Marathon running has grown in popularity over the years at a staggering rate. People travel all over the world to participate in multi-mile races where they compete for glory, fun, or just to experience a new country and the great views to boost. Either way, some of these races can have more contestants than there are people in the city. This article will tell you about the three largest marathons that happen annually around the globe.
The third largest marathon in the world happens in Berlin, Germany. Every year the capital of this European nation hosts the “Real” marathon. It takes place in the streets of Berlin. Last year had over 41,000 participants from 122 countries register, with over 35,000 finishers. Unfortunately the rain that occurred brought down the amount of spectators to a low 700,000. It’s not unheard of to have over 1 million people at these events on a sunny day. Regardless of the weather though, people were anxious to cheer on their favorite runners. Runners registered at the event either online or at the registration tables. Those who chose to register online saved €20 off of the standard €100 price tag.
The race originally started back on October 13, 1974 on a minor road close to the national stadium. The first person to ever win this race was Gunter Hallas, with finishers ranging in the low hundreds. It took two hours and 16 minutes for the world record to be set at this newly founded marathon. It has since been broken multiple times.
The second largest marathon in the world occurs in Great Britain in their largest city and capital, London. This marathon also boasts the same numbers at about 35,000 finishers and 40,000 participants. The Virgin London Marathon aims to raise money for charities every year. It’s runners this past year raised a record half of 1,000,000,000 pounds for their chosen charities. In US dollars that translates to about three quarters of $1 billion, not an easy task to say the least. Virgin Mobile sponsored this event and saw over 24,000 men, and 12,000 women finishing it.
The event first started back in 1981 and since then there has been over 750,000 people complete this marathon.
The largest of all the marathons in the world happens in one of the greatest cities on earth, New York City, New York. Back in 2009 the 40th ING Marathon had over 43,000 finishers. This Marathon allows anyone to join regardless of race, age, or handicap. The divisions are split up between the same barriers that would normally prevent runners from participating.
The ING Marathon was first started back in 1970 and only had 127 runners altogether. Each runner paid a $1 entry fee in order to participate, in this 26.2 mile race that encircled Central Park several times. There were only 55 runners that ever crossed the finish line. It only took another six years before there were over 2,000 runners lined up at the start of the new course that started on Staten Island and ended up in Manhattan. This new course attracted Frank Shorter (a two time Olympic marathon medalist) along with media coverage that would broadcast the event throughout the United States of America. Thousands of spectators lined up against the streets and cheered on their favorite runners. By re-doing the whole course it attracted recognition from dozens of countries around the world enticing new participants to join the next year.
Over 9,000 people were running the race by the end of the 1970’s,s and several world records were broken in this now global Marathon.
Now, after 40 years the ING New York City Marathon has risen in size and continues to be the majority leader of all marathons around the globe. It’s what most professional marathon athletes dream of winning every single year of their careers, and every other marathon is just a preparation for it. For most this might seem like a mammoth task, but a new revolutionary marathon training guide is changing the way runners approach the sport of marathon running. In fact, the “7 Ways To Train Smarter And Boost Your Marathon Performance” reveals the special training practices of Olympic and World Class long-distance runners, making the idea of completing this giant marathon, a reality.
There are plenty of other large marathons that occur annually around the globe. Most are similar in size and have been the world’s largest countries such as the USA, Japan, and France. Paris, Tokyo, and several other American cities all boast record numbers in the tens of thousands of competitors. All of these are quite impressive and you should not just select one to attend, but instead try and find as many as possible to race in during your marathon running career. Marathons are a great place to meet new people and to put your running skills to the test. They are also a healthy way to have fun.
Don’t forget about the smaller marathons as well is they are a great way to network and meet new people that may want to travel together to compete in the larger competitions. It’s more fun to run with friends anyway.