News
Aug 05 Sydney vs Cape Town: The Two Newest Marathon Majors Compared Aug 05 Didn't Get Into the Tokyo Marathon 2027? Your Options Aug 05 When Do Tokyo Marathon 2027 Lottery Results Come Out? Aug 04 Marathon Ballot Applications Just Keep Setting Records Aug 03 The Boston Cutoff, Explained for Normal Runners Aug 02 London Marathon Good For Age, Explained Aug 01 NYC Marathon Lottery Odds: 1 in 100 and Falling Aug 01 Marathon Ballot Dates: Every Major Window Aug 01 Does the Boston Marathon Have a Ballot? Aug 01 How to Apply for the Tokyo Marathon Ballot
[ Wire ] · Dispatch · Aug 05

Sydney vs Cape Town: The Two Newest Marathon Majors Compared

Sydney and Cape Town are the two newest Abbott World Marathon Majors, and they could not be more different at the ballot stage. Sydney publishes some of the best odds in the series, roughly 32.5% for its 2026 race. Cape Town has run two ballots since becoming the eighth Major and released an acceptance rate for neither.

How do their ballots compare?

Both are random-draw ballots, not open registration, a distinction worth repeating since it trips people up for both races. Sydney's 2026 ballot drew a record 123,000-plus applications for a 40,000-place field, up 56% year over year, and the organisers published the resulting 32.5% acceptance rate directly. Cape Town's 2027 ballot ran June 10 to 24, 2026, with results emailed June 26, but Sanlam and the local organising committee have not released how many people applied, how many spots were awarded, or what share got in, for that ballot or the 2026 one before it.

What does each cost?

Sydney charges AU$280 for local entrants and AU$330 for international ones if the ballot succeeds, plus an AU$1,500+ minimum for anyone entering through an official charity partner instead. Cape Town flips the model: applying costs a non-refundable R5 (about $0.30), donated to a race-linked charity, with the real race fee only charged if the draw picks you. The R5 figure is the one number Cape Town publishes at the ballot stage, and it is a genuinely unusual approach among the Majors.

Which has the bigger field, and where do they run?

Sydney's field is larger, 40,000 to Cape Town's 27,000. The courses differ just as much: Sydney is a point-to-point route from Milsons Point to the Sydney Opera House with a rolling profile and a climb through Kings Cross, typically 10 to 18°C on race morning. Cape Town loops out from Green Point through the City Bowl and southern suburbs, with one sustained climb near UCT around kilometre 25 before a flat final 10K along the Sea Point promenade, usually 13 to 20°C. Cape Town's course is also fast: the 2026 edition produced a 2:04:55 winning time, the quickest marathon ever run on African soil.

When does each race run?

Sydney first. The 2026 edition, its second as a full Major, is on Sunday, August 30, 2026, just 25 days out. Cape Town's next race is further away: Sunday, May 23, 2027, which will be its first edition running as a confirmed Major rather than a candidate.

So which is actually easier to get into?

On the numbers that exist, Sydney, and by a wide margin among every Major that publishes a rate. But that comparison is incomplete by design: Cape Town has never revealed its odds, and two-thirds of its field stays reserved for African-passport runners, which shapes the odds for everyone else in ways nobody outside the organisation can currently quantify. Sydney's own rate is also trending the wrong way, down from about 44% in 2025 as international interest keeps climbing after Major status. Anyone weighing both races can model Sydney's published rate with the Marathon Ballot Simulator; Cape Town has no odds to model yet.

Full ballot histories sit on each race's own page: Sydney and its 2026 results, and Cape Town and its 2027 ballot. Free email alerts cover both, one race per account on the free plan.

Sources: TCS Sydney Marathon ballot information, Sanlam Cape Town Marathon FAQ

Sources TCS Sydney Marathon, Sanlam Cape Town Marathon Sydney ballot figures (123,000 applications, 40,000 spots, 32.5% acceptance for 2026) from tcssydneymarathon.com and this site's own Sydney ballot history. Cape Town figures from capetownmarathon.com/faq and this site's Cape Town ballot history for the 2026 and 2027 ballots; the organisers have not published an application count or acceptance rate for either.