# Valencia Marathon

The Valencia Marathon (also known as Marathon Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon road running event hosted by Valencia, Spain, since 1981. It is categorized as a Platinum Label Road Race by World Athletics. The race is organised by the Valencian sports club SD Correcaminos [es], which also organises the annual Valencia Half Marathon.
The marathon is ranked Nº1 amongst marathons in the Spanish Road Races Ranking.

## History

The marathon was first held in 1981 as a popular race known as the Marató Popular de València.
From 2011 to 2014, the marathon was known as the Divina Pastora Valencia Marathon.
In 2015, the marathon was known as the Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Marathon.
On 7 September 2020, the race organizer announced the cancellation of the 2020 in-person edition of the mass race due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants given the option of running the race virtually, transferring their entry to 2021, or obtaining a full refund. Three days later, on 10 September, the organizer announced that an "Elite Edition" of the race would be held on 6 December, and that the event would also include a half marathon race that year. Both races would use a course very similar to that used in the Valencia Half Marathon, with marathoners running two laps of the course. On the day of the race, four half marathon runners broke the previous world record of 58:01, with Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie setting a new world record of 57:32. In addition, four marathon runners broke the previous course record of 2:03:51, with Kenyan Evans Chebet setting a new course record of 2:03:00, the sixth-fastest marathon at the time, while Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir also broke the previous course record of 2:18:30 with a new course record of 2:17:16, the fifth-fastest marathon at the time.
In 2023, Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia broke the course record with a time of 2:01:48. The previous record was held by Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya.

## Course

The marathon runs on roughly a loop course that begins at Pont de Montolivet [ca] and ends next to the nearby Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe.
The course for the elite-only races in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic used a modified version of the Valencia Half Marathon course, with marathon runners running two laps.

