The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42.195 km, usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was inspired by the success of the first marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics. The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world's best-known road racing events. It is one of six World Marathon Majors. Its course runs from Hopkinton in southern Middlesex County to Copley Square in Boston.
Joan Benoit Samuelson is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after winning the race in 1985. Her time at the Boston Marathon was the fastest time by an American woman at that race for 28 years. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.
An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of 42.195 kilometres. Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of 31 miles (50 km) and up to 3100 miles. World Championships are held by the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) for 50 km, 100 km, 24 hours, and ultra trail running. The Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultramarathoners (GOMU) holds World Championships for 48 hours and 6 days. World Records are ratified and recognized by World Athletics, the IAU, and by GOMU.
Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport on the fells of northern Britain, especially those in the Lake District. It has elements of trail running, cross country and mountain running, but is also distinct from those disciplines.
The Paris Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the city of Paris, France. It is the largest running event in France in terms of finishers and the marathon with the second-most finishers in the world, behind the New York City Marathon.
Don Kern is an adventure runner, IT Consultant, freelance writer, and the director of the Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon. He has run 325 marathons or longer races, in each of fifty states of the USA twice, in thirty-two countries, and at the North Pole. On January 22, 2002, he also completed a half-marathon on the South Pole as a part of the Adventure Network's inaugural South Pole Marathon. In 2007 he embarked on a quest to set a world record by completing marathons on each of the seven continents in the shortest period of time, but while completing them in 35 days was beaten to the record by Richard Takata of Canada. A second attempt later in 2007 was unsuccessful as well, due to a delay of eight days en route to Antarctica. The record was finally broken by Kern on 1 December 2011 in 25 days, 18 hours, 10 minutes.
Kimberley Smith is a New Zealand middle-distance and long-distance runner who retired in 2016.
Jin Feibao is a Chinese mountaineer. He has been described as "arguably modern China's greatest adventurer." A native from Kunming, Feibao has completed the Explorers Grand Slam, summiting the highest mountain in every continent and reaching both the North and South Poles in a record 18 months and 24 days. He has also trekked across the Sahara Desert and took part in the first Chinese expedition to cross Greenland from West to East. On top of his many explorations, he is also a celebrated stamp collector, having collected the Guinness Book of World Records largest Olympic stamp collection, and the largest collection of stamps featuring birds. His recent achievement is the Fairyland 100 Marathon, he successfully finished a big challenge - to run 100 marathons in 100 consecutive days in 100 beautiful countryside places in Yunnan, Southeast China.
Rik Vercoe is a British ultramarathon runner from Walton on Thames, Surrey, England. In 2013 he set the British record for most marathons completed in 365 days, having run 152 races at marathon distance and above.
Maria Leijerstam is a British polar adventurer. In 2013 she became the first person to cycle to the South Pole from the edge of the continent. Leijerstam started her expedition on the Ross Ice Shelf at the edge of the Antarctic continent, and cycled for 10 to 17 hours each day with no rest days, and the total distance cycled was 638 km (396 mi). Leijerstam's cycle was a three wheeled design, and she reached the pole faster than any previous skiing expedition.
Nicola "Nicky" Spinks is a British long-distance runner, specialising in fell running, who set women's records for the major fell-running challenges the Ramsay Round, the Paddy Buckley Round and the Bob Graham Round.
Rebecca Pizzi is an American marathon runner from Belmont, Massachusetts. In 2016 she was the first American woman to complete the World Marathon Challenge, a series of seven marathons on seven continents in seven consecutive days, for which she holds the current record. She finished each race well ahead of all the other four women runners, and ahead of nine of the eleven men competitors. In 2018, she became the first woman to complete the World Marathon Challenge twice, again winning the women's overall race, and six of the seven individual marathons.
Jasmin Karina Paris is a British runner who has been a national fell running champion and who has set records for the Bob Graham Round and the Ramsay Round. In 2024, she was the first woman to successfully complete the Barkley Marathons.
Tuedon "Tee" Omatsola-Morgan, born 3 April 1973 is a Nigerian ultramaraton runner. She has completed in over 73 marathons and has competed in 2 ultramarathons.
Michele Graglia is a model, author, fitness coach, and ultra marathon runner. His book Ultra was published by Sperling & Kupfer in May 2017. Originally from Taggia, Liguria, Italy, Graglia became an international model represented by Major Model Management in New York and the now defunct Irene Marie Model Management in Miami, FL, where he was initially discovered. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
The AdmiralCity of Newport Half Marathon is an annual half marathon race held in the Welsh city of Newport, Wales, taking place in March. The event was established in 2013, organised by the charity St. Davids Hospice Care.
Dorothy Doolittle is an American former marathon runner and athletics coach, who won the inaugural Chicago Marathon in 1977. She was an assistant coach of the US Women's team at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Charlie Hulson is a British athlete and senior professional marathon runner, most recently noted to achieve a Personal Best marathon time of 2:13:34. at the Virgin Money London Elite Marathon, 4 October 2020. He finished 20th, fifth British runner.
Sufiya Sufi is an Indian sprint athlete from Ajmer, Rajasthan. She is the first female runner to complete Manali to Leh Ultramarathon in 2021.
