Registration for the 2026 Beijing Marathon and National Marathon Championships opens on September 17 at 10:00 and closes on September 22 at 18:00, the race will be held onOctober 18 with a 07:30 gun.Only the full marathon is offered.
This year’s field is 32,000 runners — are you ready to be one in 32,000? With the cutoff shortened and automatic-qualification thresholds unchanged, how will you secure your spot in this national marathon — by time or by luck?
Registration and race information
Registration opens: September 17, 2026 at 10:00
Registration deadline: September 22, 2026 at 18:00
Race time: October 18, 07:30
Lottery results announcement and payment period: late September to early October(Subject to the organizing committee’s official announcement.) Runners who win the draw must complete payment within the specified period; otherwise their entry will be forfeited and not reallocated.
The organizing committee will decide whether to open supplementary spots based on actual payments. If supplementary entry and payment are opened, the period will be in early October (subject to the organizing committee’s official announcement).
Start: East-side road of Tiananmen Square; Finish: Landscape Avenue in the central area of Olympic Park.Elite athletes, National Marathon Championships competitors, and mass runners will all start together with a single gun.
The course will close at 13:30 on October 18,The cutoff time is 6 hours, which is 15 minutes shorter than last year.Applications for the Beijing Marathon have risen year by year: in 2023, 131,239 applied with an overall draw rate of 23%; in 2024, 182,949 applied with an overall draw rate of 16%.Last year the organizing committee adjusted the field for the first time, expanding it to 32,000 — an increase of 2,000 spots from previous years. Registrations hit a record high, surpassing 100,000 within the first hour, and more than 4,700 runners broke 3:00 in the race — an all-time high.This year the Beijing Marathon’s field size remains at 32,000— will registration numbers set a new record again?
The 2026 Beijing Marathon's direct-qualification pathways are the same as last year: there are two routes.1. Time-based direct entryThe original Beijing Marathon "Nine-Star" time standards will be used.Runners' finish times from the 2025 Beijing Marathon must meet the standards shown in the chart below to qualify directly:However, runners who don't meet the direct-qualification times need not worry — this year the Beijing Marathon and Guangzhou Marathon still have a "direct-entry linkage."2. Guangzhou Marathon direct entry to the Beijing MarathonThe 2026 Guangzhou Marathon organizing committee will, from among registered runners,randomly select 200 runners who meet the Beijing Marathon's registration eligibilityto receive direct entry to the 2026 Beijing Marathon. Runners already signed up for the Guangzhou Marathon should be sure to stay tuned.This year's Beijing Marathon performance-based prizes are divided into four parts:1.Championship placing prizes
This year's Beijing Marathon is the sole national marathon championship.，The organizing committee has set corresponding placing prizes for it:The top three male and female finishers will receive RMB 30,000, 20,000 and 10,000 respectively, but the performances must meet the standards: the men's prize standard is 2:11:30 and the women's prize standard is 2:29:30.2. Prize for breaking the event recordThe bonus for breaking the Beijing Marathon's men's or women's event record is RMB 60,000.The men's event record was set in 2019 by Kenyan athleteMathew Kisorio with 2:07:06; the women's event record is 2:19:39 set in 2003 by Chinese athlete Sun Yingjie — that mark is also the Chinese women's marathon record and has stood for 23 years.3. Placement prizes for the Beijing Marathon men's and women's eventsPrize money is awarded to the top eight men and top eight women. The top three receive $50,000, $20,000 and $10,000 respectively; fourth through eighth range from $5,000 down to $1,000 (each place lower reduces the prize by $1,000).4. Beijing Marathon — placement prizes for athletes of Chinese nationalitySimilarly, the top eight Chinese men and top eight Chinese women receive prize money: the top three get ¥55,000, ¥23,000 and ¥15,000 respectively; fourth through eighth range from ¥7,000 down to ¥3,000 (each place lower reduces the amount by ¥1,000).If an athlete earns both the general placement prize and the Chinese-national placement prize, they will receive the higher amount — prizes are not paid twice.However, the Beijing Marathon placement prize and the championship placement prize can be claimed together, plus the race-record bonus,In theory, at this edition of the Beijing Marathon a Chinese athlete could earn up to about ¥425,000.(Components: Beijing Marathon overall first $50,000, championship first ¥30,000 and breaking the Beijing Marathon race record ¥60,000).
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Text/Editor: MP
Image source: Pao Ye Da Baozha
Visual: Max
