With 5 event distances to entice everyone off the couch, the Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival is back big time. Runners (and walkers) can choose from five distances from a full marathon (42.195km), half marathon (21.1km), wheelchair full marathon (42.195km), a 10 and 5 km run, a 2.k walk, and a mini marathon for the kids (1km). All events are starting on Batman Ave, Melbourne and finishing with a lap of honour around the hallowed turf at the MCG.
The Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival takes pride in their commitment to the environment, and the 2025 event hosts a myriad of ways in which they demonstrate that, including …
The Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival in conjunction with our participants are committed to the continual improvement in the sustainable practices of this iconic race. As part of our four-stage strategy to eliminate, reduce or reuse, mitigate and offset, the Melbourne Marathon Festival is pleased to be partnering with Fifteen Trees to plant 5,000 trees in Victoria. The annual compounding benefits of these trees to offset our impact is a shared vision we proudly wish to build upon.
Marcus Gale | Manager | VP Events
This autumn and winter 5,000 trees were planted across 6 Victorian sites:
The site is The Bug Rug on Kororoit Creek, where there are areas of great significance. The Bug Rug has been transformed from a large, barren patch of kikuyu into a rich, biodiverse oasis. Some of the trees and shrubs planted included River Red Gums, Golden Spray, Sweet Bursaria, Drooping She-oak, Woolly Tea Trees and Silver Banskia plus countless native grasses, wildflowers, reeds and groundcovers. These plants will provide habitat and food for local species, create shade and beauty to the creek bed and surrounds.
Dozens of bird species living in the area from White-faced Egrets who nest way up in the River Red Gums to Spotted Pardalotes and large flocks of Superb Fairy Wrens. The area also has lizards, snakes and thousands of insects at the site due to all the wildflowers and flowering trees. It is a haven in the suburbs.
The Friends of Kororoit Creek are so grateful to the group behind the Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival, and Fifteen Trees. This generous support allows us to keep improving, increasing biodiversity and extending our sites for the benefit of all who call the creek home. It is amazing what people power buoyed with caring support can achieve! Thank you from all us creek geeks!
Jessica Gerger | President | Friends of Kororoit Creek.
In total 500 plants were planted around Dry Creek and in Walwa Park. The planting consisted of 13 species of indigenous trees and shrubs in the bid to help restore the area, which included reserves and waterways. This planting will provide important habitat and corridors for native wildlife.
A huge thanks goes to our amazing volunteers who braved the rain and cold to help plant. Today’s effort wouldn’t have been possible without the help of David Laurie from Valley of a Thousand Hills Farm Nursery for supplying the indigenous tube stock plants. Once established these indigenous plants will help to regenerate the area into a healthy habitat for native species to thrive in.
It takes a whole community to make such a large difference. Big shout out to Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival for their generous support.
Chris Cobern | Coordinator | Upper Plenty Merri Catchments Landcare Group (UPMCLG)
The 13 plant species included; Swamp Gum, Candlebark, Wattles (Blackwood, Golden, Silver and Hedge), Black She-oak, Silver Banksia, Sweet Bursaria, Hop Bush, Woolly Tea-tree, Rough-barked Honey-myrtle and Tree Violet.
Feedback for Geelong, Southern Otways, Westgate Park and the You Yangs is coming soon!
Nike Melbourne Marathon Festival’s partnership with us is to be admired. It speaks volumes on their understanding that the human race are running our own marathon against the ticking clock of some pretty devastating climate issues. This is a marathon that’s worth winning – we just have to do what is required for an actual marathon – rally together, do the preparation, chip away at it constantly, and cheer each other on.
Writers; Colleen Filippa and Lou Ridsdale
With a background in Environmental Science, Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. In 2009, after 20 years in primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions, Colleen left the classroom to start the company. Fifteen Trees is a social enterprise assisting individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprint by supporting community groups such as Landcare, schools and environmental networks.
Lou a green thumb, Earth Lover, big-hearted nature freak, plus a savvy media and horticulture expert, who passionately believe that everyone can lead a more nourishing and sustainable life. Lou founded Food Is Free Inc., a unique grassroots food security platform specialising in food security education. She fell in love with trees after reading The Magic Faraway Tree as a child. You can find Lou here
Restoring Australian ecosystems. Supporting communities with their revegetation projects for a greener and healthier planet.
Fifteen Trees acknowledges Indigenous Australians as the traditional custodians of the lands on which we work, live and play.
We recognise that Indigenous Australians have cared for and lived in harmony with this land for millennia, and their knowledge and wisdom of the land endures.
We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging and stand in solidarity as Indigenous Australians seek a fairer and more sustainable future for the land and its people.