The New York City Marathon takes place every November, attracting thousands of participants each year. As of 2024, the fastest ever men's time was *******, set by Ethiopian runner Tamirat Tola in 2023. Meanwhile, the fastest ever women's time was *******, set by Margaret Okayo in 2003.

This dataset contains individual results for the New York City Marathon, from 1970 to the present.

Note: Feature image is courtesy Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York from United States of America, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

This data was collected and analyzed for a series of articles, including: 1. Fast Women at the NYC Marathon Over the Years 2. Fast Men at the NYC Marathon Over the Years 3. How Have the Age and Gender of Runners at the NYC Marathon Changed?

The dataset currently includes the name and demographic information about each runner, their official finish time, and their overall place.

I plan to update this dataset each year following the marathon, and in a future update I may also add historical weather data to support further analysis.

You're free to use this data for any purpose, but if you publish it online please credit Running with Rock and include a reference to my website (https://runningwithrock.com).

The Boston Marathon course is deemed ineligible for world record status due to its unidirectional nature and excessive negative elevation change, yet performance times across the World Marathon Majors (WMM) races have not been compared.PurposeTo compare finish times across WMM races for Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York Marathons.MethodsRace times of the top 10 male and 10 female finishers were analyzed from 2005 to 2014 using the high-performance mixed linear model procedure in the Statistical Analysis System. Venue-to-venue comparisons, as well as comparisons between Boston and other WMM races, with and without factors of temperature, humidity and altitude change were examined.ResultsPerformance from 2005 to 2014 in the WMM races was found to improve at a rate of ~1% each 7 years. Despite its higher variability, comparison between Boston’s estimated mean finishing time and all other venues revealed moderate positive differences, indicating the Boston event to be typically slower than other venues.ConclusionsAcross the 10-year study period, performance times improved ~1% each 7 years for both genders for the WMM, with the Boston Marathon being slower on average than other WMM venues. Weather rather than course metrics appeared to impact performance times most.

As of March 2025, the men's course record for the London Marathon was held by Kelvin Kiptum, who broke the record with a time of ******* in 2023. Meanwhile, Paula Radcliffe has held the women's course record since 2003, with a time of *******. Marcel Hug, who also holds the course records in the New York and Boston marathons, set the fastest men's wheelchair time of ******* in 2023.

Improvement in performance times for the Boston (BOS), London (LON), Berlin (BER), Chicago (CHI) and New York (NYC) Marathons.

The first aim of this study was to determine the age group at which marathon performance declines in top male and female runners and to compare that to the runners of average ability. Another aim of this of this study was to examine the age-related yearly decline in marathon performance between age group winners and the average marathon finisher. Data from the New York (NYC), Boston, and Chicago marathons from 2001–2016 were analyzed. Age, sex, and location were used in multiple linear regression models to determine the rate of decline in marathon times. Winners of each age group were assessed in 5-year increments from 16 through 74 years old (n = 47 per age group). The fastest times were between 25–34 years old, with overall champion males at 28.3 years old, and overall champion females at 30.8 years old (p = 0.004). At 35 years of age up to 74 years of age, female age group winners had a faster yearly decline in marathon finishing times compared to male age group winners, irrespective of marathon location [women = (min:sec) 2:33 per year, n = 336; men = 2:06 per year, n = 373, p < 0.01]. The median times between each age group only slowed beginning at 50 years old, thereafter the decline was similar between both men and women (women = 2:36, n = 140; men = 2:57, n = 150, p = 0.11). The median times were fastest at Boston and similar between Chicago and NYC. In conclusion, the rate of decline at 35 years old up to 74 years old is roughly linear (adjusted r2 = 0.88, p < 0.001) with female age group winners demonstrating 27 s per year greater decline per year compared to male age group winners.

Race-to-race variability for World Marathon Majors compared to the Boston Marathon event, with and without including of temperature, humidity and altitude gain and loss factors.