| Melbourne Marathon | |
|---|---|
 Melbourne Marathon in 2013 at Princes Bridge | |
| Date | October |
| Location | Melbourne, Australia |
| Event type | Road |
| Distance | Marathon |
| Primary sponsor | Nike |
| Established | 1978 |
| Course records | Men's: 2:09:12 (2022) Timothy Kiplagat RonohWomen's: 2:25:19 (2018)  Sinead Diver |
| Official site | Melbourne Marathon |
| Participants | 7,945 finishers (2023) 6,215 (2022) 4,927 (2021) 7,014 (2019) |
The Melbourne Marathon has been held annually since 1978. The 42.195 km run over the traditional marathon distance is the main race within the annual Melbourne Marathon Festival. The race celebrated its 30th birthday in 2007 with a new course which featured the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as both the starting point and finishing point. A total of 3328 competitors completed the 2008 race. Another 17,000 people participated in Half Marathon (21.1 km), 10 km and 5.5 km events.
The 2019 running of the marathon saw an Australian record of 7037 finishers, 1880 of whom were female (27%). In 1978 approximately 4% of the 1947 finishers were female.
The 2020 event was cancelled on 9 September due to the COVID-19 crisis. A virtual marathon was run for the period 5 December to 13 December.
In September 2021 it was decided to postpone the 2021 event until 11 and 12 December. The marathon and half marathon were run on Sunday the 12th, starting an hour earlier to escape the heat. The shorter events were held on the afternoon of Saturday the 11th.
The 2022 event returned to October with all events being run on Sunday. There were 6215 finishers in the marathon.