The exclusive club that welcomed Eliud Kipchoge to Sydney

Ray James has run every Sydney Marathon since it opened to the public in 2001, the year after the Sydney Olympics. At 76, he is the oldest member of an exclusive club of runners, known as the Blue Line Legends, who share the distinction.

Despite having run 23 Sydney Marathons (there was no race in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic) and 420 marathons all up across Australia, this will be James’ first world major after Sydney was upgraded to the elite status last year, joining Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York.

“I can’t train as hard, as I have cancer and I have drug treatment, so that kind of interferes with it,” James said. “I’m not a fast runner, I will be five-and-a-half/six hours. But I’ll get across the line, and I’m a winner, really, once you do that.”

James was there outside Sydney Opera House on Thursday for the official pre-marathon press conference, helping welcome two-time Olympic gold medallist Eliud Kipchoge and three-time gold medallist Sifan Hassan to Sydney, alongside four other Blue Line Legends.

“Of course the top two are inspirational, and I can hear what Eliud says, that it doesn’t matter how fast he runs or whether he wins if he inspires somebody. I think that’s why I keep doing it,” James said.

“One day I won’t be able to do it, and so I’m not going to close up shop earlier than they cart me off the course.”

Only six of the Blue Line Legends are left, as the club’s ranks dwindle yearly as members stop entering the event. Only one woman, Jo Tebbutt, remains in the club’s ranks.

The course has also changed over the years as organisers looked for a flatter circuit in what is a hilly city.

But some things stay the same. The run across the Harbour Bridge is a permanent fixture, the starting point has returned to North Sydney’s Miller Street and the loop around Moore Park will cover the original blue painted line that marked the Sydney 2000 course and which gave the club its name.

Bob Fickel, 73, picked up his bib on Thursday and managed to get Kipchoge to autograph his complimentary drawstring bag.

“It’s amazing, and I’ve got Kipchoge to sign a bag just now because it’s got his name on it. It’s great to see these athletes,” Fickel said.

Unlike the others, who know exactly how many marathons they’ve run, Graham Wye stopped counting when he reached 100.

Living and training in Sydney may give Wye a slight advantage over the largest pool of overseas entrants in the event’s history – especially given the local course features the greatest elevation gain of the seven majors. 

“I’ve got a lot of disadvantages, like my age, but I do run a lot of hills because I live in a bit of a valley, so wherever I go, I’ve got to go uphill somewhere,” he said.

Wye concedes, however, that even his familiarity with the terrain won’t be enough to get near the likes of Hassan, who on Thursday said she was “not good at hills”.

“She’ll be on the plane home before I finish,” he said.