Marathon Talk Episode 58: Your Questions answered

Welcome to episode 58 of Marathon Talk, powered by Abbott World Marathon Majors. And in this episode, Dina's got a fancy new challenge. We reflect on big news from the Cape Town Marathon. Valencia is go. And we speak to Abbott World Marathon Majors Chief Content Officer, Danny Coyle, under the spotlight with all of your questions about what recent announcements mean for the future of Abbott World Marathon Majors. Let's go. Dina, what have you been up to? Oh my goodness, tis the season for snow. We've got a few feet of fresh snow on the ground, which is so awesome, which means my daughter, in her first week of ski team, had trials and a new uniform because she made the team. And so it's been exciting, an exciting transition of seasons here. But for me personally, I needed a little reboot. And so going off of one of my husband's clients had done a challenge called 75 hard. And it was 75 days of these little measures of your own discipline. And so I decided to create one for myself. And of course I had to up it a little bit. So I have bestowed upon myself a hundred days of discipline. And what that looks like for me personally. I don't like the sound of that, Dina. Oh, it sounds doom and gloom, doesn't it? And it's as boring as it sounds, but it is meant to challenge me. Okay. Especially in the time of year where holidays are coming up. Are you particularly poor at discipline? I don't think so, but I need something written down. Like in order to be disciplined in training, I need a training program and a race on the schedule. And so I had to write it down. I know our listeners can't see, but I've got a little calendar to keep me on schedule. And what this looks like is that every single day I have to read 10 pages of a personal development book. A different one or the same one, Dina? Well, I'm reading right now a book called Untangled and it's about raising a teenage girl. So it's helping me with what she's going through as she grows into a young adult. So that's my book right now. When it finishes, I'll finish it before 100 days are up. So I'll move into another book. I have to work out for 45 minutes twice a day. So yesterday it was a 45 minute run and 45 minutes of shoveling snow outside. I have to drink a gallon of water. I am not particularly good at hydrating, nor are you. I know that from spending time with you in New York City. A gallon of water? Yeah, I mean, I think it's a little less than a gallon. It's like almost like four. So now this is why no alcohol and no sugar are also on this discipline journey. It's about four bottles of wine worth of water. This isn't adding up so far. There are several things about your personal discipline challenge that are making me wriggle somewhat. Okay, well, do you do self-care every day? So also on this challenge is self-care every day, whether it's for your mind, like a little bit of meditation or for your body. Like I told you and Danny that I have some moisturizer on my feet and I have little slippers on so that I can absorb those moisture, maybe soften some of those calluses from thousands of miles of training. Only one hour of scrolling on my phone, which is gonna be challenging because I saw that I was on my phone for two hours yesterday. It's a long time. And then I have a mantra, a mantra every day. A different one or the same one? A different one. So it's just written in my calendar. Is it, I must stick to my discipline. I must stick to my discipline. No, that's so boring, Martin. It's love the process, time to grow, embrace a new season, new you, choose joy, delight in the snow, feel the bluebird vibes because we had a bluebird day two days ago after a snowfall. Embrace the season of cozy. So every day is just like a little something that keeps my mindset. It actually gives me a positive mindset at the beginning of every day. So a hundred days of discipline. I'm only seven days in. I feel like there's a lot of places I could go with this, Dina. There's a lot. Have you ever challenged yourself? Like have a new year's resolution or something to get you focused? What have you done? This is a good time, isn't it? Because it's like, we're at the end of a, you know, kind of marathon-ish season and this is a bit of transition, right? So we have time before we think about, what is it I do next? And so it's almost like building a foundation of health. Isn't it? So, you know, what it feels like you've done is you've gone, okay, where are these things where I'd like to build this foundation of health and wellbeing in my life? Psychological wellbeing, physical wellbeing, you know, emotional wellbeing. And I need a sense of additional discipline for all of these things. I know, here it comes. So I definitely couldn't do the, like, book of Dina's, like, good sayings. I feel like I couldn't go down that one. I could probably write some, but they'd be just too sarcastic. So I think I'd have to leave them alone. And also, I find if I try and stick to too many things, I actually don't stick to any. So, like, I fall off the sticking to do, sticking to good things discipline wagon. Like, because there's just too many things and I get a bit of, I sense what would happen to me. This is why you're an Olympic medalist and I'm not, by the way. I sense what would happen to me is I might tip over the edge of the sort of discipline cliff. You know, just because I can't do all of those things, I might be able to do some, you know. I think I would rather be successful at more, successful at less things than unsuccessful at lots of things. Does that make sense? It does make sense. And to be honest, I mean, we are still like parents and carpooling around and we have to, I mean, there's so much work. We work every day. So there's, this is not my job, this discipline. This is alongside of my job and mothering and being a wife and a housekeeper and all the other roles that I play throughout the day. So listen, I'm seven days in. I could absolutely fail at this, but I set myself up to succeed by writing down all these things and just checking them off when I do them each day. I check them off and the calendar of it has kept me, similar to a training log, it kind of holds you accountable because you see this bucket list in front of you. So I've got a long way to go. My husband was like, really? Right before the holidays, you're gonna take sugar and alcohol off the table? And I said, well, listen, there's always something to celebrate. There's always a reason to pour that glass of wine or to indulge. But to be honest, we've had a few dinner parties here at the house already and we've opened up beautiful bottles of wine and I've baked beautiful desserts and I haven't indulged in them. And it hasn't been hard. I mean, cancer is hard. Seeing your children struggle is hard. Those are hard things. Losing someone in your life or losing your home, those kinds of things seem hard to me. Being disciplined is not hard. I just need a template to go off of so I can check everything off that list. What challenges have you done, like a New Year's resolution or something? Have you? Well, yeah, see. I know you're not into resolutions, but have you challenged yourself? No, no, no. Yes. No, honestly, I'm not sure I could. I don't know. I think, so what have I done? I once said, I'm not gonna eat chocolate. And you did. That lasted about a day. No. For a year. And I did do it and actually it wasn't that difficult. But yeah, I don't think I could be, I don't think I'm in a place where that much discipline with everything would sit well. Like, that doesn't mean that I'm completely the other way. I think at the moment, probably, I've had a reasonable, I've enjoyed my training, I've enjoyed my running. We did New York and I really loved that. And actually I'm sort of in the opposite place to you, really at the moment. What that means is I'm completely undisciplined. Like I've got, I'm working on the back fat, I'm practicing how much I can eat and I've sort of just said to myself, I'm gonna have this phase where I'm just gonna not worry about things and not try and control things. And if it happens, if I feel like that, then it's just gonna happen. Because I know that there will come a time when I want to do something and I'll switch that back on again. Absolutely. And I think, just personally, right now, I'm not jumping into that kind of level of control. I'm just the opposite at the minute. It'll come back and I'll be more disciplined around riding my bike or training or nutrition. But I've been quite disciplined for quite a while. So it's time to just jump off that for a bit, I think. And that's so fascinating. So I wonder what our listeners would resonate with because they're coming off of marathon season of being disciplined and carving out extra time for their training. And so this is maybe a time of year to just kind of sleep in an extra half hour and not have such a tight schedule, meet up with friends for coffee in the middle of the day because their schedule isn't so rigid. And what a lovely place to be in that we can call those shots, right? That we can be disciplined when we have to be, but we can also kind of loosen things up a little and give ourselves some freedom in our schedules. I love that juxtaposition. That's awesome. So what have you been up to in your free time? Kind of rival your, you know, snow. We spoke a little bit briefly at the beginning where you said it's been snowing. Yeah, well, you know, it's been snowing here too. All right. Yeah. Talking about all your snow in Mammoth. We've had a dump in a pool in Dorset where I am as well. Do you know how much we had? How much? Dump. A dusting. No, we had like, I mean, come on, huge. You had like, you said sometimes you have a dump overnight and it's like, what did you say? Did you say it was a foot or so at the moment? And is that right? Yeah, it could be three, four feet overnight. Yeah, yeah. We had one, two, maybe three centimeters. I put more powdered sugar on my crepes than that. Yeah, it came down for about half an hour, settled for a bit, and then was all gone a couple of hours later. And of course it caused absolute mass turmoil. We have had some shocking weather here lately. It's been very wet. There's been some unwanted flooding in the UK, but also, yeah, we had a little dusting of snow. That's it really. That's all I've been doing. I've been doing a little bit of running. I did do a tempo run the other day. And your hamstring was okay? Yeah, it's all right. Not, you know. Awesome. I thought, you know, I'm gonna go and try and run a little bit quicker than I have been, see if I can get down under seven minute miling for eight or nine miles, 10 miles, just see what goes along. It was fine. It was okay. Managed to run along at six and a half minute miling, which is a big step up from where we had been, you know. Oh my gosh, Martin, that's really good. Yeah, well, it's been easy. And I'm gonna keep easy for another month in my own. You know, I like to, you know, so Tom and I, when we used to record the show, we used to have this talk around Hoff and Homer, right? And I was always the Hoff, okay? Because for me, exercise and physical activity and moving and running is something that comes naturally, right? So it's harder to not do it than it is to do it. Does that make sense? So- Yeah, because it's part of your lifestyle, your daily lifestyle. Yeah, it's harder to not do it, right? So Tom always used to rib me a little bit about, yeah, but it's so easy for you because it's an inbuilt part of who you are. And, you know, it's more hard for you, more hard? Harder for you to not go for a run than it is to actually go for a run. And then he's the opposite, you see? He's like, I would happily sit on my sofa and eat hamburgers all day, yeah? So I'm trying to channel my Homer at the moment, which is like, just let, just, you know, if you don't want to go for a run, don't go for a run. If you want to go do 20 minutes, go do 20 minutes. If you want to ride your bike, ride your bike. If you want to go for a swim, go for a swim. If you want to swim in the sea, swim in the sea. And if you don't, then don't. And that's the kind of position I'll be in until I think just after Christmas. So I'm going to do another month or five weeks of this. And then I'm going to re-pick up. Right, listen to your body and your will at what you want to do. That's such a beautiful way to spend time and let some things kind of brew in your head about what you want to focus on in the coming year besides our race at the Sydney Marathon. There's always, there's always, there's always, 10K, I'd handle a 10K. There's always a, whenever I say this, people always go, yeah, but are you going to start again on the 1st of January? Kind of what's the, what's the start point? And sometimes I, like, I have to wait, right? And I, you know, it's not procrastinating and it's not delaying a decision. It's waiting for, and in my, I always refer to it as like a click, right? And at some point it clicks. You know, like when you're training and you sometimes you're just pounding, pounding, pounding and you're waiting for it to click, right? And then it does, and then it's all rosy. You know, it's the same almost with me and the motivation to resume. Like I wait and I wait and I wait. And at some point my body and mind will say to me, okay, we're bored with this now. You know, like we're bored, we just want to get back out. We want to get back out training and we want to do a bit. It's not I'm doing nothing, but I'm not thinking about what's coming next. I'm just doing whatever comes that day. And that is, so do you see what I mean about almost being the opposite of the structure and the discipline that surrounds you? I'm going the other way to go, okay, not having that discipline is where I'm pitching. Right, right. And that's such a beautiful thing to acknowledge because there is a great TED talk on like the art of procrastination and how it is not a downfall. Your mind is at work subconsciously and consciously, like thinking about your next steps or the details of a project. So procrastination is a welcome thing in my mind because as you are going through other aspects of your day, you are still connected to the passions and the other projects that are going on in your life that they're not shoved aside. You're mulling over them in some way and fine tuning them before you actually jump in into a more structured pace. Yeah, so I think we're both in good places, right? We've yapped on, haven't we today? Should we move on with the show? Should we have some news? Let's do some news. All right, Cape Town takes a step closer to the majors. It's all been updates around ABBA World Marathon majors recently and hot on the heels of Sydney's introduction into the majors. We learned last week that the San Lam Cape Town Marathon is on course to be the eighth race potentially in the series. That is such exciting news. The race passed the assessment that was done by Lisa Thompson and her team in October of this year. And so now it's just one pass away from getting the green light to join the majors. I bet our listeners are so excited to hear that. More dream chasing for everyone out there. The assessment will take place on October 19th, 2025. Oh, before you go on, Dina, just while we're on the subject of ABBA World Marathon majors we were talking about some of the stats last week and regular listeners to the show and if you're a fan of the majors, you will know that there is a very, very, very talented statistician that sits behind a lot of the information around the World Marathon majors called Statman Stu. And so I had this really tricky question for Statman Stu that I wanted to ask, which was tell me the shortest spread, right? So, you know, across all the six stars. So, you know, without Sydney and any others that may join the ABBA World Marathon major party. Now just tell me a bit about the range. I was interested in the range, particularly the shortest and longest range between marathon six star finishers time. I mean, the shortest range in a runner is actually unbelievable. The shortest spread of any ABBA World Marathon major finisher for six stars is just one minute and 19 seconds. Can you believe that? Spread across their fastest results at each of the six. 3.58.11, 3.57.45, 3.58.54, 3.58.15, 3.57.44 and 3.59.03. And Martin, what were the years? Like how many years did that take to do all the majors with such consistency? Well, you know, I actually don't know the answer to that question because I don't know when the years were. I don't think I do. Do I? I guess I do know the years, actually. I do know the years. They were between 2019 in Boston and 2023 in Chicago. That is so rock solid. That is so unbelievably impressive because you look at the courses, the courses are so different. The weather is so different throughout those years, but that is just like walking into a paint, knowing your strengths and that consistency. I've never seen anything like that. Yeah, that was from a runner called Yumin Yang who ran all six within, you know, just over a minute. That's pretty impressive. Now the longest spread, slightly different, okay? The longest spread between all six, right, is a 3.50 quickest, a 10.35 slowest. That is a 6.46 minute spread. 3.50 for your quickest, 10.35. Ouch, it was actually in New York. So, I mean, ouchy. That is some spread. So the shortest, 1.19, the biggest, 6.46. Can you believe that? Yeah, and also I think one more, one more before we go on. The longest range in terms of time, okay, was where a first marathon was in Boston in 1978 for the first star with the final star being picked up in Tokyo in 2024. So that is a span of 46 years. Now I don't know the splits for that, but that is some span, isn't it? 46 years, Boston in 78 to Tokyo in 24. So thanks that man, Stu, for a little dose of numbers. Yes, Stuart Haynes is the head of results and rankings with Abbott World Marathon majors. If there is a statistic we need, he is the statistician to bring it up. He is the man of numbers, no doubt. Thank you, stat man, Stu, for all of that. Staying with the candidates for the majors, the Shanghai Marathon takes place this weekend, and it's the first time the race will be assessed by the majors team. So good luck to everyone in Shanghai in getting a checked box on your journey to becoming another added major. Is Valencia coming up? And of course, thoughts to people in the area of Spain, because it's been pretty challenging there. It's been very, very difficult with the flooding and the rainfall. You know, there's a lot going on around infrastructure challenges and some significant devastation in Spain. However, organisers have said they want the race to go ahead and to be about solidarity and a symbol of support for everyone affected. Good luck to everybody who's running in Valencia and the participants and residents of the city. The big story is that the race is going ahead. Tragic events took place there in recent weeks with flooding that really devastated that area in Spain. And organisers are donating three euros of every entry. Their sponsors are playing a part, and they've set up a fundraising platform for anyone to donate to help rebuild sports facilities and sports schools in the affected area. So good luck to everybody running Valencia. Yeah, I know it can be a little controversial, maybe some residents feeling like it's too soon to host such a big event, but I do hope as the race goes on and the weekend unfolds, that they can see that it's making a positive impact, both economically and in ways that the citizens come together and help each other through this. So good luck, everybody, citizens included. There has been a lot going on in Abbott World Marathon Majors land in the last few months. So we thought we would use one of these shows to try to answer the most popular questions out there about what's happening at the moment. We've been gathering questions from the Abbott World Marathon Majors social media community all week. And now in the hot seat, we've got the Majors Chief Content Officer, Danny Coyle. Hello. Welcome to Marathon Talk, Danny. Nice to be back on the show. Of course, we have seen you a little bit out and about, haven't we? We saw you in New York and of course you're always present at the Abbott World Marathon Majors, but it has been a bit hectic for you lately. It's been extremely hectic. I feel like my feet haven't touched the ground since the start of September, really. We went to Sydney, fantastic age group world championship there. Obviously that followed up with Sydney getting their second pass and joining the family. Berlin, Chicago, amazing world record in Chicago. And then New York, where you two shuffled around and produced a show that Dina, I think you're still getting some good feedback on. Yeah, yeah. It is. I feel like we should also disclose that you help gather all the content for our shows. So you're the man behind the scenes for us every time we're recording. So thank you for all the time you fit in at this time of evening in the UK, you're pretty much shoveling in dinner and walking the dog, hopefully not getting locked out of the house when you do it. I did not get locked out this week. We're so happy to have you on. Yeah, no, it's been great. My travel wasn't even done after New York. We were in Athens, a few of us for the European Running Business Conference a week later. I'm actually, this is actually my week off. I'm actually, you can't see, but for those watching this show on YouTube, I've been painting some walls today at home and I've got bits, specks of paint all over. So, yeah. It's like one of those classic things, Danny, you say, you know, what do you do? It's a bit like an off season for you too, right? When you've got this off season, if you're running and you're doing a marathon, you then kind of switch into perhaps having an off season, as I explained, I was earlier, but, you know, for you, it's a little bit like that, but it's work. So you're having this on season all the time, particularly in the spring and the autumn. And then you've got this chance to spend a bit of downtime and although you're still working, it's not quite the intensity of the week to week. So what do you decide to do? Paint the house? Come on. Should be having some fun. We've had a renovation project going on for months. It's finally done, but the decorating's up to us. So yeah, I've put the suitcase away and got the paint brushes out instead. So it never stops. That is so funny. Cause do you remember two weeks ago when we were recording, Danny was talking to us as he was staining a door. So you travel, travel, travel. Yeah, but when you get home, you've got this long list of things you have to take care of when you get home. That is too great. Yeah, yeah. Always something on the to-do list. So relatable. Danny, should we start? Should we start with some questions? It's definitely been a big week. Let's go for it. You know, I think we've had a ton of questions through actually asking, you know, about the announcements and about what that means, particularly for marathons and times and qualifications and things like that. So we thought, why not? Let's get the word from you directly. So let's start with the biggest burning topic we saw come through on all the questioning was about what's happening to the six star medal now that we're going to have seven, because obviously this has been on our minds a lot. You and I at Sydney joined the series for 2025. And, you know, we spoke recently earlier in the show about Cape Town securing its first pass and the assessment process. You know, that's not six, that's seven and possibly eight. So as GC Cordy on Instagram asked us, what happens to those of us that are seeking our sixth star now as Sydney is added to the majors? Give us a little bit about six star to seven star medals and things like that. I could answer this in one word, nothing. I will elaborate. So the six star program