By Phil Dumontet, CEO, Laurel Innovations

1,300 finishers in 2005 → 123,000 ballot applicants today · 20 years building a race from the ground up

I recently sat down with Wayne Larden, CEO of the TCS Sydney Marathon — now the seventh Abbott World Marathon Major — on The Future of Running podcast on Head Start. grew up in Mount Druitt — a public housing estate in Western Sydney — where running pulled him away from a dangerous path and showed him what life could offer. He ran a 2:16 marathon debut. Then injuries ended his elite career. Then he took over a struggling race with 1,300 finishers in 2005 and spent twenty years building it into the newest Abbott World Marathon Major. Here are the 10 lessons that stayed with me most.

01 — Vision & Patience

Don't try to be the biggest — try to be the best and the most fun

Sydney could technically jump to 55,000 runners right now. Wayne won't do it.

"You only have to get it wrong once to really alienate an audience. We don't need to be the biggest for the sake of being the biggest. We want to be the best and the most fun."

When Wayne says "most fun," he means from the moment runners step off the plane to the moment they leave — the restaurants, the run clubs, the harbour, the locals, the culture.

Takeaway: Resist the pressure to grow faster than your operational foundation can support. One bad experience at scale does more damage than years of good ones at a smaller size.

02 — Origin & Obligation

Running saved his life — and that created an obligation to give it back

Growing up in Mount Druitt, a school teacher pulled Wayne aside and told him to focus on his sport. He channeled his anger into running. He started winning. He started traveling. He started seeing what the world could offer.

"Running has shown me what life could offer. My life could have gone in two very different directions. And I feel as a more mature adult now that I have an obligation to put back into the sport that helped shape my life."

The first thing he did when he took over in 2005 was add a family 5K fun run — because he wanted the community to experience running the way he had. That family event still exists today and will remain forever.

Takeaway: What brought you to this sport? Whatever that answer is, it's probably the most important thing you can offer the person who hasn't found running yet.

03 — Long-term Thinking

It took 18 years of patient foundation-building before the rocket launched

18 years to grow from 1,200 to 5,000. Then three years to grow from 5,000 to 33,000.

"It was a long, slow burn where we were patiently building the foundations and reputation. Nearly 20 years of preparation to be in a position to take on the candidacy."

The years of unglamorous foundation-building created the credibility, the relationships, and the operational capability to handle the explosive growth when it finally came.

Takeaway: What foundation are you laying right now that will matter in 10 years? The work that feels invisible today is the work that makes the rocket launch possible.

04 — Branding

Sometimes the name of your race is scaring people away

Wayne changed the name "Sydney Marathon" to "Sydney Running Festival" because research showed that ordinary runners weren't even looking at the event — they saw "marathon" and assumed it wasn't for them.

"The name was scaring people off. So we changed it to the Sydney Running Festival and highlighted the different events. Immediately we started to get growth because it was relevant to more people."

It took 18 years before he felt confident enough to rename it back to the Sydney Marathon. The name followed the culture — not the other way around.

Takeaway: Read your event's name and marketing through the eyes of someone who has never considered running a race. What does it say to them? What does it exclude?

05 — Inclusivity

Jasmine's run club — what true community accessibility looks like in practice

Jasmine, a Muslim woman from Western Sydney, came to a Sydney Marathon run club, was welcomed, and noticed there were no other Muslim women. So she established the Sydney Muslim Run Club, supported by Sydney's run club partner program — which pays for coaching accreditation for club leaders.

"She wanted to create an environment where other Muslim women felt comfortable. That run club has grown incredibly. That's just one example of facilitating accessibility across cultural groups."

Wayne's We Run Foundation goes further: free coaching accreditation, free entries for families who can't afford to participate, and a dedicated First Nations strategy with real investment.

Takeaway: Identify one specific community not represented on your start line. Ask: what would genuinely welcoming them look like — not just accepting them, but actively making space?

06 — Stakeholder Relations

Listening is the most underrated skill in event management

When Wayne took over, the Sydney Marathon was at risk of losing its government license. His approach wasn't to fight — it was to listen.

"Trying to muscle your way into anywhere is going to get you pushback most of the time. Over time, you get a reputation for an honest, friendly organisation that actually delivers what it says it will. That's how you build support within government."

Brussels lost its permit after 20 years. Wayne names it as the cautionary tale every race director should study.

Takeaway: When did you last meet with a city or government stakeholder just to listen — not to ask for anything? Schedule that meeting. The relationship you build in quiet times protects you in hard ones.

07 — Elite Strategy

Bringing Kipchoge and Hassan wasn't just a marquee moment — it was a crowd-building strategy

"From the moment they stepped off the plane, Australian media would be all over them. We needed everyone in Sydney to know that the TCS Sydney Marathon is on this Sunday. We needed to grow the spectator numbers. We needed to build the atmosphere."

Spectator numbers in 2025 were dramatically higher than 2024. Wayne believes Australians, once they show up once, will keep showing up. The elite field was the hook that got them out the first time.

Takeaway: Think about your elite strategy not just as a performance product but as a community awareness and spectator tool. Who on your start line will make non-runners want to come and watch?

08 — Run Clubs

Run clubs changed from training groups to social communities — and that changed everything

"Run clubs went from training for something to a social activity, with fitness as a part of that and running as the key element. They go to the bar after. They have coffee. That is completely different to what we had before COVID."

Wayne's response: build infrastructure around them. Free coaching accreditation. A formal run club partner program. Because run clubs are the front door to the sport — and the quality of that front door determines who walks through it.

Takeaway: Do you have a formal run club program? Identify your five most active local run clubs and reach out this month. They are recruiting runners for you whether you support them or not.

09 — Resilience

Your body will let you do what it's meant to do — and accepting that is the beginning of wisdom

Wayne ran a 2:16 marathon debut. Injuries kept knocking the bricks off his foundation and he never reached the level he dreamed of. For years, that was a source of deep disappointment. Then he found a different way to hold it.

"What I now realize is that your body's gonna let you do what it's meant to do and nothing more. I actually did the best I could do. And what that made me realize was that I should just be happy with what I did. And I am."

That acceptance opened up everything else. The dream job he would never trade. The race he built into a World Major.

Takeaway: Where are you still measuring yourself against something you didn't achieve? Wayne's reframe is worth sitting with: you did the best you could do. That's enough to move forward.

10 — Community

Running's transformative power has a ripple effect — and most runners don't realize they're causing it

"You running and becoming committed to something that's positive, something that changes you, makes you happier, fitter, healthier — that has a ripple effect on the people around you. You can motivate other people to run. People don't realise that. And then this snowballs."

Connected communities are Wayne's North Star. Not podium finishes. Not ballot numbers. People from all backgrounds, running hand in hand, inspiring each other in ways they may not even see.

Takeaway: How does your race tell the ripple effect story? The runner who inspired their partner, their child, their colleague — those stories are in your community right now. Find them and tell them.

"The future of running is connected communities — people from all backgrounds, running hand in hand."

Wayne's closing words — and a vision that started in a public housing estate in Western Sydney, where one school teacher pulled a wayward kid aside and told him to focus on his sport. Everything else followed from that moment.