Year after year, Australia’s Premier Marathon Festival the Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival is growing more and more popular. 2023 saw record breaking numbers with 4 race categories selling out well before Race Day.
The 2024 event went on sale at the end of November and resulted in the Marathon reaching general allocation capacity in under 48 hours. Not long after, the Nike Half Marathon reached it’s general capacity as well!
To be the first to know when registration opportunities become available, join our waitlist below.
How can you access a registration for an event that has reached the General Allocation capacity? Here are some avenues to access:
RUN FOR A CAUSE
SPOTS NOW OPEN
Running for a charity is one of the primary ways to secure your spot in the Nike Melbourne Marathon and Nike Half Marathon. By raising a nominated amount for a designated charity, you can exchange it for a race entry. Our first run for a cause places are available through our Official Charity Partners, Beyond Blue and Running for Premature Babies
TRAVEL PARTNERS
AT CAPACITY
For out-of-town participants, accessing a sold out event may involve securing a travel package through our Official Travel Partner Travelling Fit, who include guaranteed race entry accommodation.
QUALIFIERS
Time Standard Qualification – CLOSED
Apply for a automatic qualification, you need to achieve the relevant qualifying time in an in-person race with an AIMS certified course within the outlined qualifying window.
Special Affiliate Event Qualification – CLOSED
2024 Great Ocean Road Running Festival – Top 50 gender category gained access to the equivalent registration in the 2024 Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival.
AFFILIATE EVENTS
AT CAPACITY
Participants may gain entry to a specific category by completing another affiliated event, for instance Great Ocean Road Running Festival. Head to greatoceanroadrunfest.com.au for more information on their GORRF+ entry ticket.
*Please note this avenue has now reached capacity
BALLOT
NOW CLOSED
Participants may sign up to our waitlist to access cancelled registrations via the ballot system. To ensure fairness and give everyone an equal chance, we will be running our ballot system via EQL’s Run Fairยฎ certified platform. Registrations are released to the ballot and winners are randomly selected for race entry.
NEED TO KNOW:
Please know, each of the allocations are limited so act quickly to secure an available spot. There is no guarantee of securing a spot through our Waitlist so we strongly suggest registering for an available event category distance in the meantime to avoid missing out all together.
Withdrawals:
Participants may withdraw from the event via the Withdrawal form on our website up until 11:59pm on Wednesday 7th of August whereby they will receive a refund minus the cancellation fee applicable. These newly available entries are then pooled ready for release to the Ballot.
If demand continues to grow for a sold out category, we may extend the cancellation date to facilitate eager participants on the waitlist.
Transfers:
We will be opening a transfer window in June from Wednesday 12th June to Friday 21st June to allow runners the freedom to transfer their registration to another runner. Please note this transfer window has now closed
What is General Allocation?
The General allocation is our pool of guaranteed entries available to the general public to purchase. These are sold in 2 waves – priority access and general access. Priority Access is an exclusive window that gives participants in the previous year’s event, as well as those who were unsuccessful off the Waitlist, first access to registrations. Once the Priority Access window closes, registrations become available for the general public until capacity is reached.
Would you consider increasing capacities?
We are always working hard to find ways to increase our capacities to allow more runners to experience this great event. However, runner safety and experience will always be our main priority, and thatโs why we have strict capacities. We want to ensure our runners have an enjoyable experience on course, with plenty of people to cheer them on as they take to the streets of Melbourne.
What is a Qualifying Event?
Pre-designated races that participants must complete and place in the Top 50 Male or Female gender category in order to earn the eligibility to participate in the Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival.
