JTBC Seoul Marathon

The JoongAng Seoul Marathon is an annual footrace that takes place in Seoul, South Korea, usually in early November. First held in 1999, the race was established as a commemoration of Olympic marathon race which was held as part of the 1988 Seoul Olympics.[1] It features a men's marathon elite race, and also has non-professional races of 10 km as well as the marathon distance. Elite international competitors are usually not invited to the women's race, thus that section tends to be a competition between Korean women only.[2]

Not to be confused with Seoul International Marathon.
JTBC Seoul Marathon
LocationSeoul, South Korea
Event typeRoad
DistanceMarathon
Primary sponsorJTBC
Established1999
Course recordsMen's: 2:05:29 (2019)
Ethiopia Shifera Tamru
Women's: 2:29:32 (2007)
South Korea Lee Eun-jung
Official siteJTBC Seoul Marathon

Sponsored by JoongAng Ilbo, the JoongAng Seoul Marathon one of two annual international marathons in the city: the Seoul International Marathon is held in March and is sponsored by rival newspaper The Dong-a Ilbo.[3] It has received IAAF Bronze Label Road Race status and hosted the Asian Marathon Championship in 2004.[4]

It began as a half marathon with around 1300 participants in the first run.[5] The course was selected as a national championship race from 2001 onwards and it became a full marathon course the following year. A 5 km short course event was held at the inaugural edition and it featured for three years until its discontinuation in 2002. In 2007 it was awarded Silver Label Race Road status by the IAAF and by 2008 around 25,000 runners were competing at each annual event.[6]

Tracing a loop across Seoul, the course is generally flat, which allows for fast finishing times.[1] It takes place in the south-east part of the city, heading into the suburbs towards Seongnam before looping back to finish in the Jamsil Olympic Stadium.[7] The fast course has resulted in a number of sub-2:09 runs and even one sub-2:06 run in the men's race over the course's history.[8][9] James Kwambai is the men's course record holder with 2:05:50 hours and is the most successful athlete at the race, having won three times consecutively from 2011 to 2013.[10] The women's course record is 2:29:32 hours, set by national runner Lee Eun-Jung.

Past winners

Half marathon
Edition Year Men's winner Time (h:m:s) Women's winner Time (h:m:s)
1st 1999  Baek Seung-Do (KOR) 1:04:41  Kwon Eun-ju (KOR) 1:13:58
2nd 2000  You Young-Jin (KOR) 1:04:06  Yoon Sun-Sook (KOR) 1:13:31
3rd 2001  John Nada Saya (TAN) 1:01:58  Bae Hae-Jin (KOR) 1:13:06

Marathon

Key:   Course record   Asian Marathon Championship race

Edition Year Men's winner Time (h:m:s) Women's winner Time (h:m:s)
4th 2002  Mbarak Hussein (KEN) 2:09:46  Oh Jung-hee (KOR) 2:37:58
5th 2003  Pavel Loskutov (EST) 2:09:15  Chung Yun-hee (KOR) 2:30:50
6th 2004  Pavel Loskutov (EST) 2:09:34  Zhang Shujing (CHN) 2:36:22
7th 2005  William Kiplagat (KEN) 2:08:27  Kwon Keun-young (KOR) 2:49:09
8th 2006  Jason Mbote (KEN) 2:08:13  Kim Hye-kyong (KOR) 2:40:36
9th 2007  Joshua Chelanga (KEN) 2:08:14  Lee Eun-jung (KOR) 2:29:32
10th 2008  Solomon Molla (ETH) 2:08:46  Lee Sun-young (KOR) 2:29:58
11th 2009  Francis Kibiwott (KEN) 2:09:00  Lee Sun-young (KOR) 2:34:22
12th 2010  David Kiyeng (KEN) 2:08:15  Kim Eun-jung (KOR) 2:44:25
13th 2011  James Kwambai (KEN) 2:08:50  Choi Gyeong-hui (KOR) 2:40:49
14th 2012  James Kwambai (KEN) 2:05:50  Choi Gyeong-hui (KOR) 2:39:20
15th 2013  James Kwambai (KEN) 2:06:25  Park Ho-sun (KOR) 2:31:32
16th 2014  Feyisa Bekele (ETH) 2:07:43  Ahn Seul-ki (KOR) 2:37:47
17th 2015  Tebalu Zawude (ETH) 2:08:46  Park Ho-sun (KOR) 2:36:30
18th 2016  Joel Kemboi (KEN) 2:08:07  Kim Sun-ae (KOR) 2:44:13
19th 2017  Thomas Rono (KEN) 2:09:13  Kim Do-yeon (KOR) 2:31:24
20th 2018  Asefa Mengstu (ETH) 2:08:11  Kim Seong-eun (KOR) 2:38:47
21st 2019  Shifera Tamru (ETH) 2:05:29  Lee Sook-jung (KOR) 2:48:15

References
  1. Travel » Other Marathons » JoongAng Seoul Marathon. Singapore Marathon. Retrieved on 2009-11-07.
  2. Yelena Kurdyumova and Sergey Porada (2008-10-31). "Mbote gunning for his own course record at JoongAng Seoul Marathon". IAAF. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  3. Jalava, Mirko (2005-11-07). "Kiplagat takes 2:08 course record victory in Seoul". IAAF. Archived from the original on 2011-04-26. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
  4. Asian Championships Marathon. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2013-03-02). Retrieved on 2013-09-28.
  5. Feature. JoongAng Seoul Marathon. Retrieved on 2009-11-07. Archived 2012-07-15 at archive.today
  6. History. JoongAng Seoul Marathon. Retrieved on 2009-11-07. Archived 2013-01-27 at archive.today
  7. Course. JoongAng Seoul Marathon. Retrieved on 2009-11-07. Archived 2010-10-15 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Jalava, Mirko (2006-11-05). "Kiplagat's course record is broken with 2:08:13 run in Seoul". IAAF. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  9. Yelena Kurdyumova and Sergey Porada (2008-11-02). "Molla takes surprise victory in Seoul". IAAF. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  10. Kwambai secures hat-trick in Seoul. IAAF (2013-11-03). Retrieved on 2013-11-03.
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