First Nations runners chasing major marathon goal

Having already completed the New York, Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin and Chicago marathons, the trio are among a celebrated group of runners who've received a six star medal.

With last year's addition of the Sydney Marathon to the list of world marathon majors, the runners have set their sights on the next milestone - the seventh star, and becoming the first Indigenous runners to achieve the feat.

Mr Maher is no stranger to firsts - he was the first Indigenous runner to complete the New York Marathon in 2010 and when he finished the London Marathon in 2022 he was the first Aboriginal man to receive a six star medal.

Fifteen years later, Mr Maher said the best thing was seeing all of the First Nations people who've started their running journey since.

"There's now a lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people running and exercising and moving," the Western Arranta man told AAP.

"That fills my heart and that's what it's all about."

Mr Maher, Ms Leslie and Ms Graham are all graduates of the Indigenous Marathon Project, founded by former world champion Rob De Castella.

Ms Graham recalls being skeptical of a poster she saw in her hometown of Weipa, on Queensland's Cape York Peninsula, calling for runners to do the New York Marathon, in 2011.

"I thought this was one of those things from down south thinking we could run a marathon," she said.

"Of course being stubborn, I applied for it."

Ms Graham said she's proud of her running achievements, and hopes her community and family are too.

"I started with the premise that if I come from here I can't do that, because we don't have facilities, we're too remote, but anyone can do it," she said.

For Ms Leslie, who signed up in 2017 when she was living in Karratha, Western Australia away from her family and Country, training for her first marathon was life-changing.

"I lacked self-confidence for so long and I didn't have any belief in myself but each time I finish a marathon I think 'you can do hard things'," the Gummipingal woman of the Worimi nation said.

Ms Leslie said she'd never considered running another marathon when training for New York, but when she heard about the six - and now seven - world marathon majors, that's the goal she put her mind to.

"I never thought I'd be the first of anything, but I had it in my mind that I wanted to chase the world majors," she said.

"Once I get something in my head I have to do it."

The Indigenous Marathon Project has more than 150 graduates across the country.

Mr Maher, who is the Indigenous Marathon Foundation's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander chief officer, said he's excited to reach another milestone.

"There's a really small percentage of people around the world that achieve what we've achieved," he said.

"We hope we can inspire more and more people to run six or seven majors in the future."