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Jul 11, 2027
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The Cairns Marathon is the full-distance race of the 7Cairns Marathon Festival, held on a Sunday in July in Cairns, Queensland. The festival also includes a half marathon, a 10 km, a 5 km and a 2 km event, and the marathon can be run solo or as a relay for teams of two or four. The marathon starts and finishes at Fogarty Park on the Esplanade and is run as four laps along the Cairns Esplanade and the surrounding streets. The organisers describe the course as flat and fast, taking in the waterfront from Fogarty Park and the Esplanade to the lagoon. The start is at 5:45 a.m., before sunrise, so that runners are back on the Esplanade as the sun breaks over the water. The multi-lap layout brings runners through the same parts of the course several times. The course is AIMS-certified and the organisers list the marathon as a Boston Marathon qualifier. The festival's marathon course records are 2:18:30 for men, set by Samuel Woldemanuel in 2015, and 2:42:35 for women, set by Elkie Belcher in 2017.
Typical climate for the race month — an estimate, not a forecast or a race-day record
July is mid-winter and the dry season in Cairns: the average high is about 26°C and the low about 17°C, with rain on around six days of the month, so the pre-dawn start is mild.
The Race
Cairns
The event grew from the vision of three friends who loved running and wanted to combine it with their passion for social outcomes. Channel 7 Queensland was a founding sponsor, and the festival still carries the 7 name. It has been promoted as the first official run festival of its kind in Cairns.
Samuel Woldemanuel holds the men's marathon record at 2:18:30, set in 2015, and Elkie Belcher the women's record at 2:42:35, set in 2017. Shuji Tsukamoto won the 2025 men's race in 2:27:20.
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02:18:30
Samuel Woldemanuel (2015)
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