The Ballarat Marathon road running festival will take place across the weekend of Saturday, 26 April and Sunday, 27 April 2025.

Registrations for the 2025 Ballarat Marathon road running festival are open, now! REGISTER NOW

The event hub is outside the Ballarat Town Hall (225 Sturt St, Ballarat Central). Each race finishes right out the front of the Town Hall.

* Pair of Ballarat Marathon-branded high-performance socks from Steigen if you register for the Marathon or Half Marathon (everyone else has the option to purchase the socks during the registration process or via our Race Roster store afterwards)

* Race bib with timing chip (personalised bibs available for everyone who registers prior to March 1)

* Access to drink stations

* Finishers’ medal

* Course certified by AIMS and measured to World Athletics standards

* The ability to compete on a stunning and fully closed course that has comprehensive traffic management in place

* Insurance

* First aid and amenities

Ballarat Civic Hall - 300-304 Mair St, Ballarat Central

NOTE: All bibs must be collected. Bibs will not be posted. Personalised bibs are available for everyone who registers prior to March 1.

Yes. Everyone who completes the Mile, 5km, 10km, Half Marathon and Marathon will receive a finishers’ medal.

Absolutely! Personalised bibs are available for everyone who registers prior to 1 March 2025. You can enter the name you would like on your bib when you register in Race Roster. *Please avoid using special characters and emojis

If you wish to create a team, you can do so during the registration process. There is a section called Teams, which will prompt you to answer the required questions.

There are no age restrictions in the MILE and 5KM, however all entrants aged 12 and under must be accompanied by a registered adult.

Entrants in the 10KM must be aged 13 years or older on the day of the event.

Entrants in the Half Marathon must be aged 16 years or older on the day of the event.

Entrants in the Federation University Marathon must be aged 18 years or older on the day of the event.

Yes, you can register to compete in more than one race. Given the Ballarat Marathon Running Festival is split over two days, we encourage this! You can do this an the initial time of entering, or you can log back in to your account at a later date to add additional entries.

Entry fees are non-refundable, other than in exceptional circumstances, after 11:59pm on Sunday, 6 April 2025. Ballarat Marathon is not required to refund entry fees where a competitor has a change of mind. To request an “exceptional circumstances” refund after 6 April, please email info@ballaratmarathon.com.au.

No*. We will not be offering deferrals for the 2025 Ballarat Marathon. You can either request a refund (see the ‘What is the refund policy?’ FAQ) or transfer your entry to someone else (see the ‘Can I transfer my registration to someone else?’ FAQ)

*If you become pregnant in the lead-up to the 2025 Ballarat Marathon and can no longer race, we will offer a deferral for up to 2 years. Please email us at
info@ballaratmarathon.com.au.

If you have registered for one of our races but are no longer able to take part, you can transfer your registration to someone else. You can do this by logging into your Race Roster registration and clicking on “Transfer”.

Yes, you can transfer to a different distance. The easiest way to do this is to log into your Race Roster registration and click on “Transfer”. You can also send us an email requesting a transfer. Email info@ballaratmarathon.com.au.

Yes, our courses are on wide, flat and scenic bitumen roads around Ballarat. Our courses don’t include any footpaths or gravel sections.

Yes they are. Our courses have been certified to AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Distance Races) and World Athletics standards. Each of our courses was measured by Dave Cundy, our Technical Director who is Australia’s foremost authority on course design and measurement, in December 2023. The certification of our courses means you can run a qualifying time in Ballarat to get into the ballot for a major marathon like Boston or New York.

You are in good hands. Our friends at Tomato Timing are on board for ALL events.

Raceatlas are our Official Event Photographers. Using their smart camera devices and bib number recognition software, Raceatlas is able to get your race day photos to you as soon as they've been captured. Share your memories on social media, send them to your friends and family, and celebrate your incredible achievement as soon as you've crossed the finish line.

A strict qualifying time will apply to our elite categories.

For the Mile & 5km events, please view the relevant page under ‘EVENT’

Qualification times for the Marathon, Half Marathon & 10KM events are yet to be determined. Once a decision has been made, we will update the information here and on the respective Event pages.

When registering for the longer distances, you can submit a qualifying time (optional) to be considered for the elite field.

Yes, for the Marathon only. We will allow qualified runners to drop personal drinks.

You must have a target-time of:
3hrs or less for Men and 3hrs 30mins or less for Women.

We will ask for proof via recent results/training records.

