Sydneysider Joseph Moran has run every major marathon in the world bar one.
New York, Tokyo, Berlin, Boston, Chicago and London: the 47-year-old has the medals, known as “stars”, to prove it.
When the Sydney Marathon received Abbott World Major status in November last year, Moran immediately decided he would attempt to gain his seventh and final star, an achievement made all the better by the race taking place in the city he has called home for 20 years.
Joseph Moran wears the medals from every major marathon he has completed. He will not get the chance to add one from Sydney this year.Credit: Steven Siewert
But when ballots for the August 31 race were released three weeks ago, Moran was among the largest number of rejected runners in the event’s history.
“They announced that [the Sydney Marathon was a major] on the weekend that I was in the New York Marathon, so I was hoping that I’d just done the sixth, and now I could do the seventh,” he said.
The 2025 TCS Sydney Marathon has attracted more than 79,000 applications for just 35,000 starting line spots, the state government revealed last month. Twenty-three per cent of applicants were hoping to run their first-ever marathon.
It is a significant increase from the 5306 people who ran the race, which takes runners over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and on a course through the city’s CBD and eastern suburbs, in 2022.
Specifically, this year’s event has attracted eight times more international applicants than the 2024 race, with runners from an additional 55 countries entering the ballot. Destination NSW estimates the marathon’s new status will add $73 million to the state’s economy over the next three years.
When the marathon was upgraded in November, operations director Simon Bryan and NSW Premier Chris Minns both confirmed they had plans to guarantee spots for local runners.
In response to questions from the Herald on whether local runners had been guaranteed spots, a TCS Sydney Marathon spokesperson said the event was “committed to providing a fair and balanced allocation of places for both local and international runners”.
“In 2025, approximately 60 per cent of the field will be made up of Australian participants, ensuring strong local representation while also welcoming international runners to experience the event,” they said, adding that final participation data would be shared after the race.
The 2024 Sydney Marathon had a thousand fewer runners than the 2025 event is expected to have.Credit: Edwina Pickles
All runners who competed in the Sydney Marathon between 2022 and 2024 could nominate one of the next three years to guarantee a spot in the race through membership of a “Candidacy Club”. Membership was not dependent on being a local runner, although 79 per cent of the 32,000 eligible runners were Australian.
Moran, who was ineligible for the Candidacy Club as he last ran the marathon-length race at the event in 2019 and had raced other lengths since, said he knew the ballot would be competitive but was still disappointed.
“I knew it would be quite hard to get into, but I was hopeful I might get selected,” he said.
For 46-year-old gym owner Daniel Ucchino, the Candidacy Club was his ticket to running a major marathon. He estimates 11 of his clients earned their place in the marathon through this method, compared to only four of his 12 gym goers in the general ballot.
Joseph Moran training at Blues Point Reserve. Credit: Louise Kennerley
Runners who missed out on entry through the general ballot can still enter through charity partners (of which there are 24 Australian and 85 international charities to choose) or travel packages.
Abby McNeill, 27, said missing out on the general ballot had been a blessing in disguise. A runner since her Little Athletics days, McNeill, who is from the Central Coast, has slowly been building up to run a marathon and saw the upgraded Sydney race as a chance to earn a major marathon star.
“Me and my partner both signed up for the ballot and unfortunately, when the results came out, I didn’t get in, but he did,” she said.
Disappointed, she looked into running for charity partner Cure Cancer.
“I lost my stepmum to cancer and my stepdad to cancer as well and thought what a perfect opportunity to turn my run into something powerful and more motivating, to be honest,” she said.
McNeill has set a goal to raise double the amount required by the charity to enter and says it has completely changed her training mindset, especially when things get tough.
“There are worse, horrible things to be going through, and this is an honour to be doing this. That’s really helping me get through this,” she said.
On race day, McNeill is going to run with a necklace made with her stepdad’s ashes and a charm given to her by her stepmum. Both will be tucked into her running vest during what she believes may be her only chance to run the event due to the new competitiveness of the general ballot.
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