The upcoming Sydney Marathon on Sunday is set to face unprecedented challenges as the city is embroiled in both oppressive heat and smoke due to bushfires.
Currently ranked among the world’s five worst cities for air quality, Sydney has issued warnings advising residents have been warned to limit their time outside as smoke remains in the air for the fifth consecutive day. Firefighters have said they expect the thick smoke to have lifted out of the area by Sunday, just in time for the race.
Aside from the smoke, residents will face brutal temperatures this weekend, with highs nearing 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius).
Given the start time of just after 7 a.m., runners are especially concerned about the heat, meaning that many non-elite runners could find themselves attempting to finish the grueling 26.2 miles in direct sunlight and high heat.
“My biggest training tip would be to drop your effort by 10 percent, but I know people aren’t going to do that, and that’s where you’re going to get people having trouble,” Triathlon coach Danny Moore told News.com.Au.
Sydney Marathon Race Director Wayne Larden said organizers were “committed to delivering a world-class, safe event for participants on Sunday.”
“The safety and wellbeing of our participants is our highest priority, and we are working closely with key stakeholders, including the Rural Fire Service (RFS) and Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to ensure the highest safety standards are implemented,” Larden said in a statement.
Moore also says that the lead-up to the race had yet to prepare athletes for the conditions they would encounter on Sunday, creating added difficulty.
“The contrast of not having any heat training at all to going really hot with no adaptation, that’s going to cause problems,” he told News.com.Au.
The runners who had trained less and are set to run slower times are most at risk of getting sick or injured, Moore said. “They’re going to be out in the heat for longer, and without the right training, it won’t be good,” he said.
Marathon runner Hany Yacoub thinks the race may prove difficult for him and his fellow competitors. He said running in Sunday’s oppressive heat would be a challenge since he, like others, had trained in the cooler temperatures of Sydney’s winter.
“Training through winter and then going into a hot race day is not really ideal, and it’s not favorable,” he told News.com.au.
“The 7 a.m. start is not ideal; there will be other runners on the road by that stage, so you will be trying to get around some of the half marathoners as well,” he added.
It was recently announced that the Sydney Marathon was chosen as a candidate race for the Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMM), meaning it must meet strict criteria over the next three years to achieve “majors” status by 2025. With this designation, Sydney could join the Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City marathons as a “major.”
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Condé Nast Traveler and was most recently the senior editorial director at TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
