History
The Sydney City2Surf has been held as an annual event since the first run on 5 September 1971. It was conceived by the staff of The Sun and inspired by the Bay to Breakers event in San Francisco. The first event was jointly organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of NSW and the NSW Women's Amateur Athletic Association and attracted just over 2,000 competitors, most of whom were registered athletes belonging to the many Registered Athletic Clubs that were part of these two bodies.
Since 1973 it has been held on the second Sunday in August, except for the race held in 2000, moved to July due to the Sydney Olympics in August.
When The Sun ceased publication in 1988, the sponsorship of the event passed to the new Sunday tabloid The Sun-Herald.
In recent years, over 60,000 people have entered. In 2010, on the event's 40th anniversary, a record 80,000 participants ran, making it the largest run of its kind in the world. It is still primarily sponsored and organised by The Sun-Herald.
The course record is 40:03, set by Steve Moneghetti in 1991. The women's record is 45:08 minutes, set by Susie Power in 2001. Non-Australian athletes have typically won the race in recent years, including repeat winners Laban Chege (1999–2000), Patrick Nyangelo Lusato (2003–2005), and Dickson Marwa (2006–2007). In 2008, Martin Dent became the first Australian winner since Lee Troop in 1997. Marwa was competing in the 2008 Olympics.
As of 2010, the course starts in several groups in order to give preference to faster runners. There are invitation-only seeded and preferred runner groups, followed by runners with previous race times under 75 minutes, runners with previous race times under 100 minutes, an open entry running group, an open entry jogging group, and finally an open entry "Back of the Pack" group for walking, using a wheelchair or pushing child strollers. Entry to all groups is limited to a certain number of competitors and, except for the invitation-only groups, allocated on a first-come first-served basis.
Read more about this topic: City2Surf (Sydney)
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