On Sunday, thousands of eager marathoners from across the globe took the streets of Valencia, Spain, with the goal of a speedy finishing time on one of the world’s fastest courses. A sub-three-hour marathon time is a benchmark many aspire to achieve, but it wouldn’t have gotten runners as far as they think.
This year’s Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich Marathon saw a record number of finishers under the three-hour mark. If you ran 2:59:59 on the dot, it would have placed you in 5,200th out of 28,000 finishers. In comparison, the same time at the 2024 Toronto Waterfront Marathon would have placed you 293rd overall–and 2,660th at the 2024 Boston Marathon, which shows Valencia’s incredible depth.
Although the race saw a record number of sub-three finishers, only 512 runners went under two hours and 30 minutes, with 126 from France. This number was slightly lower than the 560 runners who achieved the mark in 2023.
Of the 28,000+ finishers, just over 6,100 were women, making up only 21 per cent of the 2024 field. The age group with the most sub-three finishers was the men’s 18-35 classification, with 1,056 runners. The average marathon finishing time for all participants in Valencia was 3:39:12, with men averaging 3:33:30 and women averaging 4:00:00.
Sub-three might not have the same glory it used to have in the pre-carbon-plated shoe era, but the time is still considered within the top five per cent among marathon times—just maybe not at Valencia. The marathon in the Spanish city has historically drawn around 30,000 runners from over 120 different countries, bolstered by its reputation as one of the world’s fastest courses.
Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe won this year’s race in his marathon debut, becoming the fifth fastest man in history in 2:02:05. Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu won the women’s race with a time of 2:16:49.
You can view the full results from the 2024 Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich Marathon, here.
