The Philadelphia Distanced Run is an annual

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ac ...

event which takes place in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on the third Sunday of September. The competition was established in 1978 as the Philadelphia Distance Run and was founded by Gene H. Martenson, and was held under this name until 2009. Starting in 2010 when Competitor Group Inc. bought the rights to the race, it has been part of the

Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series is a collection of road running events owned and operated by the IRONMAN Group's Competitor Group, part of Advance Publications. The series is known for lining race routes with live bands, cheerleaders and themed ...

of running competitions. It is now a hybrid profit/non-profit model race. The race quickly became a top level race with international competition: four-time Olympic champion

Lasse Virén Lasse Artturi Virén (born 22 July 1949) is a Finnish former long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Virén recaptured the image of the "Flying Finns" promoted by runners like Hannes Kolehmainen, Paa ...

of Finland won at the second edition and he was followed by further foreign Olympic medalists in New Zealand's

Rod Dixon Rodney Phillip Dixon (born 13 July 1950) is a former New Zealand middle- to long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the New Zealand at the 1972 Summer Olympics, 1972 Olympics in Munich, and in 1983 won the New Yo ...

and

Michael Musyoki Michael Musyoki (born May 28, 1956) is a retired long-distance runner from Kenya. He won the bronze medal in 10,000 metres at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Running career Collegiate Musyoki was recruited by University of Texas at El Paso, a school ...

of Kenya.

Joan Samuelson Joan Benoit Samuelson (born May 16, 1957) is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American wo ...

took consecutive victories in the women's race in 1983 to 1985, which included

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

times of 1:09:14 hours and 1:08:34 hours in 1983 and 1984. The latter mark stood as the American record for over twenty years and was broken by

Deena Kastor Deena Michelle Kastor (née Drossin; born February 14, 1973) is an American long-distance runner. She was a holder of American records in the marathon (2006-2022) and numerous road distances. She won the bronze medal in the women's marathon at t ...

at the 2005 edition of the Philadelphia Distance Run, with her winning time of 1:07:53 hours. The men's race has also seen historically fast times: Michael Musyoki's winning time of 1:01:36 hours in 1982 was a world record and in 1985

Mark Curp Mark Curp (born January 5, 1959, in Chillicothe, Missouri) held the world record for the half marathon from 1985 until 1990. He continued holding the American record in the half marathon until a new record was set by Ryan Hall in 2007. Curp atte ...

ran a world record time of 1:00:55 hours. On top of this,

Dionicio Cerón Dionicio Cerón Pizarro (born October 9, 1965 in Toluca) is a former marathon runner from Mexico, whose personal best in the classic distance was 2:08:30. He represented his native country two times at the Summer Olympics: in 1992 and 1996. He ...

's winning time of 1:00:46 hours in 1990 was recognised by the

Association of Road Racing Statisticians The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road record ...

as their world best mark, as per their stricter criteria. The current course records were set in 2011 and both are the fastest times ever recorded for the half marathon on American soil:

Mathew Kisorio Mathew Kipkoech Kisorio (born 16 May 1989) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes in road running and cross country running competitions. He has a half marathon best of 58:46 minutes (making him the third fastest ever) and a mar ...

ran the fourth fastest time ever (58:46 minutes) while Kim Smith's women's record of 1:07:11 hours made her the seventh fastest female ever in the half marathon. The 2020 and 2021 editions of the race were cancelled due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. In February of 2021, a local group of race organizers announced the return of the Philadelphia Distance Run starting in September, 2021.

Winners

2005 WC Marathon Women 456 Catherine Ndereba

Key:

Notes

References

{{reflist ;List of winners
Philadelphia Half Marathon

(2011-09-21). Retrieved on 2011-10-05.

External links

Official website
(archived) Half marathons in the United States Sports competitions in Philadelphia Sports in Philadelphia Recurring sporting events established in 1978 1978 establishments in Pennsylvania