Megan Singleton: BloggerAtLarge writer on the international marathons people travel for

Travelling internationally to run a marathon might not be on everyone's bucket list, but it's a growing trend.

People come from far and wide to take part in the seven World Major Marathons - which take place annually in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York City, Tokyo, and most recently, Sydney.

 BloggerAtLarge writer Megan Singleton says there's plenty of marathons all over the world you can experience outside of these seven, including annual marathons at Disney World or across the Great Wall of China.

Read more about Megan's picks for the best - and weirdest - international marathons here. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB Travel with Wendy wu Tours unique
fully inclusive tours around the world.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Right.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Friends of mine, Sue and Simon ran the New York
Marathon last weekend. I know a lot of key Wes
are going and doing this now. They said it was incredible.
They said, the noise from the crowd and the music
was so loud.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
It was just.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Constant sharing and screaming from the beginning to the end.
And this is becoming kind of popular. Joining us now
is Meghanson, singleton blogger Atlanta dot Com. Morning Megan, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Don't make anyone think that I'm in any way running myself.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
I think I think researcher, I think we've heard enough
about where to get good cocktails everywhere you go that
we know that that is probably running a Marathonry is
at the top of your list when you travel. But
you never know. Never say never, Megan, because it is
becoming popular. It's really it's a thing, isn't it. Lots
of people do it. They do Berlin, Paris, London, New York.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, and Sydney was just added to the World Majors,
making it the seventh World Major marathon, along with Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London,
New York, and Tokyo. I was at the New York
Marathon though a few years ago. My brother ran it,
and we were on the sidelines and we were all
in amongst that whole hype and stuff and what he said,
which was really good idea. Someone had told him to

(01:28):
put his name on the front of his shirt, and
he said that was great because when you're flagging, you're
feeling exhausted, people are shouting and cheering you on and
calling you out by name and going.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Come on, Rechie.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, that's a really good idea.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
A friend of mine, Simon, did that, and he didn't
He forgot his name was on the thing. He keeps
just running the ol time. God, yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Am, yeah, hey, But I did a bit of research
because yes, they've got all the World Majors, but there's
also some really quirky ones. And I noticed that in January.
So it's all sold out now too late for this
coming January, but there's the Walt Disney World Marathon in Florida. Now,
disney World is so big it could fit into the
city of San Francisco. That is how big Disney World is.

(02:10):
So you run through all four parks. They've actually got
five k events and family events, and then they've got
what they call the Dopey Challenge at forty eight miles.
So that sounds like a really good time to being
Florida and also won't be as hot January and Florida
the Great Wall of China Marathon in May. Now, I
have walked a little segment of the Great Wall and

(02:33):
they are steep, so.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Heavy and incredibly uneven.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
It would bet a lot of plunging, yeah, yeah, yes,
and a lot of shuffling because there's a lot of people.
A friend of mine's run it and she said, you
really just you know, you didn't get your stride on.
You just sort of shuffled along with a lot of
people for a long time. But I mean, how amazing,
how iconic. That's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Laying absolutely, I'm looked at doing a trail run through
Africa at one point, and the reason that I did
that was because my partner, who was very good at
supporting me on trail events and things one hundred kilometer
walks and stuff like that, said to me I found
this amazing, this amazing event. You just run through the
wild and there's quite a few wild animals, you know
if you look after. But but but I get to

(03:14):
go and do a safari and then they do lovely
lunches for the supporters and things like that.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
End.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
I was like, Okay, so you're going to be having
lunches and drinking champagne. I'm going to be running through
the wild, potentially getting eaten by something while you're relaxing
and having a good time. Anyway, that's the way these
things go, wasn't it.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it Be from nine am Sunday,
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