Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Two-time Olympian Izzi Batt-Doyle is riding running’s remarkable surge in the country, but the self-confessed purist wonders if it’s become “too trendy” for its own good.
Four years after only about 5000 people crossed the finish line, 40,000 people will run the Sydney Marathon – and another 83,000 missed out in the ballot.
Twice a Games athlete on the track over 5000m, Batt-Doyle wants to run the marathon at the LA Olympics in 2028 and will pace the elite women’s field on Sunday for the first half of their picturesque 42.2km journey.
An ambassador for one of the race’s major sponsors, Asics, Batt-Doyle owns a running shop and cafe in Adelaide and has a first-class honours degree in psychology.
“Running, it’s a sport we can all understand,” she told AAP.
“You can’t just rock up to Collingwood’s training and join in, but we can run with people of all different levels on the same track. I run with my mum and recreational runners.
“You can’t get that anywhere else.”
Sydney’s marathon started in 2001 as a legacy event following the city’s Games and hovered around 1000 participants for several years.
Now it offers $30,000 to the first Australian male and female across the line and has attracted current and former Olympic and world champions.
Its rise – Sydney earned major status alongside seven other marathons around the world last year – sums up the country’s relationship with running.
But Batt-Doyle’s customers and running buddies also speak of the challenges that have come with that.
“You have to plan so far in advance if you want to enter a race, and it feels like if you’re not doing (social media) content you don’t have a space in the running world,” she said.
“At one level running’s losing its purity a bit, because it’s so cool and buzzy.”
Batt-Doyle readily admits she’s leaned into it with her own YouTube channel and social posts.
“It’s helped my profile, I’ve got more sponsors, but you have to lean into it and we’re trying to add an elite perspective,” she said.
“To be honest, I got a bit sick of seeing influencers telling people what to do and thought, ‘I can do that’.”
Sydney has been overrun by freshly-kitted weekend warriors, and it’s no surprise companies such as Asics are thriving.
The 74-year-old Japanese brand’s net sales have almost doubled in the past five years, hitting about $7.4 billion worldwide in 2025.
“I creep up on people, just sit and watch and try to pay attention to what people are wearing and wonder, are there things you’re doing to your shoe that I could maybe adjust to make your life easier?,” Asics product expert Susan Hoddinott told AAP.
The American-based biomechanist is in Sydney for the race.
“The (running) scene here, it’s so joyful,” she said.
“In the States it maybe feels a bit more intimidating. This feels very open and approachable and inclusive.”
In charge of figuring out what’s next on the shoe scene, she said foam technology and the industry’s cyclical nature meant there was no end point.
“Don’t forget carbon-plated shoes did exist in the ’70s and ’80s,” she said of technology that went out of fashion but is now popular again.
“I’d like to see evolution in the upper material of the shoe in the next phase, but chemical engineers have a tough job right now, to keep up with the demand (for better foam).”
Shoe nerd and Australian Olympic marathoner Andy Buchanan, who is also racing on Sunday, is getting used to the extra noise and the art of balancing performance with promotion.
He was still teaching almost full-time when he set the national record in 2024, one he relinquished six weeks ago to Haftu Strintzos.
Now he’s a full-time athlete but also owns a running store in Bendigo and is an online coach and frequent podcaster and YouTuber.
Buchanan admits the transition has been difficult and he will spend more time in his shop next year trying to shake the feeling he’s “not working”, despite banking huge days on the road or in the gym.
“People have so much more respect for runners because they’re started running themselves,” he said of what’s changed.
“Now, you tell them your pace is three-minute kilometres and they understand how fast that is, but before it was just a foreign number.”
Buchanan and Batt-Doyle both agree that the bubble won’t burst, Batt-Doyle confident there are still many would-be runners eyeing off their first fun-run or marathon.
“But we might get back to the stage where all the extra stuff around it peaks and people just want the pure running again,” she said.
“And anyway, my coach will always say to me, the best thing you can do for your profile is to win a race and get that photo of you crossing the finish line in first.”
That’s where Buchanan’s head is at too, admitting it’s a balancing act he’s struggled to master.
“As a runner you need to make the most of this because there’s not a lot of money in it, so you need to build your profile and be doing different things,” he said.
“It’s hard, because it’s exciting and it’s a major and there’s a lot happening, but the best way to do that is run well on race day.”
This AAP article was made possible by support from Asics Australia.
