.
