how long does the melbourne cup go for

The Melbourne Cup is a single race run over a distance of 3200 metres. It typically takes around 3 minutes and 20 seconds for the winner to complete the distance on a good track, but the overall event on the day spans several hours with multiple races before and after the main event. The race itself is scheduled to start in the early afternoon (commonly around 3:00 pm local time on the first Tuesday of November in Melbourne).