MBNA Chester Marathon

The MBNA Chester Marathon starts at Chester Racecourse and finishes on Castle Drive, with a city-centre race-day feel in one of England’s old Roman and medieval cities. It is a road marathon usually run in October, with up to 5,000 runners and a field that includes first-time marathoners, club runners, charity runners, older age-group competitors, and people stepping up from the half marathon. The race has been voted the UK’s best marathon and best road marathon by Runner’s World runners, and it hosts the England Athletics Age Group Masters Marathon Championship. The course runs past Chester landmarks, heads out into the Cheshire and North Wales countryside, and comes back beside the River Dee before the finish. Its unusual claim is simple: it is the only UK marathon route that crosses both England and Wales. Race day also includes the 26.2 km Chester Metric Marathon and a Mini-Marathon of about a mile, so the event is not only for marathon runners. The marathon is also the final race in the Chester Triple Medal series; runners who finish the Chester 10K, Chester Half Marathon, and Chester Marathon in the same year earn an extra large gold medal.