About

Race Founder, Larry Lawson, claims that this ultra-marathon came about ‘by accident’, as there was a ‘Run A Marathon in Three Days’ event on the race calendar in Cairns in 2012, but Larry said ‘I’ll do Three Marathons in Three Days’, and soon he had enlisted other runners to join him. It is a popular event for those clocking up their marathons, and ultra-runners who want to try a multi-day event.

Where

Kuranda to Cedar Park (Koah area) to Cairns, Tropical North Queensland, Australia.

How

Register now for 2024

When

28-30 June 2024. The inaugural race was held in 2012*.

Races

The 3 Marathons in 3 Days event has many entry options, all run over the same course, but varying in distance and days:

  • 3M3D GRAND SLAM (126.6km). A marathon is run each day over three consecutive days. Competitors can opt to compete in only one or two of the marathons, but the ‘Grand Slam’ medal goes only to those who complete all three marathons. 
  • Cairns Marathon (42.2km). The Cairns Marathon is the same course as Marathon 3 of the 3M3D event.
  • Lake Morris Road Race (16km) follows the same course as the last 16km of the Cairns Marathon.

Useful information

2024 3M3D Competitor Information Pack 

2024 Checkpoints and estimated running times 

2024 3M3D Support Crew Information 

Running safely on trails in FNQ

Race Records

3M3D Grand Slam, 3 MARATHONS IN 3 DAYS

Due to significant changes to Marathon 1 and Marathons 2 of the 3M3D Grand Slam course, our winners in 2021 set new course records.

Male

3M3D Grand Slam: Joshua Duff (2021) 12:22:06. The record over the original course belongs to Om Beacom-Halliday 10:50:10, 2016.

Marathon 1: 2021 Joshua Duff 4:26:43

Marathon 2: 2021 Joshua Duff 4:18:43

Marathon 3: 2016 Om Beacom-Halliday 3:19:52

Female

3M3D Grand Slam: Sonja Schonfeldt-Roy (2021) 14:05:35. The record over the original course belongs to Maggie Jones 12.37.38, 2015.

Marathon 1: 2021 Sonja Schonfeldt-Roy 5:12:11

Marathon 2: 2021 Sonja Schonfeldt-Roy 4:53:12

Marathon 3: 2017 Katherine Macmillan 3:43:48

The slower runners take up to 28 hours (10 hours for Marathons 1 and 2 and 8 hours for Marathon 3).

CAIRNS MARATHON

 Male: 2019 Leo Schoepflin 3:07:13

Female: 2013 Julie Quinn 3:43:50

FIG TREE HALF MARATHON (discontinued)

Male: 2021 (Inaugural race) Tom Mccorkell 2:06:00
Female: 2022 Gabrielle Wilson (1st overall) 2:03:34

 FIG TREE 10km (discontinued)

Female: 2021 (Inaugural race) Adelaide O’Connor 1:12:30

Male: 2022 Warren Aronstan 1:13:27

Lake Morris Road Race

Male: 2018 Keith Cameron-Smith 1:14:14

Female: 2021 Janine Woodside 1:14:18

For a full list of course winners and results, visit our website.

* The race organiser since 2014 is Dynamic Running Ltd. Race organiser in 2012 and 2013 was Cairns Road Runners and Triathlon Club Inc.