Organised by Ironman Oceania Group, the marathon attracted more than 13,000 athletes across four distances, including a children’s run, and almost 4000 runners for the full marathon — the most in the event’s 11-year history.
Despite that, a Queenstown Marathon spokesperson said the full marathon course capacity was not reached, and none of the other distances hit their capacity limits, as they had in previous years.
Still, marathon traffic once again created carnage throughout the Wakatipu, forcing organisers to delay the starts of both the half and full marathons by 10 minutes.
One local athlete, whom Allied Media agreed not to name, described the congestion to get to the new start of the half-marathon, in Hunter Rd, as ‘‘unbelievable’’.
What was usually a 10-minute trip took them almost 90 minutes, and they did not cross the start line until 8.40am — 30 minutes after the delayed start.
When they started there were still ‘‘hundreds of cars’’ in the queue behind them, and Queens-town Marathon’s own shuttle buses were also caught up in the traffic.
In a post on social media, one athlete said they entered the queue for marathon shuttle buses at 6.40am, but did not make it to Millbrook until 8.10am.
Another athlete said on social media they had participated in the Queenstown Marathon for the past decade, and issues getting to the start line were the worst yet this year.
Many blamed the late starts on the new half-marathon start.
The spokesperson said start lines for the half and full marathons were kept open until the last buses arrived ‘‘so that every athlete had the opportunity to begin the race’’.
By that point, though, some had given up trying to get there and instead jumped on the course at a different point, meaning they were recorded as ‘‘DNS’’, or did not start — despite actually finishing.
The spokesperson said they recognised the bus and start-line congestion ‘‘created undue stress for some athletes’’ and they were committed to working through ‘‘key issues’’ to ensure there was no repeat.
‘‘This year had a number of changes, including a new half-marathon start line that added to the congestion, and our team alongside event stakeholders will review these thoroughly in the coming weeks looking ahead to the 2026 event.’’
Congestion in the buildup to the event would also be examined.
Despite introducing locals’ registration last Thursday and a free continuous shuttle between Queenstown and the Events Centre, with multiple stops along the way, ‘‘we appreciate that congestion was still an issue’’.
And as to the capacity of the field, the spokesperson said each distance had limits set in collaboration with event stakeholders, based on ‘‘multiple factors’’.
That, too, will be reviewed to determine ‘‘what worked well and what could be improved, including whether any adjustments to capacities are needed for future events’’.
