Isle of Wight Marathon
Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
History:
The Isle of Wight Marathon celebrated it’s 60th Anniversary in 2016, so 2023 will be the 67th running of this historic race.
It has been run continuously since 1957, making it the longest running (and one of the first to be held) in the U.K.
The Isle of Wight Marathon is included in the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) list of longest running marathons in the world. When the ARRS list was last updated in 2017, it was 25th in the world. Since the cancelation of lots of other marathons in 2020 & 2021, the Isle of Wight Marathon is probably now one of, or the longest running marathon in the UK, possibly the world. For details see ARRS and click on ‘Isle of Wight’ for the list of winners and times.
The inaugural event in 1957 was won by Ken Honney (Walton A.C.) in 2:35:51.
In 1964 Dale Grieg (Paisley A.C.) set a women’s world record (recognised by ARRS) of 3:27:25, and was the first woman in the world to run under 3:30:00. In 1976 the race was officially opened to women with the inaugural event won by A Lewis (Bromsgrove & Redditch A.C.) in 3:21:06. In 1978 the race hosted the inaugural UK Women’s Marathon Championship.
If you have an interest in the history a fully searchable / sortable database of all results since 1957 is available here: