The City2Surf (or City to Surf) is a popular road running event held annually in Sydney covering a 14-kilometre (8.7 mi) course. The event is a "fun run" as well as a race, attracting both competitive runners and community participants who can choose to run or to walk.
The event attracts more than 80,000 entrants who start in staggered groups based on previous running times and early entry.
The Sydney City2Surf has been held as an annual event since the first run on 5 September 1971, initially as a 9.4-mile-long (15.1 km) run that commenced in George Street, adjacent to Sydney Town Hall.
It was conceived by the staff of The Sun and inspired by the Bay to Breakers event in San Francisco.
The first event was jointly organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of NSW and the NSW Women's Amateur Athletic Association and attracted 1,576 starters, 1,509 of whom completed the event within the 100 minutes time limit.
In 2010, on the event's 40th anniversary, a record 80,000 participants ran, making it the largest run of its kind in the world. That level of participation has continued. The race is still primarily sponsored and organised by The Sun-Herald.
Since 2010 the course has started in several groups to give preference to faster runners.
The first group to start are elite wheelchair athletes, followed by invitation-only seeded and preferred runner groups, followed by runners with previous race times under 70 minutes, runners with previous race times under 90 minutes, an open entry running group, an open entry jogging group, and finally an open entry "Back of the Pack" group for walking, using a wheelchair or pushing child strollers.
Entry to all groups is limited to a certain number of competitors and, except for the invitation-only groups, allocated on a first-come first-served basis.
The route taken by the participants commences in the city centre of Sydney and passes through the suburbs of East Sydney, Kings Cross, Rushcutters Bay, Double Bay, Rose Bay, Vaucluse, Dover Heights and Bondi Beach.
The most difficult part of the course is "Heartbreak Hill" at the halfway mark, a 2-kilometre-long (1.2 mi) steep ascent from Rose Bay to Vaucluse along New South Head Road.
According to en.wikipedia
