Great Ocean Road Marathon

A great event. I ran the 44km "marathon", the course has fantastic scenery which means you don't get bored over the long distance but it is hilly so prepare for that! The atmosphere if very relaxed and there is a great buzz in Lorne and Apollo Bay throughout the weekend! I wrote a detailed review hopefully helpful to anyone thinking about doing it: https://marathonreviews.medium.com/great-ocean-road-marathon-3077c71ae66c

44km

Well I do live on the Great Ocean Rd so i'm biased but this has got to be the most scenic marathon in Australia. You start in Lorne and finish in Apollo Bay, which is a slightly inconvenient 44Km away. It's a small race but that's great because you never get caught in a crush of people and you can run your own race. Great atmosphere amongst the runners. It's a windy course and hilly in parts but for every up there's a down. I didn't find the hills too bad to be honest. Pro tip: take the hills easy and you can smash them on the way down and pass everyone who is knackered. It's fantastic to be able to run the course that is normally too dangerous to run with traffic and sheer cliffs. Definitely a bucket lister.

Just FYI, this is a point to point race so not ratified under IAAF rules ala Boston. They do have half and full markers so if you want you can just run to 42.195 and walk the rest of the way if you're too wrecked. They also have a 60Km race with an extremely steep 16Km detour for the masochists!

I've only done the half marathon for this event - Kennett River to Apollo Bay in 2018 & 2019. Loved it - especially this year as the weather was fantastic. We've been going to this event for 10years now as a family. I've also entered the 14km a few times