Press Release - Gold Coast Marathon - 2/9/21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon expects huge demand 
                  when entries open on Monday 15 February

Australia's most popular holiday marathon event - the Village Roadshow 
Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon - is set to return in 2021 as today it was 
announced that entries open at 9:00am on Monday 15 February.

Mayor of the City of Gold Coast Tom Tate said it was welcome news for the 
Gold Coast and Queensland after the event was forced to turn virtual in 
2020 in response to COVID-19.

"I'm thrilled to see the event back after the coronavirus-driven loss of 
the 2020 edition of the IAAF Gold Label marathon saw the Gold Coast miss 
out on many million of dollars in economic impact.

"The value of this event to the Gold Coast cannot be underestimated," Cr 
Tate said.

"Every winter for over 40 years, the marathon and associated events have 
enticed thousands upon thousands of interstate and overseas visitors to 
escape to the Gold Coast from their colder home climates for an unmatched 
sports holiday experience.

"While we will miss our international runners this year, by staging a 
successful event in July the Gold Coast will showcase to the world we are 
again open for major events business," he said.

Village Roadshow Theme Parks General Manager of Marketing Renee Souter 
backed today's announcement.

"Village Roadshow Theme Parks is proud to support this iconic event as 
naming rights sponsor," Ms Souter said.

"The event showcases the Gold Coast like no other and with the numbers of 
visitors this event attracts each year, I know just how important the 
marathon and other major events are to the Gold Coast's tourism economy.

"When the runners and their families come to the Gold Coast they stay in 
our hotels, eat in our restaurants, shop in our shopping centres, and of 
course visit our theme parks.

"The team at Village Roadshow Theme Parks are right behind the marathon 
weekend and I call on other Gold Coast businesses and our community to get 
behind this time-honoured and iconic event," she said.

Events Management Queensland CEO Cameron Hart acknowledged the challenges 
of planning events under COVID-safe health regulations.

"We have seen other smaller events adapting to the ‘new normal' of event 
delivery with tight health regulations, social distancing and other 
responsible management measures," Mr Hart said.

"Subsequently we have developed extensive plans to balance all the health 
regulations while providing a world class running experience on course," he 
said.

Mr Hart said several crowd management initiatives will be implemented this 
year.

"This year we have moved the ASICS Half Marathon from the Sunday to the 
Saturday to spread our crowd more evenly and we've cancelled the usual 
pre-race check-in centre and expo in favour of mailing out race kits.

"We have also implemented wave race starts, and we'll be providing personal 
protection equipment to the runners.

"Our priority this year is to deliver a positive running experience for our 
recreational and elite runners upon which we will rebuild a solid 
foundation to grow the event beyond pre- COVID levels in the future," he 
said.

The 2021 Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon will be run on 
Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 July.

The event, with revised race day schedules and modified courses, will start 
and finish at the spectacular Southport Broadwater Parklands.

Entries open 09:00am (Qld time) on Monday 15 February via

www.goldcoastmarathon.com.au

The Village Roadshow Theme Parks Gold Coast Marathon is organised by Events 
Management Queensland - a major event management company wholly owned by 
the Queensland Government as part of Tourism and Events Queensland.

Visit goldcoastmarathon.com.au.

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