A lot of people came for the weekend.

A lot of people will tell you they came to the Gold Coast for a weekend. That was three years ago.
There's something about this place that gets into you. The way the city sits between rainforest and ocean and somehow makes both feel like yours. The way people here have a habit of arriving with one plan and leaving with a better one. It's hard to name exactly. But you feel it pretty quickly.
Every July, that feeling gets a starting gun.

The whole city laces up.

Around 39,000 runners from over 60 countries show up before sunrise and take on one of the flattest, fastest courses in the world. From Paradise Point to Burleigh Heads, ocean on one side, the skyline building behind them. Nine races across the weekend, from a 2km junior dash to the full 42.2 kilometres. First timers. Elite athletes. People running for someone. People running for themselves.
60% of them finish with a personal best. Which tells you something about what this city does to people when they decide to go for it.

"I didn't expect to cry at the finish line. I also didn't expect to sign up again the next morning. Both happened."

Show up. See what happens.

That's the thing about this weekend. It draws people who decided, at some point, that they were going to do the thing. Train for it, book the flights, stand at the start line at six in the morning and go. The Gold Coast has always attracted that kind of person. The ones who show up.
The 46th ASICS Gold Coast Marathon runs July 4 and 5, 2026. Broadwater Parklands, Southport. Nine races, every distance, every level.
Come for the run. Stay for everything else.