TCS Sydney Marathon weekend is here. Here’s how pro athletes and Andy Buchanan and Caitlin Scott are getting ready

When it comes to World Major marathons, they don’t come with more attached to them than the TCS Sydney Marathon this weekend.

Earlier this year, Aussie athlete Andy Buchanan’s national record in the marathon was beaten by just two seconds, when Haftu Strintzos ran 2:06:20 on the Gold Coast.

Andy is in good form, coming off the back of winning City to Surf last month and finishing less than 30 seconds off Steve Moneghetti’s record, which has stood for a mind-boggling 35 years.

Next up? The biggest race on Australia’s running calendar. The TCS Sydney Marathon presented by ASICS, the world’s Seventh Major.

“I had a pretty average year last year after a, a really, amazing 2024, 2025 was difficult. There was some ups, but there was a lot of downs, and for me, it, it didn’t involve a lot of running,” Andy Buchanan tells 7You.

“But I’m really excited to run Sydney Marathon, and to do a major marathon in my home country.

“I’ve never run a marathon in Australia, so it’s going to be a unique experience not having to travel to the other side of the world and I love that I can get on a Qantas flight from Bendigo into Sydney and then be at the start line without the fatigue of loads of travel.”

Andy’s training has been solid ahead of the race this weekend, with the runner having put in multiple weeks of training over 180km.

“My training has been a little shorter this marathon block than it has been in the past,” he explains.

“I focussed a lot on Gold Coast half marathon which was the start of July and I didn’t really do much marathon stuff before that because I had a lot of stress reactions last year from overtraining from under fuelling.”

While Andy said he may only have had six weeks of proper marathon training, his kilometres have been good.

“I’ve got up to about 195km, but a lot of my weeks have been 180, whereas normally it’s 190 plus,” he says.

“So the build has probably been a little bit more conservative than previous builds, but I think that’s a smart decision going forward, knowing that hopefully from this one we can then build onto a really good marathon early next year.”

That being said, the 35-year-old is in a good place, and plans to use the race as a “stepping stone” to hopefully qualify for the Olympics in 2028.