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May 16, 2027
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The Great Ocean Road Marathon is a 44 km point-to-point road race from Lorne to Apollo Bay on the Victorian coast, and the main event of the Great Ocean Road Running Festival, which is held over a weekend in mid-May. The marathon runs on the Sunday, with an 8:00am start at the Lorne surf life saving club car park. Runners follow the Great Ocean Road through Wye River, Kennett River and Skenes Creek and finish at the Apollo Bay Hotel on the main road in Apollo Bay; buses take runners from Apollo Bay to the Lorne start before the race, and return buses run from Apollo Bay to Lorne afterwards. The distance is 44 km, nearly two kilometres longer than a standard marathon, so times are not directly comparable. The cut-off is 6 hours 30 minutes and the organisers set up 12 drink stations. The festival began in 2005 as a single 44 km marathon, founded by Les Noseda with the Apollo Bay Chamber of Commerce. It now includes a 60 km ultra marathon, a half marathon, 14 km, 12 km trail, 10 km and 6 km runs, a 5 km walk and a 1.5 km kids' race, and the 20th edition in 2025 drew a record 11,198 runners across all events. The marathon course record is 2:27:37, set by Nick Earl in 2019.
Typical climate for the race month — an estimate, not a forecast or a race-day record
Mid-May on the Victorian coast is cool: highs average around 16°C and lows around 10°C, and rain falls on roughly half of all days in May, so a rain layer is worth packing.
The Race
Lorne
The Great Ocean Road Marathon began in 2005 as a one-race event, founded by Les Noseda with help from the Apollo Bay Chamber of Commerce and others. The first winners were Elkana Machuka of Kenya in 2:31:13 and Rosie Doran of Australia in 3:31:09. The weekend has since grown into a festival with nine events and a 2025 record of 11,198 runners.
Nick Earl of Great Britain set the men's course record of 2:27:37 in 2019. It beat the 2:27:42 that James Kipkelwon of Kenya ran in 2012. The 2020 festival was postponed because of the pandemic.
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02:27:37
Nick Earl (2019)
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