Paula Jane Radcliffe MBE is a former British long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon, three-time New York Marathon champion, the 2002 Chicago Marathon winner and the 2005 World Champion in the Marathon from Helsinki. She was previously the fastest female marathoner of all time, and held the Women's World Marathon Record with a time of 2:15:25 for 16 years from 2003 to 2019 when it was broken by Brigid Kosgei.
Catherine Nyambura Ndereba is a retired Kenyan marathon runner. Between 2003 and 2008, she finished in the top two in five successive global championship marathons. Ndereba has twice won the marathon at the World Championships in Athletics and won silver medals at the Summer Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008, becoming Kenya's first female multi-medalist. She is also a four-time winner of the Boston Marathon and a two-time winner of the Chicago Marathon. It was at the latter in 2001 that she broke the women's marathon world record with a time of 2:18:47.
Elvan Abeylegesse is an Ethiopian-born Turkish middle and long-distance running athlete who competes over distances from 1500 metres up to the marathon, and also in cross country. She is the former world record-holder for the 5000 metres, at 14:24.68 minutes.
Sun Yingjie is a Chinese female long-distance runner who competes in events ranging from 5000 metres to the marathon. She rose to prominence by winning two gold medals at the 2002 Asian Games. In 2003, she won a bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in Paris. She won two golds at the 2003 Asian Athletics Championships and won the Beijing Marathon in an Asian record time that year.
Lidia Slăvuțeanu-Șimon is a Romanian long-distance runner. She competed in the Olympic marathon five times (1996–2012), winning a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics. She is also a former marathon world champion.
Joanne Marie Pavey MBE is a British long-distance runner representing Europe, Great Britain and England in a career notable for its longevity, range and consistency. A World, European and Commonwealth medallist, Pavey won her only senior title when she claimed the 10,000 m gold medal at the 2014 European Championships in Zürich, ten months after giving birth to her second child, to become the oldest female European champion in history at the age of 40 years and 325 days.
Lornah Kiplagat is a Dutch professional long-distance runner. She was born in Kabiemit, Rift Valley Province, Kenya and moved to the Netherlands in 1999. She gained Dutch citizenship in 2003 and has competed for the Netherlands ever since. She used to run not only road events but also in cross country and track and field.
Bezunesh Bekele Sertsu is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specializes in cross-country running and marathons.
Nebiat Habtemariam Measho is an Eritrean long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon. She was the first woman to represent Eritrea at the Olympics. Earlier in her career, she ran the 5000 metres and cross-country running. She is a three-time participant at the Summer Olympics. She has a marathon best of 2:32:04 hours set at the 2008 Hamburg Marathon, where she was seventh.
Kimberley Smith is a New Zealand middle-distance and long-distance runner who retired in 2016.
Inês Alexandra das Neves Monteiro is a Portuguese athlete who competes in middle and long-distance track running, as well as road running and cross country. She started out as a cross country runner, winning a silver and a gold medal at the 1998 and 1999 European junior race. She has represented Portugal at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, and has competed twice at the World Championships in Athletics. She is a regular performer at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, generally finishing around 30th place.
Desiree "Des" Nicole Linden is an American long-distance runner. She represented the United States in the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics women's marathon. In 2018, she won the Boston Marathon, becoming the first American in 33 years to win the woman's category in the event. She holds the women's 50K world record of 2:59:54.
Andrew James Vernon is a British long-distance runner who specialised in the 5000 metres, the 10,000 metres on track and cross country running. After the 2018 commonwealth games and started to concentrate on the roads winning Manchester Half Marathon with the aim of doing a full marathon in 2019. Vernon competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's 10,000 metres. He has also competed in two Commonwealth Games, a World Indoor Championship and six World Cross Country Championships. Vernon is a two-time European Athletics Championship medallist and a Summer Universiade gold medallist. He currently competes for Aldershot, Farnham & District AC.
Susan Partridge is a British long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. Her personal best for the distance is 2:30:46 hours. She has represented Britain in the marathon at the European Athletics Championships and the World Championships in Athletics, as well as competing for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.
Birhan Dagne is an Ethiopian-born British long-distance runner.
Tracey Morris is a British long-distance runner.
Debra "Debbie" Mason is a British long-distance runner. She represented Great Britain running the marathon at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics. She also represented England in two Commonwealth Games.
The women's marathon was one of the road events at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. Due to the heat in Doha, the race was scheduled to begin at 23:59 on 27 September 2019, which made it the first midnight marathon in the history of the World Championships. Even with the unusual timing, the temperature was above 30 °C (86 °F) and the humidity over 70 per cent, making conditions difficult for running. Only 40 of the 68 entrants finished the race, which was won by Ruth Chepng'etich of Kenya in 2:32.43; the slowest winning time at the World Championships. Bahrain's Rose Chelimo was second in 2:33.46, with Helalia Johannes of Namibia third in 2:34.15.
Elena Plastinina is a Ukrainian athlete who in 1989 became the Ukrainian 10K Champion when she raced to a 33:55.06 finish in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Trudi Thomson is a British former distance runner and ultramarathon runner who competed for Great Britain at the IAU 100 km World Championships in 1993 and 1994, the IAAF 1995 World Cup Marathon, the IAAF 1995 World Championships Marathon and the IAAF 1995 World Championships Half Marathon. She represented Scotland at the 1999 World Mountain Running Trophy.
Great Britain 