Is Melbourne a good city for running?

It is the best of the Australian capitals by the numbers. It is flat, it has an unusually complete network of traffic-free trails, and in eleven years of hourly records it has never had a morning above 24°C.

What is the biggest race in Victoria?

The Nike Melbourne Marathon in October, which finishes with a lap of the MCG. Its course was reworked for 2026 to remove the 36km climb, cutting elevation gain by up to 20%.

Where is the best trail running in Victoria?

Four options, all different: the Dandenongs for fern gully and stairs, the Otways and Great Ocean Road for coast, the Mornington Peninsula for the Two Bays crossing, and the Victorian Alps for genuine altitude.

How long is the Tan Track?

3.827km around the Royal Botanic Gardens and Kings Domain in Melbourne, with one real climb up Anderson Street. It is the most-used running loop in Australia.

Can you run a marathon in Victoria in summer?

Yes, more comfortably than anywhere else on the mainland. Melbourne’s January dawn averages 16.7°C, and the state’s summer trail calendar — Two Bays in January, the Sunset Series in February — runs when the rest of the country cannot.

Running in Victoria: The Flattest City and the Best Trail Calendar

Victoria is the state where the running is easiest and the calendar is fullest, and those two facts are related. The climate does not force races into a narrow window the way Queensland's does, so events spread across most of the year.

Verus currently lists 420 running races in Victoria — 35 marathons, 57 half marathons, 66 10Ks, 73 5Ks, 38 ultras and 151 at other distances — alongside 127 weekly parkruns and 33 multisport events. Those counts come from the data on this site rather than from a claim about it, and they move as the calendar does.

Melbourne

Flat, temperate and unusually well provided with traffic-free path. The Tan Track around the Royal Botanic Gardens is 3.827km and the most-used piece of running ground in the country. The Main Yarra Trail runs east from the city for tens of kilometres; the Capital City Trail closes a roughly 29km loop around the inner suburbs; Beach Road runs flat along Port Phillip Bay from Port Melbourne to Mordialloc.

In eleven years of hourly records, not one Melbourne morning reached 24°C. The January dawn averages 16.7°C, which is cooler than Sydney in April.

The road calendar

The Nike Melbourne Marathon in October is the state's biggest race and finishes with a lap of the MCG turf. Its course was reworked for 2026 — the 36km Birdwood Avenue climb removed, elevation gain down by up to 20%, and a false finish on Southbank Boulevard cut — which makes it flatter than the course every existing Melbourne personal best was set on.

The Brighton Beach Marathon at the end of August closes Beach Road for four AIMS-certified distances from 5K to the marathon, and accepts entries until thirty minutes before the start. Around them sit Run Melbourne in July, the Carman's Fun Run in February, Run the Rock at Hanging Rock in March, the Portsea Twilight in January and the Sunset Series through February and March.

Trail: four distinct landscapes

The Dandenong Ranges, an hour east — fern gully and the 1000 Steps at Ferntree Gully, plus the Maroondah Dam trail races in November.
The Great Ocean Road and the Otways — the Surf Coast Century in September runs 100km along the coast, and the Great Ocean Trail Ultra follows in October.
The Mornington Peninsula — the Two Bays Trail crosses 28km from Dromana to Cape Schanck, raced as a 28km and a 56km in January, one of the few significant summer trail races on the mainland.
The Victorian Alps around Bright, Mount Buffalo and Falls Creek — the closest Australia gets to alpine running, with real altitude and a summer season the rest of the country cannot match.

Beyond Melbourne

Geelong has its own running festival in September and hosts Ironman 70.3 in March. Ballarat, Bendigo and Warrnambool all carry established fun runs, and the Bendigo Ford Fun Run in February is one of the largest regional events in the state. The rail trails — Bellarine, Great Southern, Lilydale to Warburton — give long, flat, traffic-free running that is genuinely rare in Australia.

When to run

Almost any time. April to November is comfortable, summer is manageable at any hour, and the only real constraint is that Melbourne weather changes fast — a run can start at 12°C and sunny and finish in horizontal rain. July is the wettest month at 12.5 rain days.