Chuncheon Marathon

Chuncheon Marathon
Date	Late October
Location	Chuncheon, South Korea
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon
Established	1946
Official site	Chuncheon Marathon

The Chuncheon International Marathon (Korean: 춘천마라톤) is an annual marathon race which is held in late October in the city of Chuncheon, South Korea. First held in 1946, it is the second oldest marathon in the country after the Seoul International Marathon. Sponsored by The Chosun Ilbo, a major daily newspaper in South Korea, the race is one of two in the country which holds IAAF Silver Label status, along with Gyeongju International Marathon.

The 1936 Summer Olympics saw two Koreans win Olympic medals: Sohn Kee-chung took the gold while Nam Sung-yong was the bronze medallist. Both runners had competed in the colours of Japan, as the competition took place when Korea was part of the Japanese empire. When Japan was defeated in World War II, Korea was liberated and the first "Chosun Ilbo Shortened Marathon" was held the following year, building upon the newly free country's running tradition. Suh Yun-bok, a sports coach at Anyang Technical College, won the first race and later took victory at the Boston Marathon. The race was extended to the marathon distance for the next year and the event was held on the eleventh anniversary of Sohn's Olympic win.

The race was not held from 1950 to 1953 due to the Korean War, but the annual competition has been uninterrupted since then. Marathon running became less popular in Korea in the 1960–70s and it was not until the 1980s that there was a resurgence of interest in the event, which saw women competing in the programme for the first time. Improving course times eventually resulted in Kim Wan-Ki's South Korean record run of 2:11:02 to win in 1991. The national race turned into an international one in 1995 and top runners from Kenya and Japan became frequent participants. The 1996 event hosted the Asian Marathon Championship race.

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