Seventh At Sydney

I finished 2025 on 480 marathons and I started to wonder “Where would be a fitting place to run my 500^th?” Considering the fact it is our 25th wedding anniversary, and Yuk-Lam and I have threatened to go to Australia for some years, and I have family who live only 100 miles south of Sydney, I came across the idea to make my 500th marathon at Sydney on 30th August 2026. There would be the added bonus of completing my 7th Abbott World Marathon Major. So, all year I have been meticulously planning and running around the UK to make this dream become a reality. Speaking to my equally marathon mad friend James Love, I got the idea to run the Kangaroo Island marathon in Adelaide the week before to make it two marathons Down Under. The challenge was to get to 498 before we boarded the long flights to Oz.

Over the past 8 months all this went as planned and a week before my trip to Adelaide I informed the 100 Marathon Club that I was on the course for 500 marathon greatness. In June I had picked up a left knee injury but I still knew I could run, although I also knew there would be an element of pain. Surely at this point nothing could go wrong, could there?

We flew out to Adelaide on the first leg of our trip before making our way to Kangaroo Island. Getting off the plane after the 12 hour flight my right calf felt stiff and a bit sore, just like you would expect after running a marathon and then sitting in a car for a while driving home. I didn’t think much of it. The next day it felt like a badly pulled muscle and I found it painful all day while walking around Adelaide’s colourful food market and fascinating botanical gardens. This prompted me to regularly complain, then Yuk-Lam started Googling what it could be and DVT came up. She persuaded me to go to the hospital to get it checked out. I probably wouldn’t have bothered but I knew that we were travelling to the remote Kangaroo Island the very next morning and I had a marathon to run. So that evening I went to the Royal Adelaide hospital. They carried out blood tests which suggested I might have a blood clot. I needed an ultrasound scan along my leg to confirm. For this I had to wait there all night until an ultrasound technician came in at 7am the next morning. This scan did indeed confirm two blood clots. The hospital put me on a course of blood thinners for 3 months. I had a very long night with no sleep but the staff at the hospital, and in particular a doctor called Anthony, were very helpful to get me seen and on my way. I just managed to get back to the hotel in time to grab a bit of breakfast, buy my medication, collect my stuff, and for Yuk-Lam and me to board the coach to Cape Jervis to then board the ferry across to Kangaroo Island, which left promptly at 9:15am. The hospital told me no strenuous exercise for a minimum of 2 weeks so my plan of running any marathons on the trip looked over.

Kangaroo Island was a lovely place to see. The running event was held at the far western side of the Island in Flinders Chase National Park, where the Remarkable Rocks stand, overlooking the sea. I was suspicious how remarkable they would be, but I’ve got to admit they were truly remarkable! My right calf was very sore, and it certainly would have been dangerous for me to think about trying to run the marathon. So very reluctantly but sensibly I decided not to run. I was allowed by the race director to walk the 10k, so this is what I did. It was at least nice to feel part of the event and get to spend some time in the beautiful unspoilt countryside. Many of the runners saw a Koala up in a tree but sadly I missed it. I did get to see many of the unusual plants, including the fascinating grass trees (known in Australia as yakka trees)which have a fireproof trunk and grow at a mere 5mm per year. I saw one about 3 meters high, so I guess it was close to 600 years old!

After our lovely stay in Kingscote in Kangaroo Island, it was time to return to Adelaide and then fly on to part 2 of the holiday in Sydney. Luckily the hospital gave me a fit to fly note, I wouldn’t have liked to have driven the distance.

We continued with our holiday plans and enjoyed meeting my cousin Rachael to climb up the Sydney Harbour bridge. It wasn’t cheap but I thought we had come such a long way and I just love going up stuff so couldn’t resist it. There was a guide, a lot of equipment to wear and rules to follow so when I think back, I can see why it was so expensive, but also thoroughly worth it. For me, it was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip. The view from the top of the bridge was breath taking, overlooking the opera house. After the climb we had a nice spot of lunch in an area of Sydney called The Rocks before saying goodbye to Rachael until we would drive down to see her family a few days later.

We decided to go to the Sydney marathon expo and I collected my race number and a bit of marathon merchandise, how could I resist! The question was now whether I should run? I know my family didn’t really want me to, but I had my tablets and my calf was no longer sore. The doctors had advised against strenuous exercise for 2 weeks and I was still inside that delicate period. If I dislodged a blood clot it could be serious. Me being the runner that I am, I could not miss the opportunity to run this iconic Abbott World Marathon Major while in the city. I decided to take it easy, jog it with a few walks and photo stops. I would like to add at this point, please do not do everything I do.

Marathon day and it was a typical big city marathon race morning with a very early start, getting up at 5am. A quick breakfast in the hotel before marching down to the Metro (Sydney’s underground railway system) to get north of the Harbour bridge to the start area. It was reminiscent of the London marathon with the Metro being free to use with thousands of runners just piling onto the trains, all heading in the same direction. The start area was split into 3 coloured zones, Orange, Green and Purple, with regular waves being started from each, to spread out the 40,000 runners along the course. I was in the Purple start. Everything was pretty well organised apart from a completely inadequate amount of toilets at the start. I queued for ages and in the end gave up or else I would have missed my start time. I had to use the first set of toilets out on the course but this was 6km in.

The first short section of the course was downhill and then it was onto the absolutely iconic Harbour Bridge with its 6 million rivets (a statistic I remembered form the bridge climb). It was brilliant running across such a huge world famous landmark. One of my best running moments ever. I guess it is the only day of the year the bridge is closed to traffic and all 6 lanes are covered in colourful runners. As I was taking it easy, I took time to take selfies and even asked a volunteer to take my photo of me on the bridge, such a lovely memorable moment in the cool early morning sunshine.

The marathon lived up to what I hoped, a route winding around the city, taking in views of the harbour and the buildings. My only negative was a rather long out/back section midway through the course, which seemed to drag on a bit but maybe on another day I’d have felt differently about it.

We were all blessed with good weather, plenty of blue sky, a cool start but it warmed up nicely. I think sunshine always shows off a course better and makes a good day a great day. I am always amazed how even when so far from home and amongst so many runners I can still see running friends, I bumped into Shane from Preston and Bassit from Spain. I was also very pleased to pick out Yuk-Lam in the vast crowds, not once or twice but three times along the course, priceless!

After weaving around the city’s streets, sights and parks for 26.2 miles the finish at the opera house is totally stunning, I cannot think of a better finish line…AWESOME!!! My finish time was 5 hours 2 minutes but for this marathon it was irrelevant. I know I should not have even been doing it, so I was over the moon to have still got the opportunity to experience this relatively new but thoroughly worthy Abbott World Marathon Major.

As for me, it was only marathon 499. I had run around with the worry of DVT in my right calf and a sore left knee. I’m just happy to have experienced this great marathon and be able to say I have now run 7 of the Abbott World Marathon Majors.

Next it was time to pick up my hire car and enjoy a few days with my cousin Rachael and Peter at Blue Mountains, where we got to marvel at the Three Sisters sandstone rock formations and explore the eucalyptus forest. We then drove back to south Sydney to spend time with my uncle and aunt and cousin. We spent a few days exploring the Shoalhaven and Jervis Bay. Our holiday was finished off with a BBQ in full Aussie style. It was so good to see them all!

Thank you Australia, it has been a blast! Time to go home and worry about number 500 another day.