is going to stay exactly as it has always been, which means if you complete the original six races, Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York, you're a six star finisher, you earn the six star medal and we'll be at the finish line ready to give it to you as long as you've told us in your profile. So imagine the uproar, if we'd have just sunset that program, we've got 12,790 people one star away. We've got 22,000 people on four stars. So there is absolutely no way that we're ever going to change that or take it away or allow you to swap one in for another. So the original six earn you the original six star medal. That is it, cut and dry. GC Cordy, everyone else who's asked, that six star medal stays exactly as it is. Yeah, so for all of you chasing the OG six star medal, keep chasing, having that enormous medal around your neck is definitely worth it. So now that Sydney is part of the Abbott World Marathon majors in 2025, James Golden on Instagram stories asked, will there be a new seven star medal and will people on their six star medal journey get priority? Yeah, we're definitely hitting all of the highlights we've seen on social media in the last few months. So there is not going to be a seven star medal. Original six stays where it is. We won't create a medal that you'll be handed out as a seven star medal once you've done seven, but there's two parts to this answer, right? So the first one is no seven star medal, but if you wanna celebrate that seventh star or any number of stars from two to seven, we've, I think you've seen them, we've got this range of displays that you can fit all of our challenge coins. We've got a challenge coin for each city. You can purchase those. You can purchase the display of your choosing and you can insert those coins into those. Let me grab one here. Tina, in honor of, it's Thanksgiving week, isn't it? Yeah. So for those of us on YouTube, you can see this is actually what we've got. If you complete all three American races, you could have this one. Oh, that is so cool. Which has got the stars and stripes and three holders for those three American race coins. So they go all the way from two, all the way up to seven. That's how you can celebrate seven stars if you're one of the lucky people who are gonna be that far along on your journey. Now, having said all of that, we did also share when we announced Sydney that we were gonna be launching the next, what we're calling the next milestone. Yes. And that is gonna be the nine star medal. So we've talked about Sydney. We know is in, in 25. Cape Town is now one pass away from joining. So they need to pass next October. And then obviously Shanghai is our third candidate city. And literally as we're recording this, and I think by the time this comes out, some of our team will be in Shanghai to assess that race this weekend. So they joined the candidacy program this year. This is their first assessment. Obviously their aim will be to try and pass as soon as they can. We'll wait and see how they do. But we'll get to that point. We hope eventually when we've got those three new races in, that's part of this program to have three new races, that the nine star medal will become the next milestone and you can be at a finish line and receive it. So Danny, I may be putting you on the spot by asking this question, but if someone runs Sydney in 2025, will that count once the nine star medal comes out? If Cape Town and Shanghai get initiated into the Abbott World Marathon series, will that count? Yep. From next year, Sydney, you get a star for running Sydney. From next year? 2025. Yeah. And I think we've got a question coming up later that there is a caveat to that about the runners who joined us in Sydney in 24 for the age group world champs. Why don't we get, we can move to that one. So does that mean, Danny, that, let me just say that back to you so I'm really clear. So if you're aiming at your six star medal now, and you've got one star left, for example, and you get that in 2025, you're still gonna get your six star Abbott World Marathon majors. You're not gonna have to push, oh, I've got another seventh. You're still gonna get your Abbott World Marathon majors six star milestone, correct? Yeah, listen, this would cause ructions in my own family, right? My sister is one star away. She's got Boston next year, and I'm gonna run it with her. All right, so that's for a six star medal. Imagine if I ran 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boylston Street, crossed the finish line and went, it's not a thing anymore, sorry. Can't have that six star medal. So she's one of those 12,000 people who are one star away. So that whole thing is staying in place. You will get your six star medal, and you will always continue to get your six star medal. And then the next milestone then will be nine in terms of medals. So again, off the top of your head, Danny, what could be the first year that somebody could get nine stars? You're talking about if they checked the boxes in the next couple of years, yeah. Yeah, so let's say I've got five stars. I'm planning on running Sydney next year. I get two marathons in the bag next year, including Sydney. We've got a bit of a delay. Assuming two other marathons pass assessment stages, and that takes two years. So theoretically, we're looking at what, 26 and 27. So by 28, have I got that right? All right, so let's timeline this out. So Sydney is in, so we're up to seven next year. Cape Town has just passed its, for the first time, its assessment, it must pass too. So if Cape Town passes in 25, it would be a major in 26. So that takes us to eight in 26. So our third candidate city is Shanghai. Shanghai have just entered the process. They will be assessed this year. You have to pass two in a row. It's never been done before that a race has secured ticks in every box. There are 104 criteria. It's never been done before that a race has passed first time. Stranger things have happened, but let's just assume, like Sydney