Yes, there will be a table for elite athlete drinks at each drink station. These drink bottles need to be checked in when runners collect their bibs from Civic Hall in Ballarat prior to their race. Collection Boxes will be set-up and will have a number denoting which drink station those drinks will be delivered to. All drink bottles MUST be clearly marked with the athlete’s name and bib number.

Yes, our event has been sanctioned by World Athletics. If you have a World Athletics ranking, your result in Ballarat will be added to your profile.

Yes. The Ballarat Marathon is a qualifying race for the Abbott World Marathon Majors 2026 Age Group World Championships.

In Iine with World Athletics rules, the winner of each race is decided by gun time (the from when the starter’s gun goes off). The athlete who crosses the line first is the winner. All participants will have their chip time (the time from when their bib crossed the start line) recorded, but chip time is not used to determine the winners.

We’ve listened to feedback and have made some tweaks, removing the Sturt Street Hill. Each of our courses is flatter and faster. Perfect for running a PB! The elevation gains on each course are as follows:

Marathon: 98m (two laps of 21.1km course)

Half Marathon: 49m

10km: 9m

5km: 16m (two laps of 2.5km course)

Mile: 14m

Yes, we are having pacers in the Marathon and Half Marathon.

In the Marathon, we are having a 2:30 pacer, then a 2:45 pacer. From there, there’ll be pacers spaced at 10-minute finishing time intervals starting at 2:50 and going through to four hours. We also have further pacers spaced at greater intervals all the way through to six hours.

For the Half Marathon, there will be pacers spaced at the same finishing time intervals from 1:30 through to 2:30.

Here are the pacing times being offered:

MARATHON
2:30
2:45
2:50
3:00
3:10
3:20
3:30
3:40
3:50
4:00
4:20
4:40
5:00
5:30
6:00 (sweeper)

HALF MARATHON
1:30
1:40
1:50
2:00
2:10
2:20
2:30

The cut-off time for the Federation University Marathon and City of Ballarat Half Marathon is six hours. Adherence to these cut-off times will ensure roads can be reopened in accordance with our event permits.

Cut off times are based on chip time not gun time.

Yes, there is $60,000 in prize money on offer across all distances!

MARATHON: First $6000; Second $2000; Third $1000; Fourth $500; Fifth $250

HALF MARATHON (including Wheelchair Half Marathon): First $2000; Second $1000; Third $500; Fourth $250; Fifth $125

10KM: First $1000; Second $500; Third $250

5KM: First $2000; Second $1000; Third $500; Fourth $250; Fifth $125

MILE: First $2000; Second $1000; Third $500; Fourth $250; Fifth $125

MEN’S MARATHON TIME BONUSES

Sub 2:15:00 - $1000

Sub 2:12:30 - $2000

Sub 2:10:00 - $3000

WOMEN’S MARATHON TIME BONUSES

Sub 2:32:30 - $1000

Sub 2:30:00 - $2000

Sub 2:27:30 - $3000

Yes, a range of Ballarat Marathon merchandise will be available in the lead-up to the event and at the event itself thanks to our new apparel partner, One Running.

Stay tuned. The 2025 merchandise range will be revealed soon!

You are most welcome to include a charity of your choice to fundraise for. Visit the ‘Get Involved’ tab here on the website for more information.

To keep things fair, we have not given priority to any charity other than our local headline charity partner, Ballarat Health Services Foundation (for Grampians Health Ballarat).

Charities are ordered based on total donations. To move your charity of choice up the list, we encourage you to share your fundraising page with your networks and encourage support via donations.

We strongly discourage the use of in or over ear headphones on the course. If you do choose to use headphones while running, please ensure that you are still able to hear what is happening around you.

For safety reasons, wheelchair competitors are restricted to the Wheelchair Half Marathon, which will start before our other long races on the Sunday morning. Prams and assistance dogs are allowed in all distances, but you must start at the back of the field and you must observe the cut-off times.

We offer a Baggage Drop on both days for all events, located in The Event Expo (close to the start/finish line). We ask that you place your belongings in your OWN bag which we will TAG with your race number at Drop Off. *There will only be a small number of plastic bags available on the day. Please help us to be an enviromentally friendly event in this respect.

Ample parking for runners is available in Ballarat’s CBD. There are many on-street car parking spaces, but please ensure parking restrictions are observed. In addition, the CARePARK multi-storey carpark at 25 Doveton St in central Ballarat, only a short walk from the start-finish, is offering extended hours across the Ballarat Marathon weekend. Information on the CARePARK location and pricing is HERE.

Information regarding road closures will be made available closer to the event.