The Taipei Marathon ( zh, 臺北馬拉松) is an annual

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

held in Taipei, Taiwan, on the third weekend in December. The event has an Elite Label from World Athletics and has been held annually since 1986. It is the preeminent long-distance annual running event in Taiwan. It ranks among Taiwan's top four marathon events, alongside the New Taipei City Wan Jin Shi Marathon, the Taiwan's Rice Heaven Tianzhong Marathon, and the

Kaohsiung Fubon Marathon The Kaohsiung Fubon Marathon () is an annual city marathon held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It has been held each February since 2010 by the Kaohsiung City Government and Chinese Taipei Track and Field Association, and is sponsored by the Mizuno Corporat ...

History

On December 22, 1985, the

Chinese Taipei Athletics Association Chinese Taipei Athletics Association (CTAA; ) is a World Athletics-recognised member officially representing Taiwan. The current president is Yeh Chen-yen, and the General Secretary is Wang Ching-cheng. The office is based in the building of Ta ...

organized a road running demonstration event that served as a warm-up for the first Taipei International Marathon. The first Taipei International Marathon begins on March 9, 1986, with over 2,000 participants, including elite athletes from seven nations, running through the streets of Taipei. All of the starting and finishing points are on

Ketagalan Boulevard Ketagalan Boulevard () is an arterial road in Zhongzheng District in Taipei, Taiwan, between the Presidential Office Building and the . It is long and has a total of ten lanes in each direction with no median. History The former name of this ...

. The Taipei International Marathon ran until 1989, when it was forced to halt due to the construction of the Taipei Metro. It has spawned a new marathon race, held on National Freeway 3, which is currently closed to traffic. After the Taipei International Marathon resumed, the event was renamed " Taipei Freeway Marathon" and relocated to National Freeway 1. Taipei International Marathon returns on November 14, 2001, with the starting and finishing points relocated to Taipei City Hall Square. The event was renamed "ING Taipei International Marathon" until 2008 after ING Aetna InsuranceING Aetna Insurance was merged with Fubon Insurance in 2008 and is now an affiliate of

Fubon Financial Holding Co. Fubon Financial Holding Co., Ltd. () ( ) is a financial investment holding company consists of the following key subsidiaries: Fubon Asset Management, Fubon Insurance Co. Ltd., Fubon Securities, Fubon Bank (present Taipei Fubon Bank), Fubon Lif ...

became the title sponsor in 2003.

became the sponsor of the Taipei International Marathon in 2009. This year's race has 12,100 participants, the highest number in the event's history. The running route has also changed significantly, with the addition of a section of riverside park from Nangang to Songshan in 2011.

Race

Starting time

Course

Taipei International Marathon 2012 Route map

The marathon starts in front of

Taipei City Hall The Taipei City Hall (), the seat of Taipei City government, is located at Xinyi Special District, Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The height of building is 54.42 m, the floor area is 196,684.59m2, and it comprises 12 floors above ground, as w ...

and ends inside Taipei Stadium. The course first heads west along Renai Road into the Zhongzheng District and wanders around the area for about . Runners then head north along Zhongshan Road, and cross the Keelung River. The marathon then roughly follows the river east until making a turnaround near the Nangang Exhibition Center, and then roughly follows the south side of the river back west to Yingfeng Dog Park. Afterward, the course heads south and then west, eventually joining up with Nanjing Road before finishing inside Taipei Stadium. The half marathon also starts in front of City Hall, but ends on Nanjing Road before reaching the stadium. It uses much of the marathon course, but only spends about half the time in Zhongzheng District and does not follow the Keelung River east as far as the marathon does, electing instead to cross west over the Keelung River via the to head to the finish.

Annotation

References