Running Men
Picture of the 2000 Olympic marathon in Centennial Park courtesy City of Sydney archives
the terrace detective
James Dolton finds a local connection to a historic — and significant — event.
As an amateur runner, I was excited to see the Sydney Marathon recently attain Abbott World Marathon Majors status. And as an amateur historian, I was interested to research the history of the marathon in Sydney. It turns out that Sydney has some history with this race.
Many readers likely know the history of marathons as a running race. Invented in 1896 for the revival of the Olympic Games in Athens and inspired by the legend of messenger Pheidippides, that 1896 race from the town of Marathon to Athens’ Panathenaic Stadium was approximately 25 miles, or 40km.
It was the 1908 Olympic Games in London that finally set the distance template of 26 miles and 385 yards — what we now refer to as 42.195km.
After the London Games there was an explosion of interest in this distance. In 1909, three marathons were held in Australia. And the good news for Sydneysiders? We were first. Our event was held in April, ahead of Brisbane in August and then Melbourne in November.
Importantly for members of the Sydney Cricket Ground, the course in 1909 started and finished at the SCG.
To get the 26 miles and 385 yards, competitors ran four laps around the SCG, then along Bunnerong Rd, Gardeners Rd, Canal St, Cooks River Rd, Rocky Point Rd and Kogarah Rd to the old Blakehurst post office before returning along the same route and finishing with a final lap of the SCG.
If you are trying to recreate this course today, just remember that Bunnerong Rd is now Anzac Pde and the Cooks River Rd, the relevant stretch of Rocky Point Rd and Kogarah Rd are now the Princes Highway. The post office is gone but it was on the corner of the highway and Woniora Rd.
From across Australia and New Zealand, 48 runners were listed in the 1909 Sydney Marathon race program but apparently only 32 started. The race was won by Andrew Sime in a time of 3 hours, 5 minutes and 30 seconds.
Despite declaring post-race that it was to be the only marathon he would run, Sime backed up for both the Brisbane and Melbourne races. He came third in the Brisbane Marathon (which was also billed as the Championship of Australasia) and won again in Melbourne in what was billed as the Victorian Championship.
And in Eliud Kipchoge-like dominance, Sime defended his Sydney Marathon title in 1910 in an Australian record time of 2 hours 54 minutes and 30 seconds (beating by nearly five minutes the previous mark set in Brisbane).
The Sydney newspapers christened him the 'Marathon King' for his three wins and one third-place from four outings. In a June 1910 newspaper article simply titled 'How To Win Marathons', Sime shared his training tips. Very sensibly he recommended against smoking but thought an occasional glass of ale or stout would do no harm.
In terms of training mileage, he wasn’t far off a modern plan, recommending readers to divide the race preparation into week-long blocks. Start out by going on long walks to get your legs ready and then try running three miles every day at a fast pace.
After that, Sime advised working up gradually each week until you were running 15 miles at a race pace. Just more than a week before the race he recommended two 20-mile runs and then a 13-mile run five days before the race with the final four days for rest before the race.
Sime was set to represent Australia at the 1910 Athens Olympics that was due to be intercalated between the regular four-year Olympic cycle. The first Intercalated Olympics had been held in Athens in 1906. However, tensions in the Balkans saw the 1910 event cancelled and the Intercalated Olympics remained a one-off.
Sime didn’t run in the 1911 Sydney Marathon which was held in June to coincide with the coronation of King George V — as such it was known as the Coronation Marathon.
2000 Olympics. Pictures courtesy City of Sydney
Sadly for fans of the marathon, its popularity began to fade, with the sporting press declaring that “runners and the public alike are anxious to give the twenty-sixer a well earned rest”. Sydney wouldn’t regularly host a marathon race until Olympic fever gripped the city once again.
The current incarnation of the Sydney Marathon traces its own history from a test event for the 2000 Olympics. The course that is now endorsed by Abbott World Marathon Majors includes segments from that first race back in 1909 and, importantly, still passes the SCG. Perhaps a statue of ‘Marathon King’ Sime should be placed on Driver Ave to inspire the runners.
James Dolton is a member of the SCG and will run the Sydney Marathon in August.