The JoongAng Seoul Marathon is an annual footrace that takes place in Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

, usually in early November. First held in 1999, the race was established as a commemoration of Olympic marathon race which was held as part of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It features a men's marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 elite race, and also has non-professional races of 10 km as well as the marathon distance. Elite international competitors are usually not invited to the women's race, thus that section tends to be a competition between Korean women only.

Sponsored by JoongAng Ilbo

JoongAng Ilbo

JoongAng Ilbo is a conservative newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the "big three newspapers" in South Korea. It has a circulation of 1.96 million copies in South Korea . Its average page count per copy is around 52...

, the JoongAng Seoul Marathon one of two annual international marathons in the city: the Seoul International Marathon

Seoul International Marathon

The Seoul International Marathon, also known as the Dong-A Ilbo Seoul Marathon, is an annual marathon race that takes place in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of two annual races over the 42.195 km classic distance in the city, alongside the JoongAng Seoul Marathon which is held in November. It...

 is held in March and is sponsored by rival newspaper The Dong-a Ilbo. It has received IAAF Bronze Label Road Race status.

It began as a half marathon

Half marathon

A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...

 with around 1300 participants in the first run. The course was selected as a national championship race from 2001 onwards and it became a full marathon course the following year. A 5 km short course event was held at the inaugural edition and it featured for three years until its discontinuation in 2002. In 2007 it was awarded Silver Label Race Road status by the IAAF and by 2008 around 25,000 runners were competing at each annual event.

Tracing a loop across Seoul, the course is generally flat, which allows for fast finishing times. It takes place in the south-east part of the city, heading into the suburbs towards Seongnam

Seongnam

Seongnam is the second largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi province after Suwon and the 9th largest city in the country, with a population of nearly 1 million...

 before looping back to finish in the Jamsil Olympic Stadium. The fast course has resulted in a number of sub-2:09 runs in the men's race over the course's history.

Half marathon

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )	Women's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )
1st	1999		1:04:41		1:13:58
2nd	2000		1:04:06		1:13:31
3rd	2001		1:01:58		1:13:06

Marathon

Key:

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )	Women's winner	Time (h Hour The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds... :m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )
4th	2002		2:09:46		2:37:58
5th	2003		2:09:15		2:30:50
6th	2004		2:09:34		2:36:22
7th	2005		2:08:27		2:49:09
8th	2006		2:08:13		2:40:36
9th	2007		2:08:14		2:29:32
10th	2008		2:08:46		2:29:58
11th	2009		2:09:00		2:34:22
12th	2010		2:08:15		2:44:25
13th	2011		2:08:50		2:40:49