Istanbul Marathon

Istanbul Marathon
Starting point of the 28th Eurasia Marathon, 2006
Date	November (formerly: October)
Location	Istanbul, Turkey
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon
Primary sponsor	Vodafone
Established	October 1979; 37 years ago (1979-10)
Course records	men's: 2:11:16 (2008), women's: 2:30:17 (2008)
Official site	www.istanbulmarathon.org

The Istanbul Marathon (full name Vodafone Istanbul Marathon, formerly Intercontinental Istanbul Eurasia Marathon; (Turkish: İstanbul Avrasya Maratonu) is an international athletics event organized by the metropolitan municipality in Istanbul, Turkey, every year on a Sunday in October since 1979. In 2012, the month was changed from October to November.

The course is asphalt, mostly flat and is free of traffic. It is the only course in the world where the marathon includes two continents, Asia and Europe, in one race. The marathon starts on the Asian side of the city, shortly before the First Bosphorus Bridge, crosses the bridge giving an outstanding view of the Bosphorus and Istanbul, passes many historic sites including the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, and ends in the İnönü Stadium in the European part. In all, the race crosses three bridges, one over the Bosporus and two over the Golden Horn. The course changed three times over the years, therefore winning scores differ.

To register for the marathon, participants must be 18 years of age or older on the race day. The three race categories for men and women are: marathon, 15 km and public run. A special category for disabled persons exists also. In 2003, 571 athletes (523 men and 48 women) from all over the world took part in the marathon category only. Participation in the public run was with 150,000 people a record set in 1998.

Course record for men was set by Moges Taye of Ethiopia in 2 hours 13 minutes and 37seconds (1997), and for women by Madina Biktagirova of Russia in 2:34:25 (2005). In 2006, course record for men was broken by the Lithuanian athlete Mindaugas Pukstas in 2:12:52, and Madina Biktagirova of Russia renewed her own course record for women from the previous year with 2:28:21.