Houston Marathon



The Houston Marathon is an annual marathon usually held every January in Houston, Texas, United States, since 1972. With thousands of runners and spectators, it is the largest single day sporting event in the city. It is run concurrently with a half marathon and a 5 km race. The 2007 race included the first-ever satellite running of the event, run simultaneously in Fallujah, Iraq.

The races bring crowds of nearly one half million to view the runners.

History
The first marathon, run on December 30, 1972, featured 113 runners and a crowd of approximately 200 people. The course was a loop of 5 mi, and runners were served beef stew after the race.

The 1979 edition of the competition hosted the national marathon championship race for men and women. Houston was selected for the women's Olympic Trials in 1992 and held the USATF women's marathon championship in 1998. The half marathon course hosted the USATF Men's Half Marathon Championship from 2005 to 2008, and also hosted the women's event in 2007 and 2008. The 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials for both men and women were held the Saturday prior to the Sunday races.

George W. Bush ran in the Houston Marathon at age 46 in 1993, finishing with a time of 3 hours, 44 minutes, 52 seconds.

The 2014 edition included a 5K event run on Saturday, January 18th and the marathon and half marathon run on Sunday, January 19th. The 5K event had close to 5,000 runners while the marathon and half marathon had nearly 13,000 runners each.

The 2021 in-person edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants given the option of running the race virtually (and receiving a discount for the race in 2022), or transferring their entry to 2022 or 2023. The virtual marathon was planned for January 2021.

Course
The fast and flat course starts in the downtown area near Minute Maid Park and takes runners past scenic Houston areas and communities—including Houston Heights and Neartown, past Hermann Park and Rice University, over to Uptown, and then through Memorial Park and Allen Parkway, finishing at the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown. The course is USATF certified and is popular with runners seeking to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The race time limit is 6 hours and a limit of 27,000 entries is enforced, divided evenly between the full and half marathons.

The course was changed for 2014. Changes included starting on Congress St. downtown, eliminating a section of the course through the Heights, and adding 2 miles along Kirby Dr.

Community impact
The event supports many charities, including CanCare, Texas Children's Hospital, and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Sponsorship
The current corporate sponsor of the marathon is Chevron Corporation. Aramco sponsors the half marathon and Chevron and Aramco co-sponsor the 5K run.

Winners
Key:
 * Course record
 * † = Time was a record mark for the state of Texas

Multiple Winners
For the men, 🇪🇹 Bazu Worku (ETH), 🇰🇪 David Cheruiyot (KEN) and 🇰🇪 Stephen Ndungu (KEN) all won the marathon 3 times.

🇪🇹 Birhanu Gedefa (ETH), 🇺🇸 Ron Tabb (USA) and 🇺🇸 Clent Mericle (USA) won the marathon twice, a performance done by 🇺🇸 Meb Keflezighi (USA) and 🇪🇹 Feyisa Lilesa (ETH) on the half.

For the women, 🇪🇹 Biruktayit Degefa (ETH), 🇺🇦 Tatyana Pozdnyakova (UKR) and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Véronique Marot (ENG) all won the marathon 3 times.

🇪🇹 Teyba Erkesso (ETH), 🇪🇹 Dire Tune (ETH), 🇳🇴 Ingrid Kristiansen (NOR) and 🇺🇸 Dorothy Doolittle (USA) won the marathon twice, a performance done by 🇺🇸 Colleen De Reuck (USA) on the half.

🇪🇹 Mamitu Daska (ETH) is the only athlete who won both the marathon (2011) and the half-marathon (2013) in Houston.

National Records
The current National Records were established during the Houston Marathon:
 * Men Marathon
 * 1995: 🇷🇸 Borislav Devic (SRB) 2:13:57
 * Women Marathon
 * 1996: 🇧🇬 Galina Goranova (BUL) 2:35:02
 * 2007: 🇧🇿 Melissa Henderson (BLZ) 3:05:13
 * 2019: 🇧🇴 Tania Chavez Moser (BOL) 2:43:24
 * 2020: 🇨🇦 Malindi Elmore (CAN) 2:24:50
 * 2022: 🇺🇸 Keira D'Amato (USA) 2:19:12
 * Women 30km
 * 2019: 🇧🇴 Tania Chavez Moser (BOL) 1:55:48
 * 2020: 🇨🇦 Malindi Elmore (CAN) 1:42:53
 * Women 25km
 * 2018: Hiruni Wijayaratne 1:32:53
 * 2019: 🇧🇴 Tania Chavez Moser (BOL) 1:37:01
 * 2020: 🇨🇦 Malindi Elmore (CAN) 1:25:48
 * Men Half-Marathon
 * 2007: 🇺🇸 Ryan Hall (USA) 59:43 
 * 2019: Soh Rui Yong 1:06:46 
 * 2020: Gabriel Geay 59:42 
 * 2022: 🇨🇦 Rory Linkletter (CAN) 1:01:08 
 * 2022: Alberto Gonzalez Mindez 1:01:20
 * 2022: 🇱🇧 Mohamed Hrezi (LBN) 1:02:08
 * Women Half-Marathon
 * 2014 🇹🇭 Jane Vongvorachoti (THA) 1:15:24
 * 2018 🇺🇸 Molly Huddle (USA) 1:07:25
 * 2020 🇯🇵 Hitomi Niiya (JPN) 1:06:38
 * 2022 🇺🇸 Sara Hall (USA) 1:07:15
 * 2023 🇺🇸 Emily Sisson (USA) 1:06:52
 * Men 20km
 * 2019: Soh Rui Yong 1:03:23
 * 2022: 🇨🇦 Rory Linkletter (CAN) 58:05
 * 2022: Alberto Gonzalez Mindez 58:05
 * 2022: 🇱🇧 Mohamed Hrezi (LBN) 59:01
 * Women 20km
 * 2018 🇺🇸 Molly Huddle (USA) 1:03:48
 * 2020 🇯🇵 Hitomi Niiya (JPN) 1:03:13
 * Women 10miles
 * 2018 🇺🇸 Molly Huddle (USA) 50:52
 * Men 15km
 * 2022: Alberto Gonzalez Mindez 43:21
 * 2022: 🇨🇦 Rory Linkletter (CAN) 43:23
 * Men 10km
 * 2022: Alberto Gonzalez Mindez 29:04
 * Men 5km
 * 2022: Alberto Gonzalez Mindez 14:41
 * 2022: 🇱🇧 Mohamed Hrezi (LBN) 14:50