The Vancouver Sun Run is Canada's largest running event.

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.[1] 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.[2] 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".[3] An official for the ABS-CBN Foundation said that documentation of the event was being forwarded to Guinness World Records.[3] The Guinness World Records certified Run for the Pasig River as having the most participants in a racing event on December 26, 2010.[4]

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.[5]

Since 2014 the Wings for Life World Run is the largest run, though not confirmed by Guinness World Records.[6][7]

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.

Largest running events

Position Race name Location Country Date Distances Participation[a] Notes
1 parkrun Global Global 11 Jan 2020 5 km 369,213[8]
2 Wings for Life World Run Global Global 5 May 2023 set own goal 206,728[4]
3 A Run for the Pasig River Manila Philippines 10 October 2010 10 km, 5 km, 3 km 116,086[4]
4 Bay to Breakers San Francisco, California United States 18 May 1986 12 km 110,000[2]
5 Cursa El Corte Ingles Barcelona Spain 5 June 1994 11 km 109,457[9]
6 Royal Run Copenhagen and other cities around Denmark Denmark 29 May 2023 10 km, 5 km, 1 mile 93,620[10]
7 Broloppet/Broløbet Malmö / Copenhagen Sweden / Denmark 12 June 2000 Half-Marathon 92,266, 79,837[11]
8 City2Surf Sydney Australia 9 August 2020 14 km 86,696, 68,930[12]
9 Dam tot Damloop Amsterdam Netherlands 20 September 2009 10 miles, 4 miles and kids runs 74,020[citation needed]
10 Kalaignar Memorial International Marathon Chennai India 6 August 2023 Marathon, half-marathon, 10 km, 5 km 73,206[13][14]
11 Hong Kong Marathon Hong Kong Hong Kong 15 January 2015 Marathon, half-marathon, 10 km, 10 km wheelchair race, 3 km wheelchair race 73,070[15]
12 Round the Bays Auckland New Zealand 10 March 2013 8.4 km 70,000[16]
13 JPMorgan Corporate Challenge Frankfurt Germany 7 June 2018 5.6 km 64,377[citation needed]
14 Lilac Bloomsday Run Spokane, Washington United States 5 May 1996 12 km 61,298[17]
15 United We Run Beirut Lebanon 10 April 2005 5 km, 60,000[18]
16 Vancouver Sun Run Vancouver, British Columbia Canada 15 April 2012 10 km 89,000,[19] 44,167[20]
17 Göteborgsvarvet Gothenburg Sweden 21 May 2011 Half-Marathon 59,417[21]
18 Peachtree Road Race Atlanta, Georgia United States 4 July 2008 10 km 58,000,[22] 54,954[20]
19 Panipat Pinkathon Panipat, Haryana India 8 March 2019 21 km, 10 km, 5 km or 3 km run/walk 55,498

[23][24]

