EP75: Sydney Shines On Its Majors Debut

Marathon Talk

The TCS Sydney Marathon took place this past weekend, and we have all the news from a momentous day in marathon running as Sydney arrived as an Abbott World Marathon Major!

Joining Martin on this week's show, we have Abbott World Marathon Majors Chief Operating Officer Danny Coyle, who was on the ground, in the shadow of the Opera House, to give us his thoughts on both the race day, the city, and also the performances of Sifan Hassan, Eliud Kiphcoge, and the winner of the men's elite race, Hailemaryam Kiros.

We're also joined by Simon Bolton, who is now a Seven Star athlete, who will give us his participants perspective of the race and we're also very pleased to welcome Michelle Weltman MBE, head of disability at London Marathon Events, who also joins us from Sydney, to talk to us about wheelchair racing, her thoughts on Sydney, the current series championship and some wider commentary on where wheelchair racing can go in the future.

We've got a jam-packed show for you, and we hope you enjoy it.

‍In this episode of Marathon Talk:

0:00 - Martin and Danny discuss the 2025 TCS Sydney Marathon.

15:48 - Simon Bolton joins us to give the runners' perspective of the race, fresh from collecting his Seventh Abbott World Marathon Majors star.

22:44 - Michelle Weltman MBE is our guest as we get an update on the current state of play in the wheelchair championship, along with much more insight about the sport as it looks to grow alongside the new Major races.

41:06 - A small preview of what we have lined up for our next show, where Deena will hopefully join us from Tokyo at the World Athletics Championships.

‍Links & references‍

Abbott World Marathon Majors https://www.worldmarathonmajors.com/

https://www.instagram.com/wmmajors/‍

https://www.tiktok.com/@marathontalk

Martin Yelling https://www.instagram.com/martinyelling/

Michelle Weltman https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-weltman-mbe-964911b0/