2027 new qualification criteria

Six Foot Track Marathon - Saturday, 13 March 2027

The Six Foot Track Marathon qualification system has been updated for the 2027 race.

Following a review of historical race performance data, the Committee determined that introducing a female race cut-off of 7:30, together with corresponding female qualification standards, provides a more consistent alignment between qualification requirements and expected race performance for female runners. These changes are intended to better reflect the typical difference in performance between male and female runners over comparable endurance trail events while maintaining the integrity of the qualification process.

The key changes to the 2027 qualification criteria are:

A new female race cut-off time of 7:30 has been introduced, together with adjusted female specific qualification standards.
A greater emphasis on the use of UTMB and ITRA race rankings

The intent of these changes is to provide a simpler and more consistent qualification framework while continuing to ensure that all entrants have demonstrated the experience and capability required to safely complete the event.

Female Qualification Standards

Female qualification standards have been adjusted to align with the new female race cut-off of 7:30. This includes both the UTMB/ITRA race ranking pathway and the additional named qualifying event times.

The existing qualification standards for male entrants remain unchanged.

UTMB and ITRA race ranking emphasis

The race committee has simplified the qualification process and reduced the number of event-specific qualifying standards by placing greater emphasis on UTMB and ITRA race rankings.

 Qualification can now be achieved through the following options:

An official 2025 or 2026 Six Foot Track Marathon finish under 7:00;
An eligible UTMB or ITRA race ranking; or
A qualifying performance at one of the approved events listed below.

The objective is to maintain consistency between qualification requirements and race cut-off times while continuing to ensure all entrants have demonstrated the experience and capability required to safely complete the event. The emphasis on the use of UTMB and ITRA removes considerable additional effort in trying to calculate and reconcile event specific times where often course changes occur for trail events year on year.

To enter the 2027 race, the following criteria and rules apply to all potential entrants.

1 - Minimum age of 18 years on race day

AND

2 - Exceed the stated UTMB/ITRA rank below or run faster than the qualifying time at a listed qualifying race between 1st July 2025 - 15th November 2026.

Any eligible qualifying performance must come from the list below

Note:

we will only accept official published results under the same name used for 6ft entry
we do not accept Strava/Garmin times/records

We will not accept any results not covered by the below criteria without prior approval, i.e. contact us via email before entries open for special review and approval.

Previous Six Foot Track Marathon: official finish in the 2025 or 2026 Six Foot Track Marathon under 7:00

- 2025 race under 7:00

- 2026 race under 7:00

Qualification via UTMB or ITRA Ranking -

You may qualify through any UTMB or ITRA ranked event that:

Is 30km or longer
Occurs between 1 July 2025 and 15 November 2026
Produces the required race ranking:

- Male 415+
- Female 390+

The ranking must come from a specific event result. We do not accept profile averages or blended rankings.

Examples of ITRA/UTMB eligible races include but are not limited to the following:

Bondi to Manly Ultra NSW
Buffalo Stampede VIC
Burralow Bush Run NSW
Coastal High QLD
Coastal Classic NSW
Glenbrook Trail NSW
GNW NSW
Hounslow Classic NSW
Jabulani Challenge NSW
Lonely Mountain NSW
Raffetys Coastal Run NSW
Rainbow Beach Trail Run QLD
Rollercoaster VIC
Rumble in the Jungle NSW
Stromlo Running Festival ACT
The Guzzler WLD
Ultra Trail Australia NSW
Ultra Trail Kosciuszko NSW
Washpool NSW

...and hundreds more other ITRA / UTMB ranked races in Australia and worldwide.

Any standard 42.2km marathon:

- male under 4:20

- female under 4:35

Any Ironman distance triathlon run leg (42.2km):

- male under 5:00

- female under 5:20

Additional Approved Named Qualifying Races and Times
The following additional named events are approved qualifying races. These are primarily events that are not covered by the general marathon rule or the ITRA / UTMB ranking pathway.

Additional details regarding UTMB and ITRA ranking

UTMB and ITRA both have an extensive list of evaluated races both within Australia and around the world. They evaluate these races when requested by organisers and apply a points scale for each respective race. This points allocation is based upon the race distance and elevation/climb. When results are submitted from an event, each runner's performance is then given a ranking based upon their time and the race points calculation.

We do not accept or use the blended/average ranks that you see against your profile, it must be a score from a specific event.

To view your rank, follow the respective steps below for each organisation.

UTMB Website - https://utmb.world/

To see your UTMB rank you need to do the following steps:

Login (or register first) and access your profile from the UTMB Home Page, there is no cost to do this.
Select the My Dashboard option once logged in
Then select To My Public Profile Link
This will then display all the races registered to you and you can see the UTMB score for each race in the last column

ITRA Website - https://itra.run/

To see your ITRA rank you need to do the following steps:

You must be an ITRA member to view the details below (cost of 8 euro/year = roughly $13)
As a runner you can login (or register first) and access your profile from the ITRA Home Page
On your main ITRA profile page, you can see your summary rankings. It is important to note that these are an average based upon your best 5 performances in the last 36 months. We do not use this summary/average
To view your rank for each individual event you need to select the results option from your profile page
If you then click on the Ranking option, it will show your ITRA rank for each event registered with ITRA which you can use to identify a valid qualifier run with the required race rank score.

How can you find the specific time at an event that is required to meet the UTMB or ITRA qualifying index?

Check the historical results of the specific trail race you are using as your qualifier
Find previous years' runners who share your target ITRA or UTMB index.
Review their exact finish times to determine your ideal race time

*Please note, rankings can change if there are course changes year to year

18 official finishes

There is one exception to the entry criteria and this is for anyone that has officially finished 18 Six Foot Track Marathon track races or more. We respect their knowledge and capability in achieving this feat and they more than anyone know what is required to get to the finish line. Often these runners now only prepare and run Six Foot Track Marathon each year as their major event for the year. For entrants with 18 or more official finishes, they can specifically use an official Six Foot Track Marathon race finish from the three previous events to qualify. However, the standard qualification criteria will reapply to these runners if they have not successfully finished in under 7:00 hours during the past three races.

Additional notes

The entry form will ask you to list one qualifying event, the date of the event, its distance, the time you finished and for a link to the online listing for your result. This information will be used to seed and place you in a starting wave.

Some of the above events include a team or relay option. A qualifying run must be done as a single continuous run, participation as a relay runner does not meet the entry criteria.

We require all entrants to have already secured a qualifying event and time at the time of entry. We will reject entries for those who have not qualified at the date of entry.

As stated above, the entry criteria applies to all runners and we use the entry criteria, not just to establish a minimum standard that all entrants are capable of, but also to use in establishing starting wave allocations, given the unusual nature of the start and early stage of the race, down Nellies Glen.

First time runners
We are not trying to make the race "elite". The race is longer (at 45km) and hillier than a standard marathon, and it's often hot on race day, so is not suitable for a person's first ever marathon. It is roughly the equivalent of a 60km road race. We want to discourage runners with no proven race history that might get into difficulties - we have had no fatalities in the history of the event and would prefer to keep it that way.

Previous runners – You may ask "Why, if I have already run this race and proven my ability, do I have to qualify again?" Firstly, as above it does help us to determine wave allocations, but it also removes the temptation for previous finishers to try to enter and run "on memory" rather than doing the required training and build up. A distressed runner on course is a challenge for our support team, regardless of how many times they have finished before.