Four out of 10 U.S. marathons included a D.C.-area finisher in 2017

Runners pass through the second mile of the 2017 Marine Corps Marathon. Photos: Charlie Ban

In 2017, race crews across the country set up clocks, finish lines, traffic control and water stops for 703 marathons. D.C-area runners finished more than 291 of those races. In fact, more than 14,091 times, a local runner has crossed the finish line. That’s nearly 500 more than 2016, when the region notched 13,576 finishes, but down from 2013’s 15,950 local finishes.

The two biggest local marathons claimed the most local finishers, including the winners.

That all adds up to 369,184.2 miles of racing, not counting extra distance tacked on when runners didn’t hit the tangents.

If you enlarge the map below, you can select layers that will show you how many races had one local finisher, how many had 2-25, how many had 26-99, and how many had 100 or more.

Click here to see the full list of U.S. marathons and D.C. area turnout.

More than half of those finishes (7,615) came at a race within an hour’s drive of downtown Washington, D.C.

A conservative estimate puts our total in race entry fees at $2.3 million.

Almost 200 of those races did not include residence data for finishers, so these numbers are almost certainly higher. If you ran in a race that isn’t noted for having a local finisher, comment and let us know.

Of the 291 races that had finisher residence data:

  • 72 had one local finisher
  • 167 had 2-25 local finishers
  • 39 had 26-99 local finishers
  • 13 had more than 100 local finishers

Those finishers came from

  • Washington, D.C.: 3,118
  • Virginia suburbs: 7,830
  • Maryland suburbs: 3,042

Arlington runners boasted 1,708 finishers, Alexandria runners finished 1,4439, and Fairfax had 458. In Maryland, Silver Spring runners crossed 495 finish lines, Rockville runners crossed 279 and Bethesda runners finished 368 marathons.

These statistics were based on results available on Marathon Guide, with more detailed information coming from individual race result websites and special assistance from Sheila Sutton, Anna Newcomb, Bart Rein, Francesca Conte, Kae Thompson and Lowell Ladd. Breaking3, conducted entirely to allow Chris Farley to run a sub-3 hour marathon, was not included in Marathon Guide’s results, and was not an officially sanctioned event, but I included it anyway.

 

Most popular local races

Top local marathons
Local finishers
Marine Corps 5,393
Rock ‘n’ Roll D.C. 1,093
Baltimore 342
Runner’s Marathon of Reston 178
North Face Endurance Challenge 92
Greenway Trail Marathon 72
Washington’s Birthday Marathon 70
Potomac River Run – Oct 61
Potomac River Run – May 55
B&A Trail Marathon 54
Abebe Bikila Day 51
North Central Trail 42
C&O Canal Towpath 39
Cross County Trail 23
Hawk Indoor 16
Grant-Pierce Indoor 10
Lower Potomac River 10
Farm Park 8
Last Track to Boston 5
Breaking3 1

Worth the trip

Runners traveled far and wide to run marathons.

We had finishers in every state, but Iowa only had one finisher, Silver Spring’s Adam Lazarus, who was third overall.. He did win the BG26.2 in Kentucky.

Top out of town marathons Local finishers
Richmond 841
Chicago 639
Boston 605
New York City 581
Disney World 447
Philadelphia 354
Shamrock 188
Pittsburgh 101
Freedom’s Run 100
Wineglass 81
Rehoboth 76
Steamtown 74
Gettysburg North-South 67
Coastal Delaware 65
New Jersey 61
Rock ‘n’ Roll Raleigh 60
Grandma’s 59
Twin Cities 58
Erie 55
Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas 52
Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans 50
San Francisco 48
Los Angeles 47
Charlottesville 45
Rock ‘n’ Roll Country Music 42
Miami 41

 

Champs

Thirty-nine times, a local runner won. Once, a local runner was the only entrant. Thirty-four different locals won a marathon, with Desta Morkama winning four, and Tyler Andrews and Mike Wardian both winning two. All are from Arlington. Morkama and Sarah Bishop won Marine Corps, which had 5,378 local finishers, and Sam Doud and Christie Wetzel won Rock ‘n’ Roll D.C., which had 1,093 local finishers.

Marathon winners
Breaking3 Chris Farley 2:52:53 Arlington
Hawk Indoor George Sefzik 3:01:41 Alexandria
Hawk Indoor Lindsey Hobson 3:43:33 Alexandria
Soldier (Georgia) Julie Hartenbach 3:07:29 Alexandria
C&O Canal Towpath Joanna Waldo 4:05:40 Bethesda
Cross County Trail Dung Le 4:24:10 Herndon
BG26.2 (Kentucky) Adam Lazarus 2:58:04 Silver Spring
Potomac River Run – Oct Tyler Andrews 2:25:08 Arlington
Potomac River Run – Oct Li Fang 3:35:16 Falls Church
Marine Corps Deta Morkama 2:25:14 Arlington
Marine Corps Sarah Bishop 2:45:07 Fairfax
Baltimore Silvia Baage 2:58:29 Rockville
Freedom’s Run James Pearce 2:47:36 Rockville
Abebe Bikila Day Desta Morkama 2:39:55 Arlington
Abebe Bikila Day Alemtsehay Hailu Kakissa 3:18:09 Alexandria
Fenway Park Mike Wardian 2:53:54 Arlington
Last Track to Boston Kristen Jaremback 3:30:23 Washington, D.C.
Grant-Pierce Indoor Benn Thomas 2:58:26 Arlington
Grant-Pierce Indoor Renee Metzger Butler 4:04:43 Bethesda
Big Elk Jacob Sinn 3:44:09 Arlington
Vermont City Tyler Andrews 2:19:41 Arlington
Potomac River Run – May Desta Morkama 2:37:22 Arlington
Potomac River Run – May Julie Dickerson 3:07:46 Washington, D.C.
Farm Park Malcom Lester 3:35:35 Washington, D.C.
Farm Park Rodica Ursu 4:00:03 Chevy Chase
North Face Endurance Challenge Bobby Peavey 2:55:56 Arlington
North Face Endurance Challenge Audrey Velanovich 4:14:03 Washington, D.C.
Big Sur Mike Wardian 2:30:29 Arlington
Riverboat Series- Tennessee Kriss Hinders 5;:01:22 Washington, D.C.
B&A Trail Nicolas Crouzier 2:31:43 Gaithersburg
Shamrock Jenny Paul 2:50:40 Washington, D.C.
Instant Classic (Western Virginia) Alexander Hetherington 3:13:54 Vienna
Lower Potomac River Desta Morkama 2:34:11 Arlington
Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Sam Doud 2:26:57 Washington, D.C.
Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Christie Wetzel 3:04:01 Falls Church
Greenway Trail Chris Bain 3:46:04 Cabin John
Washington’s Birthday Mark Carter 2:58:04 Alexandria
Washington’s Birthday Toni Diegoli 3:28:20 Potomac
Charleston (South Carolina) Jeffrey Greene 2:44:48 Leesburg

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