List of largest running events



This list of the largest running events in the world is based on the number of participants. If available, the number of "registered" participants or finishers may be specified. Not all participants will actually complete a race. Running USA's Road Running Information Center estimates that, on average, 80%-85% of registrants will complete a race. If a yearly event has consistently high participation, the year in which that event had the largest number of participants has been listed.

With 110,000 participants, the Bay to Breakers race held on May 18, 1986, in San Francisco, California was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest footrace. On October 10, 2010, 116,086 out of 160,000 registered runners in Manila were reported to have finished a run entitled "10.10.10 A Run for the Pasig River". An official for the ABS-CBN Foundation said that documentation of the event was being forwarded to Guinness World Records. The Guinness World Records certified Run for the Pasig River as having the most participants in a racing event on December 26, 2010.

On 6 August 2023, Kalaignar Centenary Marathon which was held at Chennai, India is officially recognized and approved by Guinness World Records having 65,762 people taking part and considered as the Largest Running Race Series held in the world.

Since 2014 the Wings for Life World Run is the largest run, though not confirmed by Guinness World Records.

parkrun, a series of weekly 5 km events held on Saturday mornings in 22 countries around the world, has for some time been the largest running event in the world. On a regular Saturday, around 300,000 people take part across nearly 2000 events. The highest ever attendance was on 11 January 2020 where 369,213 people took part across the 1635 events taking place that day.