“I think it’s as good as you’re going to get in Sydney. Obviously, Sydney is a hilly city. We take in all of the great tourist icons on the route,” Larden said with six days to go until the race. “I can’t see anywhere we could improve it without adding more hills to it.” While it could be the most difficult of the majors and likely won’t see any world records broken, Larden believes the trade-off is worth it. The elevation gain required to traverse the Harbour Bridge and to finish at the Sydney Opera House was key to its viability as a global race. Larden’s work will be there for all to see on Sunday. “Unless you want to push the marathon out to somewhere where you don’t have all the icons, it’s just unavoidable,” Larden said. “Having the highest elevation profile doesn’t mean it’s the hardest. Steeper hills where you can’t keep a rhythm – and it’s a hard slog – are tougher than gradual hills.” In paying homage to the 2000 Olympics marathon course, parts of the 2025 course will follow the original blue line that is still partially visible in Moore Park. Another feature of the design is that the course loops back on itself multiple times, which for some runners is a grievance but for others is a chance to see the front-runners.