The Two-Year Cycle

In developing the competition, a two-year cycle was developed with the following in mind:

• Elite marathon athletes compete at the top level in two races a year and sometimes three. Due to the wear and tear on their bodies, the athletes need to allow enough time to recover from the competition and begin the extensive training process for the next.

• The goal of the organizers is to truly crown the top marathoners in the world and in order to do that, they agreed that more than two competitions per athlete were necessary to determine who, in fact, is the greatest in the sport.

• In any two-year cycle, a minimum of 12 World Marathon Majors Qualifying Races will take place. In the years in which they are held, the IAAF World Championships Marathon and the Olympic Marathon will also qualify. These seven events provide a world stage and a variety of different courses on which the athletes can compete and challenge themselves individually.

Despite the two-year format, the $1 million prize purse will be awarded annually. This means every Qualifying Race will overlap with two World Marathon Majors Series. For example, the 2012 Olympic Marathon serves as a Qualifying Race in both the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 World Marathon Majors Series.

Therefore, when an athlete earns points in a Qualifying Race, those points will count toward that athlete’s score in two World Marathon Majors Series. Points earned in 2012 will be reflected in both the athlete’s 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 score.