Team Australia touches down in Dili as 2026 Dili International Marathon enters final countdown
DÍLI, 06 August 2026 (TATOLI) – The 2026 Dili International Marathon today confirmed that a seven-member Australian Defence Force (ADF) contingent, joined by ultra-distance runner Jacqui Bell, arrived in the capital on Wednesday 5 August aboard Qantas’s direct Darwin–Dili service, three days ahead of Saturday morning’s race start.
The arrival closes out a steadily building media arc for this year’s event, which carries the official theme “Love Our Forests and Wildlife — Hadomi Ita Nia Ai-Laran no Balada Fuik Sira.” Coverage will be carried live on terrestrial broadcast and online by RTTL (Rádio e Televisão de Timor-Leste), with international feed partners and on-the-ground reporting already positioned across the start, finish and forest corridors along the course.
The ADF’s seven-member run team will join athletes from across the Indo-Pacific on the start line at dawn on Saturday 8 August. In a symbolically significant moment for this year’s race, members of the contingent will run shoulder-to-shoulder with athletes from Falintil-Forças de Defesa de Timor-Leste (F-FDTL), Timor-Leste’s national defence force — the two services taking to the same course under the shared banner of friendship, fitness and enduring partnership between Australia and Timor-Leste.
“The ADF and F-FDTL train, deploy and recover together in operations across the region,” Sean Borrell, the event director noted. “Seeing them share a road together in Dili, cheered on by both nations’ communities, makes this year’s race more than a sports event — it is a small, public expression of the partnership our two defence forces have quietly built over decades.”
Joining the ADF runners is Jacqui Bell, the Australian ultra-distance athlete widely recognised as the youngest person to complete a multi-stage ultra marathon on all seven continents. Bell, who continues to use long-distance running as a platform for mental-health advocacy, will participate in this year’s marathon programme and is scheduled for media engagements ahead of race morning. Her engagement was made possible by the Partnership between MDF (Market Development Facility) and the 2026 Dili International Marathon.
Interest in the 2026 edition has built steadily through the lead-in weeks, with national outlets in Timor-Leste, Australia, Indonesia and Portugal confirming feature coverage and live cross-ins. RTTL’s live broadcast — available on terrestrial television and streamed via its online platform — will again be the official domestic carrier, marking the second consecutive year of full live coverage from the starting line through the final finisher.
“Race week in Dili now feels like a national moment,” Mr. Borrell went on to say: “Every year the broadcast reach grows, and the streets fill with people who come not just to run but to watch and to be part of it.”
The 2026 theme — “Love Our Forests and Wildlife” — threads through every part of race week: a community tree-planting ceremony tied to the official event launch and at the same time as bib collection begins the Semana Verde (Green Week) , a program bringing together discussion groups and panels around the themes of conservation, environmental protection and sustainability.
Borrell concluded: “The Dili International Marathon has always been a race that means more than it clocks. This year, with a strong Australian contingent arriving alongside our partners in F-FDTL, with Jacqui Bell bringing her extraordinary story of endurance and recovery, and with RTTL taking the race live into every Timorese home — we are reminded that the marathon is at its best when it brings people together. The bond between our Defence forces and our Australian Defense Cooperation program and veteran communities is genuine, quiet and deeply valued, and we are proud to put that bond on the road on Saturday morning. To every runner arriving this week, to every volunteer on the course and to every household that will tune in via RTTL — Bemvindu. The mountains, the sea and the forests that define our country will be waiting for you.”
The Dili International Marathon is Timor-Leste’s flagship mass-participation road race, bringing together recreational runners, elite marathoners, regional defence contingents, community teams and visiting athletes from across the Indo-Pacific. The 2026 edition, themed “Love Our Forests and Wildlife,” takes place on the morning of Saturday 8 August, with races contested across full marathon, half marathon, 10 km and community distance and open to the public 5 km fun run.
Course and all other information is available at: www.dilimarathon.tl
TATOLI