and like Cape Town, that they don't pass first time. Then they could take all their learnings and take them forward to next year, 2025, then take them forward again to 2026. If they secure passes in 25 and 26, you'd be looking at 27 for their first year as a major. So you could be talking about 27 at the earliest, but that's the earliest, I think. Cool. Okay. Okie dokie. Dina's face, Dina's face is all excited. I know, I'm like, this is just, well, you know, I'm doing my 100 days of discipline. I'm looking at racing Sydney this year. So I'm like, okay, this is going to keep me in it for a few years. Like you're planning my calendar for me as you talk. It's so exciting. So Danny, what about, you know, what about those runners who did run Sydney this year and were age group world championship runners? You know, like this came in from Lynn Runs as an Instagram story around, okay, so we've done Sydney this year. What's the news on a seventh star status? Because those people are potentially the first seven star status people, right? How's that going? Yeah. So we announced, when we took the age group world champs for 2024 to Sydney, it was the first time we'd taken them outside of a major and had a different race host them. And Sydney stepped up and said that they wanted to do it. They did a phenomenal job. We had 1500 finishes in Sydney. And we said to all of our qualifiers, we said, should you choose to take part, having qualified and earned a spot, we will award you what we call a provisional star. All right, almost as a mark of thanks and a token of gratitude for them being part of that age group community, but also for the fact that this was an Abbott World Marathon majors event within an event. And it felt right that having hosted that race twice in London and once in Chicago and everybody earning the stars for those efforts that were Sydney to pass, which everyone's really pleased that they did. If you came and ran that 2024 age group world champs, that would be your Sydney star. So lots of people saw that as motivation and as the incentive to go down to Sydney and take part in that event. So that's why we said it. Those stars are now in people's accounts as provisional stars and behind the scenes, our team and Wayne, the race director, he was on the show last week. He asked me this question himself last week. We're working on kind of flipping those stars over to full stars in people's profiles and how we'll represent the Sydney star going forwards as part of the seven stars. All of that is gonna flip over in the new year on our website and all those age groupers will have their star firmly in place. Oh, I see a lot of people rubbing their hands together in anticipation for that. And just to be clear, it's only the people that ran Sydney in 2024 who were in the age group championships. People that went and ran in the masses, just as in the masses, it does not count as a star. It does not count as a star, but I know there were some other incentives and I think we've got some questions that will come along in a moment or two about what those meant for people. So sticking with Sydney just for a little bit, Danny. Yeah. So some of the marathons in the major series have qualifications and ballots and times. You know, what's Sydney stance on that? Simone Carniglia on Instagram says, will Sydney introduce time qualifications or just ballot? Good question. I think at the moment they have not announced that there's gonna be a time qualification entry pathway for 25. That's not to say that they won't, but where they're starting and they're going for a big leap this year again, right? They went from, I think, kind of 13 to 15,000 starters. They had 24,000 registrants last year. They're aiming at 35,000 in, you know, Wayne talked about that last week, Dina. So what they're doing is number one, the candidacy club ballot. So that's a lottery for anyone who ran in any of the years that the race took place as a candidate in the process. So 22, 23, and 24. If you took part in those races and you joined Sydney's candidacy club, you then get kind of first dibs to run it in its first year as a major. And I think you can, you have the option of choosing one of the first three years of Sydney's kind of tenure as a major. If you're part of that candidacy club, then they're gonna open a general ballot on the 10th of December and run that for 20 days. That will close on the 30th of December. Those are the two pathways they've announced. I'm sure there are travel packages. I'm almost certain there'll be a charity element. We don't have news about time qualification at the moment. So I'll go back to what we were discussing before because we talked about the age groupers getting a provisional star. And Brucey on Instagram said, I think it would be fair to all the ones who contributed for Sydney to become a major, the same rule should apply to all runners. What do you have to say about that? Because it is sticky. I think that if you look at the people that made Sydney become a major, you didn't want those numbers to be inflated just because people were chasing a star, but what would be your answer to that? Yeah, and listen, I understand. We've seen a few questions of this nature. And I think it's a fair question to ask. What we can say is that it was decided really early on in the candidacy program. And let's not forget, I think people overlook the fact that this thing began in 2017. All right, we began in 2017, our partnership with our partners in Infront. Our first race in the program was Singapore, which eventually exited the process. So that shows you this is not, it's not a dumb deal just because you become a candidate that you're gonna become a major. It's incredibly hard work. So it was decided really early on that that wasn't gonna be the case, that during candidacy or going back to when the race first started, you wouldn't just get a star if you'd been a participant. So our board of directors, our race directors, and our team were very conscious that if