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

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

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.

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.