VIS - MARATHON

Every year, over 1 million individual runners run a marathon. Marathoners come from all walks of life, from teens to the elderly, beginners to olympians—yet they are unified by a single goal of running 26.2 miles, a physical feat achievable by almost anybody with the heart to do so.

Scroll down to begin!

Let's start with Boston Marathon!

Known as the oldest yearly Marathon held in the world, Boston Marathon upholds its prestige and historical significance as one of the world's most prestigious road racing events. Inaugurated in 1897, Boston Marathon has since attracted thousands of runners across the world every year.

Let us begin our exploration here, as this is the marathon we Harvard students most likely have stumbled upon on race day.

The traditional route for Boston Marathon has long been defined by its start at Hopkinton up to Downtown Boston.

Let's continue looking, scroll down!

How has the Marathon grown in popularity over the years?

Adjust the bar to observe the changes in participation trend of the Boston Marathon from 1900 to 2019.

Did you notice?

Boston Marathon became the first marathon race that officially admitted women runners in 1972!

But how about the large spike in 1996? Let's find out! Find below some more interesting facts!

Select a year to see what interesting facts we can find:

What are the Demographics of Boston 2019 Finishers?

Now that we know a bit about the history of the Boston Marathon, let's see who's running it! Use the map, selection boxes, and donut chart to learn more about finishers from the 2019 Boston Marathon.

Select Finisher Type

Select Sex

But Boston Marathon is only one out of many!

So let's explore more Marathons.

Now that we have looked at some statistics regarding participants in the Boston Marathon, we can begin comparing within a larger scope!

In 2006, a championship style competition for marathon runners known as the Abbott World Marathon Majors. It is a competition that consists of six high-profile marathon races around the world:

Boston - hosted by Boston Athletic Association
Chicago - hosted by Bank of America
Berlin - hosted by BMW
New York - hosted by Tata Consultancy Services
London - hosted by Tata Consultancy Services
Tokyo* - hosted by Tokyo Metro
*discarded in the exploration due to data acquisition difficulties

Let's explore deeper by bringing together other marathons to observe and compare!

We will move from Boston Marathon in 2019 to an expanded exploration of all 5 Marathons from 2014 - 2023. Scroll down to explore!

What are the Demographics of Top Finishers from these Marathons?

Above we looked into the finishers from Boston in 2019. Now take a chance to look at the top finishers from Boston, Chicago, New York, and London from 2014 to 2023!*

*Berlin and Tokyo are not included here for data availability reasons. However, their host cities have been included on the map due to their significance as World Majors. Berlin is included in the remaining visualizations.

Select Finisher Type

Select Map Categories

Select Years

As you explored the maps showing the nationalities of our marathon front runners, you may have noticed a particular splash of color in East Africa...

As it turns out, the top end of marathon running is dominated by individuals from Kenya and Ethiopia.

The table on the right lists the male and female winners of the world major marathons from 1991 to 2017. We've marked every Kenyan or Ethiopian winner in red.

Let's explore this trend further on the next page by quantifying the wins of these countries.

WINNERS

Which Countries Produce the Most Winners?

Wow! Kenya and Ethiopia definitely have a lot of winners in these marathons! But what other countries are up top? Is this a big trend, or just thanks to a few successful individuals? Let's look at data from 2014 to 2023 to find out!

As you've seen, the dominance of East African runners is undeniable and unchallenged. But why are they so much better?

There is no definitive answer, but some theories suggest that genetic predisposition to biomechanical efficiency, a lifetime of barefoot running, a high carb and low fat diet, and training in their high altitude environment could all contribute to their success in the marathoning world.

This question is so pondered that much academic research exists hoping to reveal the key factors. Click below to view one such study:

Wilbur & Pitsiladis, 2012

In the next two pages, let's expand our exploration to view all the top performers at world marathons: how well they did, how well their countries were represented, and where they fall in the pack across the years.

Where do runners come from and how did they perform in different Marathons?

Explore the demographics and performance of each marathon further by looking at data from 2014 to 2023, try dragging the marathon nodes to group the countries that participated or select the buttons below to filter by Marathon and reveal the overall top performers!

Click a Marathon:

All

BOS

LON

CHI

BER

Where in the pack do front runners fall?

Explore the top 100 runners at each world major marathon from 2014 to 2023. Each dot represents a runner (hover to view more details), with the fastest finishers at the left, and slower at the right.

Highlight by nationality to see where a particular country's runners fall within the pack, or highlight individuals from the respective marathon's host country to see how local runners fare.

Nationality of runners highlighted:

*In certain years of certain marathons, nationality was not tracked for each individual.

Year:

And with that, we've reached the finish line of our marathon exploration.

We've taken a close look at our local Boston marathon, and expanded to consider several of the most famed world marathons. We investigated demographic data across marathons and years, observing the emergence of dominant countries in the sport. And finally, we surveyed the world-class individuals that finish races fastest: who they are, where they're from, and where they fall in the pack.

Thanks for running alongside us on this data journey. We hope you learned a thing or two about the wonderful world of running 26.2 miles, and hope that—if you have any aspiration to do so—you might one day complete the physical journey yourself.

— Sang Won Kang, Mr. Benjamin Russell Hartvigsen, Julian Li