World Marathon Majors, the World’s top Marathon tour, has been held since 2006. The world marathon grand slam includes six annual city marathons: Boston marathon, London marathon, Berlin marathon, Chicago marathon, New York marathon, Tokyo marathon, biennial world athletics championships marathon and quadrennial Olympic marathon.

Tokyo Marathon

Organized by the Tokyo Marathon Foundation, the inaugural Tokyo Marathon was held on February 18 2007, and drew 95,044 applicants and 30,870 participants. Kenya’s Daniel Njenga (2:09:45) and Japan’s Hitomi Niiya (2:31:01) were the first champions. Since then, the Tokyo Marathon has grown to more than 300,000 applicants and nearly 36,000 participants.

Boston Marathon

Inspired by their experience at the 1896 Olympic Games, several members of the Boston Athletic Association founded their own marathon in 1897. The race has been run every year since (though the 1918 edition featured a military relay rather than an individual race) and is now the world’s oldest annual marathon.

London Marathon

Since 1981, the Virgin Money London Marathon has grown to more than 39,000 starters and finishers, is viewed in more than 196 countries worldwide and watched by between four and five million viewers in the UK.

Berlin Marathon

A group of runners from one of Germany’s most prestigious athletics clubs, SC Charlottenburg, organized the first BERLIN-MARATHON in 1974. It was not until 1981 that the race moved from the Grunewald (a big forest) into the city center of West Berlin. Supported by the three western allied forces (Britain, France and USA) it quickly developed into Germany’s biggest and best quality marathon.

Chicago Marathon

In 1976 a small band of running enthusiasts met at the Metropolitan YMCA on LaSalle Street to plan a marathon in Chicago. Backed by the athletic enthusiasm of the new Chicago Mayor, Michael Bilandic, and the leadership of Lee Flaherty, this founding group realized their vision on September 25 1977, hosting 4,200 local participants in the first Chicago Marathon. It has since expanded to 45,000 registered runners and an estimated 1.7 million on-course spectators.

New York Marathon

Regarded as one of the world’s greatest road races.Over 1 million people have finished the race since its first running in 1970 with just 127 entrants and 55 finishers running four laps around Central Park. The race expanded to all five boroughs in 1976.

Reprinted From：https://www.worldmarathonmajors.com/