In 2017, race crews across the country set up clocks, finish lines, traffic control and water stops for 703 marathons. D.C-area runners finished more than 291 of those races. In fact, more than 14,091 times, a local runner has crossed the finish line. That’s nearly 500 more than 2016, when the region notched 13,576 finishes, but down from 2013’s 15,950 local finishes.
The two biggest local marathons claimed the most local finishers, including the winners.
That all adds up to 369,184.2 miles of racing, not counting extra distance tacked on when runners didn’t hit the tangents.
If you enlarge the map below, you can select layers that will show you how many races had one local finisher, how many had 2-25, how many had 26-99, and how many had 100 or more.
Click here to see the full list of U.S. marathons and D.C. area turnout.
More than half of those finishes (7,615) came at a race within an hour’s drive of downtown Washington, D.C.
A conservative estimate puts our total in race entry fees at $2.3 million.
Almost 200 of those races did not include residence data for finishers, so these numbers are almost certainly higher. If you ran in a race that isn’t noted for having a local finisher, comment and let us know.
Of the 291 races that had finisher residence data:
- 72 had one local finisher
- 167 had 2-25 local finishers
- 39 had 26-99 local finishers
- 13 had more than 100 local finishers
Those finishers came from
- Washington, D.C.: 3,118
- Virginia suburbs: 7,830
- Maryland suburbs: 3,042
Arlington runners boasted 1,708 finishers, Alexandria runners finished 1,4439, and Fairfax had 458. In Maryland, Silver Spring runners crossed 495 finish lines, Rockville runners crossed 279 and Bethesda runners finished 368 marathons.
These statistics were based on results available on Marathon Guide, with more detailed information coming from individual race result websites and special assistance from Sheila Sutton, Anna Newcomb, Bart Rein, Francesca Conte, Kae Thompson and Lowell Ladd. Breaking3, conducted entirely to allow Chris Farley to run a sub-3 hour marathon, was not included in Marathon Guide’s results, and was not an officially sanctioned event, but I included it anyway.
Most popular local races
Top local marathons |
Local finishers
|
Marine Corps | 5,393 |
Rock ‘n’ Roll D.C. | 1,093 |
Baltimore | 342 |
Runner’s Marathon of Reston | 178 |
North Face Endurance Challenge | 92 |
Greenway Trail Marathon | 72 |
Washington’s Birthday Marathon | 70 |
Potomac River Run – Oct | 61 |
Potomac River Run – May | 55 |
B&A Trail Marathon | 54 |
Abebe Bikila Day | 51 |
North Central Trail | 42 |
C&O Canal Towpath | 39 |
Cross County Trail | 23 |
Hawk Indoor | 16 |
Grant-Pierce Indoor | 10 |
Lower Potomac River | 10 |
Farm Park | 8 |
Last Track to Boston | 5 |
Breaking3 | 1 |
Worth the trip
Runners traveled far and wide to run marathons.
We had finishers in every state, but Iowa only had one finisher, Silver Spring’s Adam Lazarus, who was third overall.. He did win the BG26.2 in Kentucky.
Top out of town marathons | Local finishers |
Richmond | 841 |
Chicago | 639 |
Boston | 605 |
New York City | 581 |
Disney World | 447 |
Philadelphia | 354 |
Shamrock | 188 |
Pittsburgh | 101 |
Freedom’s Run | 100 |
Wineglass | 81 |
Rehoboth | 76 |
Steamtown | 74 |
Gettysburg North-South | 67 |
Coastal Delaware | 65 |
New Jersey | 61 |
Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh | 60 |
Grandma’s | 59 |
Twin Cities | 58 |
Erie | 55 |
Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas | 52 |
Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans | 50 |
San Francisco | 48 |
Los Angeles | 47 |
Charlottesville | 45 |
Rock ‘n’ Roll Country Music | 42 |
Miami | 41 |
Champs
Thirty-nine times, a local runner won. Once, a local runner was the only entrant. Thirty-four different locals won a marathon, with Desta Morkama winning four, and Tyler Andrews and Mike Wardian both winning two. All are from Arlington. Morkama and Sarah Bishop won Marine Corps, which had 5,378 local finishers, and Sam Doud and Christie Wetzel won Rock ‘n’ Roll D.C., which had 1,093 local finishers.
Marathon winners | |||
Breaking3 | Chris Farley | 2:52:53 | Arlington |
Hawk Indoor | George Sefzik | 3:01:41 | Alexandria |
Hawk Indoor | Lindsey Hobson | 3:43:33 | Alexandria |
Soldier (Georgia) | Julie Hartenbach | 3:07:29 | Alexandria |
C&O Canal Towpath | Joanna Waldo | 4:05:40 | Bethesda |
Cross County Trail | Dung Le | 4:24:10 | Herndon |
BG26.2 (Kentucky) | Adam Lazarus | 2:58:04 | Silver Spring |
Potomac River Run – Oct | Tyler Andrews | 2:25:08 | Arlington |
Potomac River Run – Oct | Li Fang | 3:35:16 | Falls Church |
Marine Corps | Deta Morkama | 2:25:14 | Arlington |
Marine Corps | Sarah Bishop | 2:45:07 | Fairfax |
Baltimore | Silvia Baage | 2:58:29 | Rockville |
Freedom’s Run | James Pearce | 2:47:36 | Rockville |
Abebe Bikila Day | Desta Morkama | 2:39:55 | Arlington |
Abebe Bikila Day | Alemtsehay Hailu Kakissa | 3:18:09 | Alexandria |
Fenway Park | Mike Wardian | 2:53:54 | Arlington |
Last Track to Boston | Kristen Jaremback | 3:30:23 | Washington, D.C. |
Grant-Pierce Indoor | Benn Thomas | 2:58:26 | Arlington |
Grant-Pierce Indoor | Renee Metzger Butler | 4:04:43 | Bethesda |
Big Elk | Jacob Sinn | 3:44:09 | Arlington |
Vermont City | Tyler Andrews | 2:19:41 | Arlington |
Potomac River Run – May | Desta Morkama | 2:37:22 | Arlington |
Potomac River Run – May | Julie Dickerson | 3:07:46 | Washington, D.C. |
Farm Park | Malcom Lester | 3:35:35 | Washington, D.C. |
Farm Park | Rodica Ursu | 4:00:03 | Chevy Chase |
North Face Endurance Challenge | Bobby Peavey | 2:55:56 | Arlington |
North Face Endurance Challenge | Audrey Velanovich | 4:14:03 | Washington, D.C. |
Big Sur | Mike Wardian | 2:30:29 | Arlington |
Riverboat Series- Tennessee | Kriss Hinders | 5;:01:22 | Washington, D.C. |
B&A Trail | Nicolas Crouzier | 2:31:43 | Gaithersburg |
Shamrock | Jenny Paul | 2:50:40 | Washington, D.C. |
Instant Classic (Western Virginia) | Alexander Hetherington | 3:13:54 | Vienna |
Lower Potomac River | Desta Morkama | 2:34:11 | Arlington |
Rock ‘n’ Roll DC | Sam Doud | 2:26:57 | Washington, D.C. |
Rock ‘n’ Roll DC | Christie Wetzel | 3:04:01 | Falls Church |
Greenway Trail | Chris Bain | 3:46:04 | Cabin John |
Washington’s Birthday | Mark Carter | 2:58:04 | Alexandria |
Washington’s Birthday | Toni Diegoli | 3:28:20 | Potomac |
Charleston (South Carolina) | Jeffrey Greene | 2:44:48 | Leesburg |
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