A LEADING road-running technical expert has lauded the inaugural Ballarat Marathon course as competitive with the likes of headline marathon acts in London and Singapore.
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And the Ballarat route has a key feature most heavyweight city marathons lack - no unsightly patches to avoid.
Dave Cundy signed off on the double-loop Ballarat Marathon course to world athletics standard in December, allowing runners to use times in qualifying bids for the likes of he New York and Boston marathons or major athletics events.
The course is also approved as a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Cundy, who has measured the Sydney Olympics course, said the Ballarat course was "fantastic".
"Most courses in the world, when you put together a 42.2-kilometre marathon, there are bad spots you look at. Ballarat has such beautiful streets and heritage buildings and the lake is beautiful," Cundy said.
"...There is already such great support from the city and anybody who's starting a new race, it's getting the culture of the city on side that's hard - that's a real positive for them."
The Sydney-based Cundy was the official course measurer for the prestigious London Marathon, which he had to give up when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He said the likes of London Marathon might occasionally tweak different aspects of the course but, under international rules, the course must be re-measured at least every five years.
Cundy said Singapore Marathon, which he has measured for 20 years straight, altered course every year and, while Singapore was "sparkling and new" looking, the hot and humid weather made it a tough prospect for runners.
This carefully detailed process could take a week, typically in the middle of the night, in big cities. Cundy was able to measure the Ballarat 21-1km loop within a day due to safe traffic conditions.
Ballarat Marathon as a festival will also feature a half-marathon and 10km events on marathon day, with a 5km and street mile (1600 metres) on marathon eve.
Cundy said the extra events were appealling to runners and build on the road running distances favoured by World Athletics.
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Cundy also has a chance to travel the world for road running alongside his wife with their company RunFun Travel.
For top regional races in Australia, Cundy said Townsville in Queensland, Rottnest Island in Western Australia and Victoria's Portland Marathon were great events.
He looked forward to seeing what the inaugural Ballarat Marathon might serve up.
For participants keeping track of the distance on their watches, Cundy said his job was to cut corners in measuring the shortest possible route. This gives the best opportunity for lead runners to post their best time but for the average runner, he likened it to the need to run wide on somebody's shoulder in a 400m on the track - it always adds a little more.
