Marathon shapes as bonanza

Gold Coast Marathon entries for 2024 are already at 50 per cent capacity ahead of the event’s 44th year.

After just three weeks, early bird entries have been strong with national and international interest.

Events Management Queensland chairman Paul Donovan said more than 8000 people had entered across the nine race events for next July.

Mr Donovan added that more than 60 per cent of those entries had come from interstate or overseas.

“We predicted international participation would make a significant comeback in 2024 and we are delighted with entries from 28 countries including Indonesia, Taiwan, Singapore, China and New Zealand, which represent more than 10 per cent of entries so far,” he said.

Mr Donovan said next year’s Marathon was shaping up to be a return to “pre-pandemic” days, with indications the event would eclipse the 24,500 runners in 2023.

Events Management Queensland chief executive Ben Mannion said the interstate markets were impressive, with 27 per cent registered so far from Victoria and 21 per cent from NSW.

“These figures are a tangible endorsement of the quality and experience the Gold Coast Marathon delivers for participants, spectators, family and friends,” he said.

“This year the event delivered an economic impact of almost $37m, an increase of more than 29 per cent on 2022.”

This comes as figures from Tourism Research Australia on Wednesday revealed Queensland held 30.1 per cent of Australia’s domestic overnight visitor expenditure for the year ending September.

Brisbane and the Gold Coast were the standout performers across the state, with a recordbreaking year for the glitter strip, recording 12.4 million domestic overnight and day trip visitors contributing