In a grand salute to the return of mass participation events more than 20,000 entrants from every state and territory in Australia will take to the streets of the Gold Coast to compete in the 2021 Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon.

The event will boast its largest ever Australian field of marathon runners in the events 42-year history with 5,200 entrants and over 50 per cent of all event entrants will travel to the Gold Coast from interstate.

Destination Gold Coast and Events Management Queensland Chairman, Paul Donovan said they are absolutely thrilled with the final numbers with the 3-4 July marathon weekend shaping up to be a great celebration of Australian running.

“We will certainly miss our international friends this year but we are looking forward to welcoming everyone, with more participants from interstate than in 2019.

“The event this year will be a huge boost for our tourism and hospitality industry with the estimated economic impact in the vicinity of $25 million and many accommodation providers booked out over the marathon weekend,” Mr Donovan said.

Events Management Queensland CEO, Cameron Hart said the support from the Australian running fraternity has been great – we are delighted with the entrant numbers and the outstanding field of elite athletes our event has attracted this year.

“The calibre of athletes across all races is incredibly high and includes six members of the Australian Olympic Marathon team who will race in the ASICS Half Marathon in preparation for Tokyo 2021.

“The event will host the Australian Marathon Championships and the Oceanic Marathon and Half Marathon Championships.

“It will subsequently offer up a unique six opportunities for male and female marathoners to run qualifying times and a potential to wear the green and gold for the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2022 World Athletics Championships,” Mr Hart said.

Mr Hart said final preparations to implement a COVID-safe event were well and truly underway with entrants and spectators advised to expect a number of changes.

“This year we have moved the ASICS Half Marathon from the Sunday to the Saturday to spread our crowd more evenly and we’ve cancelled the usual pre-race check-in centre in favour of mailing out race kits which will include personal protection equipment.

“A scaled down version of the ASICS Sport and Leisure Centre will be located at the Broadwater Events Parklands with exhibitors including ASICS footwear and fashion, Southern Cross University and Polar with opportunities to purchase event merchandise and access last minute event information for runners and members of the public.

“Our priority in 2021 is to implement a COVID safe event and deliver a positive running experience for our recreational and elite runners that showcases the Gold Coast and highlights the fact that major events have returned,” Mr Hart said.

The 42^nd Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon will be held on 3 – 4 July 2021.

It will feature eight races including the Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon (World Athletics Label Road Race), Wheelchair Marathon, ASICS Half Marathon, Wheelchair 15km, Southern Cross University 10km Run, Gold Coast Airport 5k Fun Run, Health and Wellbeing Queensland 4km Junior Dash and 2km Junior Dash.

The Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon is organised by Events Management Queensland, a major event management company wholly owned by the Queensland Government as part of Tourism and Events Queensland.