The Tan Track

I have been a big fan of the Tan for 15 years now. This is one of the first places I started running and have had many happy times & memories here.
Peaceful and pretty. The sound of the gravel crunching under your feet as you run is really quite strangely soothing!
Track is 3.87km in length in total and it now has a big LED clock /​timer at the start /​finish line and has distance markers every 50−100m which is great for interval training.
Water stations throughout the track.
The best and worst part of the tan is the Anderson St hill and the steps at the horse troughs. Great for hill sprints and having heart attacks and the like!
Bring your dog, bring the kids, bring your ma & pa, bring your running buddy. Heck, bring everyone!
Don’t forget to beat that old guy up the hill!
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I love going for a run or walk around The Tan Track. It’s such a beautiful part of Melbourne with the lower part taking in the river, the dreaded Anderson St hill perfect for some hill sprints and the upper side encircling the Botanic Gardens and cafes along Domain Road.
There are 250m markers all the way along the nearly 4 km track (3.87km to be exact) and it’s really well lit, with the lights only switched off between 12am and 5am. It’s also a sandy gravelly surface that a bit softer on your knees and ankles than the old bitumen.
There are always lots of people walking or running around, on their own, in groups, with dogs or prams. There’s quite a few water bubblers all along the route, some of which are currently out of order due to irrigation works (note: they have been offline for more than 6 months and I have no idea when they will be back online).
If you are a local or visiting from out of town it’s a great spot to get some fresh air and turn the legs over!

I loved coming here and planning on coming back. Great place to really push yourself to the limit physically and mentally. Before I had an accident I used to come twice a week and did 4 laps around. I’m not going to lie… the amount of gorgeous girls are astonishing. If you come at the right time, time will fly. I didn’t realise I did 2 and half laps one time but you know what? I took that as a sign… They will help improve my time and performance.
I had beaten my personal best when I realised there was a gem behind me… I didn’t want her to overtake me. Worst experience I had there but it felt good right after splashed water on my face from the water fountain, ahhhh.

There are many benefits to visiting the tan which I will rank in my order of preference:
1) lovely looking people
2) in warm weather, there are a lot of good looking guys with shirts off
3) exercise
4) different views (desert like, grassy, hilly) depending on the side of the tan you are running on
5) time trials
6) mixing it up with hill sprints
7) a variety of different running tracks.
No matter what your motivation, the tan is a great way of getting out and moving the body. Super important! See you on the track.

Gotta love a bit of the tan track.
You always feel like you’ve achieved something when you finish. Nice area to run too and the track is great. I’m not the biggest fan of the hill though. I like it as there are plenty of good places nearby and it is close to the city. Just a little walk to Richmond. Not far from Chapel St and St. Kilda Road. It is quite a decent place to meet up with friends and go for a nice easy jog.

The Tan is the place to run and as I live over the road I have no excuse not to. It does not matter the time of day or weather conditions, there will be at least one runner out pounding the track. Dawn is my favorite time with the crisp morning air, birds singing, mist on the lake in the gardens, rowers on the river. A great way to start the day.
The big decision is to go clockwise or counter-​clockwise? I have compromised with my training buddy — we go a lap each way.

The Tan is definitely a great choice when it comes to places to run. Much better than your boring street, The Tan presents a changing array of sites and surfaces as you circle the lovely Botanic Garden. You’ll even get an occasional look in to said gardens, but not quite as often as I would have preferred.
The crowds can get a bit heavy depending on when you go. On a weekend, it appears to get absolutely packed. During the week after work, it’s much more enjoyable and requires a lot less weaving around slow walkers and kids who seem to do their best to get in your way.
Elevation changes are just enough that you will get an extra workout without being impossible to handle.

Gotta love the Tan. It’s great all year round and I’m pleased to say I lost a few noticeable kilos running it.
Go slow, go fast, the Tan doesn’t discriminate and you’ll find plenty of regulars doing their rounds. Did I mention celebs and athletes as well? Heaps of footy players, Melbourne Storm, actors the list is endless. But I urge you to just look and then continue on your way because no one likes to be hassled. Surprisingly, many of them are physically smaller than you thought!
The track is mostly sand except when it gets to Anderson street hill where it’s bitumen. It’s an incline of nearly 30 degrees so that really gets the heart pumping. Due to its profile and location, The Tan is so well maintained that even after Stereosonic at the Bowl, you’d be hard pressed to find any evidence that a festival happened there.
It’s lit partly at night but I STRONGLY caution you against running after dark or 8pm. Some parts can be eerily dark and quiet due to overhanging trees and people have been mugged there in the past.
Hardcore runners hit the track early even in winter you’d see those brave souls already sweating at 6am! What I’ve noticed is this early morning rush, then it’s moms with prams after the school run, then quiet then lunch time runners then quiet then after work rush including boot camps. So sometimes it’s packed other times virtually deserted.
Nice views and fresh tree filtered air. Until you get to the Alexandra Pde portion where it’s noxious peak hour fumes.

Most the people that do the Tan look great wearing very little at all. That could be incentive enough for a lot of people to partake in a daily run /​perve, but there are many other reasons to do the Tan.
It’s so incredibly close to the CBD, so it’s very feasible to do at lunch, or before or after work (if you work in a sky prison like me). It’s also an immaculately maintained track — you needn’t worry tripping over broken glass, fast fold wrappers etc., while aiming to get yourself runway ready.
The surrounds are beautiful — plush greenery at all sides, with smatterings of floral clusters bringing color to the track.
Only downer — people will be pissy if you run clockwise.
4 stars!

If you live in Melbourne and you’re a runner, and you haven’t run the tan… then you’re not a Melbournian.
The tan track is the border that surrounds the Botanical Gardens; it’s a popular running track that is well known to most Melbournians. No matter what time of day, week or year… there are always people jogging along, listening to their iPods, or walking their dogs, or pushing a pram, or just plain walking around.
The track starts at the Swan St bridge, although this is by no means a ‘compulsory’ start area– it’s just where the distance markers begin.
The tan track is 3.87km, with distance markers every 50 or so meters apart. The track is mostly smooth gravel, but there are areas that are concrete.
Most people run around 2 laps going ‘uphill’-this means starting at the Swan St bridge they run in a clockwise direction, insuring they include the infamous Anderson St hill.
If you’ve never run the track before, I highly suggest it-​just because it’s such a recognized little activity.

Currently in hysterics over a fellow reviewer saying this track is known as «The Tan» due to the colour of the path. It’s short for boTANical… as in the garden it surrounds!
Anyway, The Tan on a Saturday or Sunday morning is the place you go to see and be seen. If you think it’s about the exercise, you’re not entirely right. Five minutes on this track and you’ll see more women in makeup, beautifully coordinated outfits and sporting glossy hair than in a bar any night.
All that said, The Tan is gorgeous. Surrounding Melbourne’s boTANical gardens means you permanently have a leafy green view on one side, and the other changes between cafes, park, river and gorgeous homes.
Where else would you go? The gym? Pffft!

«The Tan» as it is affectionately known (due to its surface of tan-​coloured stone), is one of the most popular running tracks in Melbourne. It is 3.87km in distance and borders the Royal Botanic Gardens as well as the Kings Domain. The Tan originally served as a horse track and is now regularly used by runners, walkers, locals, visitors and even the odd celebrity!
«Go the Tan,» as well as many other regular fun runs and competitive marathons are often held at The Tan, especially on weekends it is a very busy running track filled with people getting their daily exercise as well as others wandering through on their way to a picnic at the Botanic Gardens gorgeous parkland.
Open ²⁴⁄₇ but the lights turned off between midnight and 5:30am