## Winners

Key:
    Course record (in bold)
    National championship race

### Marathon

| Ed. | Year | Men's winner | Time | Women's winner | Time |
| 1 | 1981 | Teodoro Pérez (ESP) | 2:26:57 | Nuria de Miguel (ESP) | 3:20:50 |
| 2 | 1982 | Antonio Castells (ESP) | 2:28:19 | Nuria de Miguel (ESP) | 3:29:26 |
| 3 | 1983 | Teodoro Pérez (ESP) | 2:20:58 | María Victoria García (ESP) | 3:14:43 |
| 4 | 1984 | Vicente Antón (ESP) | 2:14:01 | Juana María Pablos (ESP) | 2:57:28 |
| 5 | 1985 | Ramiro Matamoros (ESP) | 2:16:56 | Nuria de Miguel (ESP) | 3:03:49 |
| 6 | 1986 | Paweł Lorens (POL) | 2:16:31 | Małgorzata Szumińska (POL) | 2:46:31 |
| 7 | 1987 | Mirosław Bugaj (POL) | 2:19:06 | Ewa Wrzosek (POL) | 2:46:54 |
| 8 | 1988 | Alfonso Abellán (ESP) | 2:14:42 | María Luisa Irízar (ESP) | 2:41:03 |
| 9 | 1989 | Mirosław Dzienisik (POL) | 2:19:09 | Elisenda Pucurull (ESP) | 2:46:19 |
| 10 | 1990 | Radamés González (CUB) | 2:15:57 | Elisenda Pucurull (ESP) | 2:43:36 |
| 11 | 1991 | Sergey Prokhorov (URS) | 2:17:15 | Elisenda Pucurull (ESP) | 2:43:14 |
| 12 | 1992 | Cephas Matafi (ZIM) | 2:15:14 | Yekaterina Khramenkova (BLR) | 2:36:03 |
| 13 | 1993 | Leonid Shvetsov (RUS) | 2:15:04 | Mónica Pont (ESP) | 2:35:30 |
| 14 | 1994 | Yevgeniy Zarakovskiy (RUS) | 2:16:20 | Zinaida Semenova (RUS) | 2:34:08 |
| 15 | 1995 | Lars Andervang (SWE) | 2:19:20 | Valentina Lyakhova (RUS) | 2:46:34 |
| 16 | 1996 | Eduardo Alcaina (ESP) | 2:17:53 | Zinaida Semenova (RUS) | 2:43:05 |
| 17 | 1997 | Eduardo Alcaina (ESP) | 2:18:07 | Faustina María Ramos (ESP) | 2:53:35 |
| 18 | 1998 | Samuel Okemwa (KEN) | 2:19:51 | Esther Pedrosa (ESP) | 2:44:30 |
| 19 | 1999 | Jackton Odhiambo (KEN) | 2:15:35 | Olga Sokolova (RUS) | 2:42:27 |
| 20 | 2000 | Thomas Magut (KEN) | 2:15:05 | María Luisa Muñoz (ESP) | 2:32:34 |
| 21 | 2001 | John Miaka (KEN) | 2:13:46 | María Luisa Larraga (ESP) | 2:30:10 |
| 22 | 2002 | Samuel Tangus (KEN) | 2:13:05 | María Abel (ESP) | 2:28:08 |
| 23 | 2003 | Samuel Tangus (KEN) | 2:14:43 | Mulu Seboka (ETH) | 2:46:33 |
| 24 | 2004 | Eric Kiptum (KEN) | 2:14:32 | Živilė Balčiūnaitė (LTU) | 2:41:05 |
| 25 | 2005 | Rachid Ghanmouni (MAR) | 2:14:03 | Nadezhda Zolotareva (RUS) | 2:43:24 |
| 26 | 2006 | Derba Bedade (ETH) | 2:14:23 | Teresa Gracia (ESP) | 2:57:02 |
| 27 | 2007 | Samson Loywapet (KEN) | 2:12:04 | Alemu Zinash (ETH) | 2:39:08 |
| 28 | 2008 | Philip Manyim (KEN) | 2:11:29 | María José Pueyo (ESP) | 2:32:22 |
| 29 | 2009 | Andrés Micó (ESP) | 2:26:43 | Maxine McKinnon (GBR) | 2:50:46 |
| 30 | 2010 | David Njagi (KEN) | 2:09:45 | Gladys Chebet (KEN) | 2:42:06 |
| 31 | 2011 | Isaiah Kiplagat (KEN) | 2:07:59 | Marshet Jimma (ETH) | 2:34:23 |
| 32 | 2012 | Luka Kanda (KEN) | 2:08:14 | Birhane Dibaba (ETH) | 2:29:22 |
| 33 | 2013 | Felix Keny (KEN) | 2:07:14 | Azalech Masresha (ETH) | 2:27:01 |
| 34 | 2014 | Jacob Kendagor (KEN) | 2:08:39 | Beata Naigambo (NAM) | 2:30:54 |
| 35 | 2015 | John Mwangangi (KEN) | 2:06:13 | Beata Naigambo (NAM) | 2:26:57 |
| 36 | 2016 | Victor Kipchirchir (KEN) | 2:07:36 | Valary Aiyabei (KEN) | 2:24:46 |
| 37 | 2017 | Sammy Kitwara (KEN) | 2:05:15 | Aberu Zennebe [ca] (ETH) | 2:26:17 |
| 38 | 2018 | Leul Gebresilase (ETH) | 2:04:31 | Ashete Bekere (ETH) | 2:21:14 |
| 39 | 2019 | Kinde Atanaw (ETH) | 2:03:51 | Roza Dereje (ETH) | 2:18:30 |
| 40 | 2020 | Evans Chebet (KEN) | 2:03:00 | Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) | 2:17:16 |
| 41 | 2021 | Lawrence Cherono (KEN) | 2:05:11 | Nancy Jelagat (KEN) | 2:19:30 |
| 42 | 2022 | Kelvin Kiptum (KEN) | 2:01:53 | Amane Beriso (ETH) | 2:14:58 |
| 43 | 2023 | Sisay Lemma (ETH) | 2:01:48 | Worknesh Degefa (ETH) | 2:15:51 |
| 44 | 2024 | Sabastian Sawe (KEN) | 2:02:05 | Alemu Megertu (ETH) | 2:16:49 |

### Half marathon

The 40th edition of the marathon, held during the coronavirus pandemic, was an elite-only event that also included a half marathon race.
| Year | Male Winner | Time | Female Winner | Time | Rf. |
| 2020 | Kibiwott Kandie (KEN) | 57:32 WR | Genzebe Dibaba (ETH) | 1:05:18 | |
    Sources:
   * Previous editions results
   * https://arrs.run/HP_ValMa.htm

### Wins by country

| Country | Men's race | Women's race | Total |
| Spain | 9 | 17 | 26 |
| Kenya | 19 | 4 | 23 |
| Ethiopia | 4 | 12 | 16 |
| Russia | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Poland | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Namibia | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Cuba | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Zimbabwe | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sweden | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Morocco | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Belarus | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 0 | 1 | 1 |