World Marathon Majors

World Marathon Majors
Sport Marathon running
Founded 2006
No. of teams individual sport
Official website www.worldmarathonmajors.com

The Abbott World Marathon Majors, originally known as the World Marathon Majors, is a championship-style competition for marathon runners that started in 2006. It comprises six annual races (five 2006–2011, four 2012) for the cities of Tokyo (starting in 2013),[1][2] Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City (2006–11, 2013–present), a biennial race, the IAAF World Championships Marathon, and a quadrennial race, the Olympic Games Marathon.

Each WMM series originally spanned two calendar years; the second year of a series overlapped with the first year of the next. Starting in 2015, each series will begin with a City race and end with the following City race; Series IX started in February 2015 at the Tokyo Marathon and will end there in February 2016; Series X will start and finish with the Boston Marathon 2016/2017.[3] It began being sponsored by Abbott in 2015.[4]

At the end of each WMM series the leading man and woman each win $500,000, making a total prize of one million U.S. dollars.[5]

Scoring system

Athletes who competed in the marathons originally received points for finishing in any of the top five places (1st 25; 2nd 15; 3rd 10; 4th 5 and 5th 1). Their four highest ranks over the two-year period were counted; if an athlete scored points in more than this number, the athlete's four best races were scored. To be eligible for the jackpot, an athlete had to compete in at least one qualifying race in each calendar year of the series.

In 2015 the scoring was revised to 1st 25 points, then 16 (2nd), 9 (3rd), 4 (4th) and 1 (5th). The two highest ranks during the scoring period will be counted, with only the best two if more than that number.

For the first three series if there were equal top scores at the end of the competition the tiebreakers were head-to-head competition and, if necessary, a majority vote of the five WMM race directors. This happened in the 2007–08 woman's competition.

Beginning in 2009–10 following best head-to-head record, the following tie-breakers were implemented, in descending order: the person who achieved his or her points in the fewest races, the person who won the most Qualifying Races during the period, the person with the fastest average time in their scoring races, and a majority vote of the six race directors. If the final circumstance is necessary, the Race Directors may award the title jointly.

Major marathons

The competition has completed seven race series since its inception.

  1. Tokyo Marathon—Tokyo, Japan. The marathon takes place in late February and joined the World Marathon Majors in 2013 as the sixth race.
  2. Boston Marathon—Boston, USA. One of the five original marathons included in the series, the marathon takes place on the regional holiday Patriots' Day, i.e., the third Monday in April.
  3. London Marathon—London, UK. The London Marathon takes place annually in late April. It was one of the five founding marathons for the World Marathon Majors in 2006.
  4. Berlin Marathon—Berlin, Germany. The race occurs in late September, and is one of the five founding marathons to begin the World Marathon Majors in 2006.
  5. Chicago Marathon—Chicago, USA. As one of the five marathons to join at the time the World Marathon Majors was founded, the Chicago Marathon takes place annually in early October.
  6. New York City Marathon—New York City, USA. The NYC Marathon occurs on the first Sunday in November. It was originally a part of the World Marathon Majors founding group, and has participated since the start in 2006. In 2012, the NYC Marathon was cancelled in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, causing political disagreements in the city of New York.[6] Consequently, the New York City Marathon was not an active part of the World Marathon Majors for the year 2012. In 2013, the marathon resumed as per usual.
  7. IAAF World Championships in Athletics, alternating, in odd-numbered years. The World Championships take place in each odd-numbered year and is counted as a World Marathon Major for IAAF purposes.
  8. Olympic Games, at four-year intervals, in leap years. The Olympic Games marathon is counted as a World Marathon Major for IAAF purposes.

Leaderboards

Main article: List of final standings of the World Marathon Majors

See also

References

  1. ↑ McCracken, Amanda. "World Marathon Majors 2014 Season Kicks Off in Japan". Running Times. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  2. ↑ Belson, Ken. "Tokyo Will Be Added as Sixth Major Marathon". New York Times. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  3. ↑ How It Works. World Marathon Majors. Retrieved on 2011-11-07.
  4. ↑ "ABBOTT CELEBRATES THE POWER OF HEALTH AND ACHIEVEMENT AS FIRST-EVER TITLE SPONSOR OF WORLD MARATHON MAJORS". World Marathon Majors. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Prize Purse. World Marathon Majors. Retrieved on 2011-11-07.
  6. ↑ Belson, Ken. "After Days of Pressure, Marathon Is Off". New York Times. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
Series rankings lists

External links

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