we did that, it could be seen in some way as kind of applying your thumb to the scales, like you said, Dean, and artificially inflating those numbers. Because if we'd have said, yep, there's gonna be a star right through candidacy, you could have had a rush of people sign up and boost those numbers to meet the criteria, because one of the criteria is to have a certain finisher number, right? So we thought it was much better and a much fairer test of these races to get to that number and go past it on merit. And on the back of their own marketing efforts, we saw Sydney do a brilliant job of this for two years on their Make Sydney a Major campaign. It was everywhere in the city, it was phenomenal. Cape Town have been doing exactly the same with their Towards Africa's First Major moniker. And I think it shows not only their commitment to the process, I think it shows their marketing ingenuity, and I think it means that they are doing it off their own backs. And I think all of those things went into the pot when it came to making that decision that as frustrating as it might be for people who've helped them get there, those previous versions of the event won't be counted as stars. They're not bad cities to go back to, right? Absolutely not. And I'll just do the invite right now, like come join Martin and I in Sydney this coming year so that we can all get our stars together. I think I just heard Martin's hamstring tighten up. Yeah, definitely, more than my hamstring, Danny. Jay Lannan on Instagram's asking about nine star medal plans, all right? So, you know, we've already heard that the nine star medal is a milestone medal, but let's be clear, and Jay Lannan asks, is the nine star an upgrade on the six star or will the six star holders have to run the classic six again to get the nine star? I think I know the answer, but let's hear it from you. Yeah, I mean, the best way to look at it is that these are two standalone milestones, right? Clearly you're gonna pass through six stars on your way to nine, because you're gonna have to get all of them. Let's just clarify it. In the event that we get to nine and we hope Shanghai and Cape Town make that a reality, and that is when the nine star medal will come into play. At that point, there is no way we would ask anybody on six or seven or eight to start from scratch. So whatever you've got in your bag, whatever you've got in your runner portal in terms of stars, you keep. We're not an airline. We don't reset your points at zero at the start of a new year. Your journey takes what it takes, 15 years, 20 years, longer. Those stars are yours and they're yours forever. Okay, so kind of related to that a little bit, Danny, and I think it's a fair question and it might be one around organizational growth or business growth, but where does this go? Is it nine? Is it 12? Like what's the future looking like for runners? You know, like why do you keep adding? Yeah, yeah, we see this question a lot as well when we talk about expansion on social media. It goes back to what our values are, right, and what our mission is as an organization and why these races do what they do and we as a collective, why we do what we do. We want to inspire the world through the power of the marathon, right? There are so many kind of cliched quotes, but it's true. If you stand at the finish line of a marathon, especially one of our marathons, your faith in humanity and the power of somebody's, you know, innate desire to lift themselves up and lift everyone up around them is there on show, right? It's there on show. You saw it yourselves in New York. It's there on show for 26.2 miles of these races. They do inspire the world through their, through the power that they create. And so our mission then is to build and support opportunities to expand how many people can discover that power, right? It's a phenomenal thing. So how do we do that? Well, we don't do it by staying in the markets we started in. If we did that, we'd never have opened up a territory in Japan with Tokyo, which is a phenomenal race. So we have three races in America. We have two in Europe and we have Tokyo in Japan. That doesn't make us the world marathon majors right now. So we deliberately wanted in this expansion program to look at new parts of the world where we didn't have a footprint. Australasia ticks that box. Africa ticks that box. China, if Shanghai come on board, tick that box. That is millions and millions of people of new runners who don't have a major on their doorstep. And if we can do that for them, then we are increasing the opportunities for everyone to discover the power of what it is to run and have a world marathon major. People might say, oh, well, that's cheesy. Well, you honestly just have to, if you've been a runner, go and be a spectator. If you've only ever been a spectator, go and be a runner in one of these events and you'll understand what I mean by that. Yeah, I mean, you say it's cheesy, but I teared up when you were talking about that vision of inspiring and empowering people to benefit from the power of the marathon, whether as a spectator or a participant. And I think I remember you saying to someone who was like, oh, it's so expensive to get to Australia or Africa and that's so far to travel. Well, not for the Australian, not for the person in Africa. So to be able to bring this event to their doorstep, really welcomes local communities to participate. And then obviously the fiscal impact of having tourism will be an added benefit. But the real hit on the mission of the Abbott World Marathon Majors is to bring the marathon to people, not just for people to go to marathons. So that's beautiful. Yeah, that's right. And I think Boston released some eye-popping figures just the other week about the economic impact that race has on its own city and the towns and the environment around it. And each of these races does that. So elevating a race, look at where Sydney's come from as a legacy event from the 2000 Olympics that was a few