20 Great North Run Newcastle, England United Kingdom 26 September 2004/ 19 September 2010 Half-Marathon 54,500[25]
21 Bolder Boulder Boulder, Colorado United States 26 May 2008 10 km 54,040[26]
22 Course de l'Escalade Geneva Switzerland 2-3 December 2023 20.5 km, 7.3 km, 4.8 km, 9 km walk and kids runs 53,800[27]
23 New York City Marathon New York City United States 4 November 2018 Marathon 53,121, 52,812[28]
24 City to Surf Perth Australia 25 August 2013 Marathon, Half-Marathon, 12 km, 4 km and Regional Series (Karratha, Geraldton, Albany and Busselton) 50,756[29]
25 London Marathon London, England United Kingdom 2 October 2022 Marathon 50,097[30]
26 Carrera Día Olímpico 5k Olympic Day Run 5K Medellín Colombia 23 June 2013 5 km 50,000[31][32]
27 Kabaka Birthday Run Kampala Uganda 7 April 2019 21 km, 10 km, 5 km 50,000[33][34]
28 Holmenkollstafetten Oslo Norway 9 May 2015 Relay, 18,7 km 49,542, 47,319[35] [b]
29 Paris Marathon Paris France 14 April 2019 Marathon 49,155[36]
30 Grete Waitz-løpet Oslo Norway 4 May 1996 5 km 48,461[37][better source needed]
31 Ottawa Race Weekend Ottawa, Ontario Canada 23/24 May 2014 Marathon, 1/2 Marathon, 10K, 5K, 2K, Kids Run 47,387[38]
32 Bogotá Half Marathon Bogotá, Cundinamarca Colombia 1 August 2010 Half-Marathon, 10 km 44,186[39] [c]
33 Lidingöloppet Lidingö, Stockholm Sweden 24 September 2011 Cross country, 30 km 43,230[40]
34 Monument Avenue 10K Richmond, Virginia United States 2 April 2011 10 km 43,214[41]
35 Vienna City Marathon Vienna Austria 12 April 2015 Marathon 42,657[42]
36 San Silvestre Vallecana Madrid Spain 31 December 2018 10 km 42,500[43]
37 BUPA Great Manchester Run Manchester, England United Kingdom 18 May 2014 10 km 41,300[44]
38 Women's Mini Marathon (10k) Dublin Ireland 2 June 2014 10 km 41,006[45]
39 Mumbai Marathon Mumbai, Maharashtra India 20 January 2013 Marathon, Half-Marathon, Dream Run(6 km), Senior Citizens Race (4.3 km), Champions with Disability category (2.4 km) 40,000[citation needed]
40 Deejay Ten Milano Italy 14 October 2018 10 km, 5 km 40,000[46]
41 Jerusalem Marathon Jerusalem Israel 15 March 2019 Marathon 40,000[47]
42 Broad Street Run Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States 5 May 2013 10 miles 38,144[48]
43 Chicago Marathon Chicago, Illinois United States 7 October 2012 Marathon 37,455[49]
44 Boston Marathon Boston, Massachusetts United States 15 April 1996 Marathon 35,868[50]
45 Berlin Marathon Berlin, Germany 16 September 2018 Marathon 44,000[51]
46 Baloise Antwerp 10 miles Antwerp Belgium 23 April 2023 10 miles 37,500[52]
47 20 km of Brussels Brussels Belgium 28 May 2023 20 km 36,692[53]
48 Sydney Running Festival Sydney Australia 18 September 2011 Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10 km, 3.5 km 35,033[54]
49 OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon Indianapolis, Indiana United States 4 May 2008 Half-Marathon 35,000[55]
50 Great Ethiopia Run Addis Ababa Ethiopia November 2010 10k 35,000[56]
51 Athens Classic Marathon Athens, Attica Greece 9 November 2014 Marathon, 10k, 5k 35,000[57]
52 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle Chicago, Illinois United States March 25, 2012 8k 34,369[58]
53 Bridge to Brisbane Brisbane Australia 11 September 2011 10 km, 5 km 42,546, 34,146[59]
54 HBF Run for a Reason Perth, Western Australia, Australia Australia 22 May 2016 4 km, 12 km and 21 km 33,744[60]
55 Cooper River Bridge Run Charleston, South Carolina United States 27 March 2010 10 km 33,000[61]
56 Grand Prix von Bern Bern Switzerland 10 May 2014 10 miles, 4.7 km, 1.6 km 32,116[62]
57 Philadelphia Marathon Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States 17 November 2013 Marathon, Half-Marathon, 8K 31,471[63]
58 Zevenheuvelenloop Nijmegen Netherlands 16 November 2014 15 km, 7 km 31,307[64]
59 Run to Feed the Hungry Sacramento, California United States 23 November 2023 5 km, 10 km 31,285[65]
60 Amsterdam Marathon Amsterdam Netherlands 19 October 2014 Marathon, Half-Marathon, 8K 31,197[66]
61 Tokyo International Marathon Tokyo Japan 28 February 2010 Marathon 30,170[67]
62 Saint Silvester Road Race São Paulo Brazil 31 December 2018 15 km 30,000[68][69]
63 City-Bay Adelaide Australia 18 September 2011 12 km, 6 km 29,715[70]
64 JPMorgan Corporate Challenge Chicago United States 23 May 2019 5.6 km 28,418[citation needed]
65 Pat's Run Tempe, Arizona United States 18 April 2020 4.2 Miles 28,000[71]
66 Honolulu Marathon Honolulu, Hawaii United States 8 December 2002 Marathon 26,382[72]
67 CPC Loop Den Haag The Hague Netherlands 8 March 2015 Half-Marathon, 10K, 5k 25,425[73]
68 Gold Coast Marathon Gold Coast Australia 2 July 2017 Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10k, 5.7k, 4k, 2k 24,909[74]
69 Great South Run Portsmouth, United Kingdom 30 October 2011 10 miles 24,000[75]
70 Marine Corps Marathon Washington, D.C. United States 28 October 2012 Marathon 23,519[76]
71 La Parisienne Paris France 9 September 2012 6.5 km 23,510[77]
72 Rotterdam Marathon Rotterdam, Netherlands 12 April 2015 Marathon, 1/4 Marathon 23,403[78]
73 Los Angeles Marathon Los Angeles, California United States 8 March 2020 Marathon 28,300[67]
74 Clean Thagadur Marathon-5K Dharmapuri, Tamilnadu India 6 January 2019 5K 21,222[79]
75 Seoul International Marathon Seoul South Korea 13 March 2005 Marathon 21,067[80]
76 Naha Marathon Naha Japan 6 December 2009 Marathon 20,860[76]
77 New York City Half Marathon New York City, New York United States 16 March 2014 Half Marathon 20,828[81]
78 Cardiff Half Marathon Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom 6 October 2019 Half Marathon 20,309[82]
79 Bix 7 Davenport, Iowa United States 21 June 1999 7 miles 20,117[83]
80 Comrades Marathon KwaZulu-Natal Province South Africa 16 June 2000 87.6 km 20,047[84]
  1. ^ bold indicates number of race registrants; not-bold indicates number of race finishers
  2. ^ Participants include 3145 x 15 relay participants and 144 single runners.
  3. ^ Participants include 14,291 in the half marathon and 29,895 in the 10 km.

See also

References

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