The Abbott World Marathon Majors are more popular than ever.
The original five races – Boston, New York, Chicago, London, and Berlin – has now been expanded to a total of seven races. Tokyo joined the list in 2013 and, starting in 2025, the Sydney Marathon will also be an official Major.
These races attract top tier talent, but they’re also popular among regular, every day runners. They are some of the biggest races in the world, and recently they’ve seen record setting levels of applicants.
Although each of these races is a world class experience worth running, each one is also unique. The field, the course, and the weather is different. Some have easy courses and fast fields, perfect for a personal best. Others have tough courses, perfect for a challenge – or just a good time.
I’ve written a series of articles that compares these races in a number of different ways. These articles are published in Runner’s Life on Medium, and they live behind a paywall there.
Keep reading below for a synopsis of and a link to each article. But if you’re not a Medium subscriber, submit this form and I’ll send you a set of special links you can use to get behind the paywall.
Which of the World Marathon Majors Has the Fastest Times?
There are a couple of ways to look at this question.
Which race is the fastest – in other words, where are you likely to run your own personal best? For that, you’re likely looking at Berlin or Chicago.
But also, which race has the fastest runners? You can have a fast field on a tough course. For that, there’s nothing quite like Boston.
I dive into this question from both aspects in this article comparing which of the majors has the fastest finish times. I look at world records, elite times, serious amateurs, and the mid-pack averages.
You can read the full analysis here.
Which of the World Marathon Majors Has the Toughest Course?
When it comes to the course, these seven races are definitely not created equally. Some of these courses are designed for personal bests – and some are designed to challenge you to your core.
The group divides pretty neatly into two groups – the easy courses and the tough courses.
Which race has the flattest course? Which one has the toughest series of elevation changes? Where does Sydney fit in to the equation?
I explore each of these questions in the full analysis, which you can read here.
Which of the World Marathon Majors Has the Best Weather?
Weather is one of the most important race day factors that can influence how your race goes.
A perfect day can lead to a personal best – and to an enjoyable experience. And extreme weather can lead even the best runners to struggle and question their commitment to running.
These seven races take place in different environments in different times of year. In this article, I run down the typical conditions for each race and then explore the historical weather data to see which one has the best, most consistent weather.
You can read the full analysis here.
Which of the World Marathon Majors Has the Oldest Runners?
Running is, typically, a young persons game. People get into the sport in their 20’s and 30’s. While some will hold on and continue as masters runners, there’s a continuous drop off year over year as runners age.
The 70+ age group is much smaller than the 30-34 age group. And across the board, those older age groups are usually smaller than the younger ones.
But the peak age – be it the 30’s or 40’s – can vary by race. I was doing a separate analysis of this data, and I was surprised to find one of the races had very few runners under 40. The vast majority were 40+, and the average age was much higher than the other races.
In this article, I explore the demographics of the field to see which race has the oldest runners and which has the youngest.
You can read the full analysis here.
Which of the World Marathon Majors Has the Most Balanced Gender Distribution?
Rewind the clock 50 years, and running was a male dominated sport. For years, women were prohibited for signing up for long distance races, including the marathon.
It wasn’t until the 1970’s that women were welcomed in all of the big marathons, and it took time for the number of female runners to catch up to the men. This discrepancy is still very much alive among older runners, but things are equalling out among younger runners.
Something I’ve noticed in my analysis, though, is that there are also regional and societal differences. Races in the United States generally have a much more equal distribution of men and women than races in Europe or other parts of the world.
You might be shocked to find out that one of these races is made up of about 80% men.
You can read the full analysis here.
What Else Are You Curious About?
While I’m putting a pin in this series for now, that doesn’t mean I won’t be back to add some additional comparisons.
One thing I know people are curious about is how to get into these races – and which ones are the hardest. Another interesting question would be which is the most expensive to run – when you add up things like travel and lodging. I also wonder how the geographic distribution of runners varies between races – which have more local runners, and more international runners?
If you’ve got any things that you are wondering about when it comes to the Abbott World Marathon Majors, leave a comment below. I’d be happy to add it to my list of things to explore in the future.