thousand, a handful thousand of people taking part to where it is now, where it's gonna be in the future. There's an economic impact to that, there's a social impact to that, and those things all come together to kind of embody what we're talking about here when we talk about the power of the marathon. So the expansion program, that is what it's about. We really wanna take this to new territories and we wanna see that inspiration spread, not just to the runners who wanna travel to get their stars, but to the runners and to the people who aren't runners, who live on these routes, who live in these cities and who will be inspired. I was inspired by watching the London Marathon when I was in my early 20s and eventually that's why I run it because I was a spectator who stood in the rain and cheered his sister on. Yeah, that's great. I mean, it's similar to the fiscal impact of a Taylor Swift concert coming to a city. When you look at not just the impact that it has on the city directly, but all the charity dollars that are also raised for the events themselves and for the different charity partners, there, it was something in an Instagram story that somebody asked, of all the seven majors, which one would you recommend someone running first? Oh, that's like awesome. Can't ask you that. Well, I mean, it might be like- You can ask it to your favorite child. Yeah. You can't ask me that. Everybody knows it's London, Dina. Oh my gosh, do they? Do they really know it's London? I mean, and then why would be another reason? Do you recommend someone running the New York City Marathon first because it really gets you fired up and locked in and excited to continue this journey? So I guess you could probably have a different answer for every single marathon. So what comes to mind first? I mean, yeah, despite Martin giving me a prompt, London did come to mind because it is the one I have. I've run London three times. Boston's only gonna be my second star when I do it with my sister next year. And it was a great place to start. And I think all of the majors have this in common, which is the crazy amounts of people who come out and watch. And like you said, the energy you draw from the crowds in New York, you draw that from the crowds in London, you draw it from the crowds in Boston and along those eight cities and towns. And it's true everywhere you go. So if you've got to pressure me to say, which one are you gonna run? If anyone was looking to start, which one should they run first? Go to Sydney and get that star. Yeah. Why not? I think Sydney might be a tough one to get out of the way as far as the gradients in it as well. So why not take that one off? You'll be tougher for it. Yeah, will it make the others? That's it, you do one of the hardest first and then it'll make the other races feel a little easier. Good advice. Right, brilliant. Danny, thanks so much for joining us, answering those questions for your openness and fairness. And yeah, I'm quite glad I've still got a few stars to go. So need some work on getting ready for some other marathons. We shall see. Thank you so much, Danny Coyle, the Chief Content Officer of Abbott World Marathon Majors for answering some of your burning questions. But we also want to thank David McNamara, the Social Media Manager, who pulled some of these questions. A lot of them were repetitive, so hopefully we answered a lot of people in our time together today. Thank you so much for your time. Pleasure. That was so fun talking with Danny and answering all of your questions. Martin, we've got a couple of weeks till our next recording. What will you be up to? Does this mean anything to you, Dina? Wembley, Wembley. I'm off to Wembley. I'm off to Wembley, Dina. So what are you doing there? I'm going to watch some football. Oh, it's football season. I have never been to Wembley. And I am going to watch the Lionesses take apart the USA at Wembley on Saturday, the 30th of November. So I'm really looking forward to that. I might have to book my flight and sit on the opposing side of that stadium. Taking the kids. Are you taking your son? Okay. Yeah, we're all going. The whole family's going. We're off to watch England-USA play in a women's match, women's international match this Saturday. So I'm really, really looking forward to that. It's a full stadium too. So Wembley singing, you know, for the Lionesses against the USA should be a cracking match to watch. That is great. And will the game go on rain or shine? Oh yeah. Yeah? Okay. Bring it on. Yeah, it's the UK. It's England at Wembley. Okay. That's going to be thrilling. That stadium at capacity just must be electric. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. Really, really. Good, have fun and go team USA. What are you up to? Well, it is Thanksgiving weekend here in the United States, which means my daughter is off of school. So a lot of sleepovers and a house full of kids, messy kids, because they'll be coming in from the snow. But we also put on a turkey trot race here. So we'll be shuffling along. You know, I bake for that. So pumpkin cheesecakes coming out of the kitchen to bestow upon the winners and to raffle off to other participants. It's just a day of gratitude, which you got to know is one of my favorite days of the year. Anything different about the pumpkin cheesecake this year? And any little twists? No, straight up pumpkin cheesecake, but it is the 10th annual Footloose Turkey Trot here in Mammoth Lake. So I have summoned some of my friends to bake as well. And so they're also donating some baked goods to raffle off to make it extra special for everybody. Sounds like a great event. Yeah, so excited. To be thankful on any given day is a gift, but on a day, especially when everybody comes together for that, I look forward to cooking up a storm and having a bunch of friends and family around the table later that evening. But to all of you around the world, let's find something to be grateful for and get out there. Enjoy the run wherever it takes you.