The event, which will also incorporate a half-marathon, 10km and children's and family 3km event, was announced at a function at Millbrook Resort last night and will be delivered by event company Upsolut Sports Oceania Ltd, which also organises the ITU World Triathlon Championships and is working on the Fifa U20 World Cup.
Upsolut Sports Oceania chief executive Dave Beeche, of Auckland, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday 60% of the marathon course was on hard-packed trails, mainly sections of the Queenstown Trail and the other 40% on road.
Interest in international marathons was growing, he said.
''All the big ones sell out in a matter of minutes [and] there's a lot of growth in the tourism marathon market.''
The marathon would begin at Millbrook Resort and wind its way through Arrowtown, along the Millennium Trail and the Queenstown Trail, travelling via Hogans Gully Rd and part of the Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Rd, around Lake Hayes and to the Shotover Bridge, via Speargrass Flat Rd and Lower Shotover Rd.
From there, the trail would link back on to the Queenstown Trail and the Frankton Track, following State Highway 6 towards Queenstown, and around Queenstown Gardens, before finishing at the Rec Ground.
The half-marathon would follow the same course from Speargrass Flat Rd, while the 10km event would start at Davies Park, near the Queenstown Events Centre.
Mr Beeche said the event had been supported by the Queenstown Lakes District Council, which had given $80,000 from its events strategy to support the marathon, which will be run on November 22.
TNZ chief executive Kevin Bowler, who asked Mr Beeche to investigate the idea about a year ago, said the Queenstown International Marathon had the potential to become ''an iconic event''.
The Queenstown Trails Trust was the event's official charity and $10 from every full and half-marathon entry would go to the trust to assist with the growth and maintenance of the trail, comprising 110km throughout Wakatipu, which was officially opened last October.
Mr Beeche hopes to attract about 1000 people for the inaugural marathon.
