The Zurich Maratón San Sebastián kicks off its 46th edition and opens its registrations

• The race will be held on Sunday 24th of November and will once again have three distances: Marathon, half-marathon and 10K.
• After the success of the last two editions, the essence of the renewed circuit with start and finish in the center of San Sebastián will be maintained.
• Registration starts with a promotional price for the first 500 runners of each distance, and with a special price for athletes from Gipuzkoa in the Marathon distance.

The Zurich Maratón San Sebastián 2024 opens today registrations for its 3 distances: 42, 21 and 10 kilometres. The second-oldest marathon in Spain will start its 46th edition on 24th of November and will once again be included in the Zurich Big 5 challenge. In 2023, all the 7,000 available bibs for the race were sold out, more than half of them for marathon distance participants.

The start and finish line will remain in the center of San Sebastián

After the success of last year’s edition, the circuit used in 2022 has been maintained, but with new improvements, the main novelty of which was to move the start and finish to the center of San Sebastián. It is a completely urban, flat and touristic circuit, which has made it possible for the Zurich Maratón San Sebastián to reinforce its international character with 40% of foreign participation and 52 countries represented in the last edition. This circuit allows locals and foreigners alike to enjoy running in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, with a public that cheers on from the first to the last.

In 2024, it is expected to once again be the fastest marathon event for popular runners in the state. According to the analysis made by the website Maratones España, “the San Sebastián Marathon is the marathon with the best average times. In Donostia, runners take approximately 3h34′ on average to complete the race”. The Donostia event also occupies the places of honor in the rankings of percentages of runners under 3 (18% of finishers) and 4 hours (79% of finishers), “so we can affirm that in 2023 it has been the fastest race”, as the aforementioned source explains.

This mass of high-level popular runners has led the organisation to change course at the sporting level. Therefore, for this 2024, the Zurich Maratón San Sebastián will eliminate the recruitment of the African elite and will increase the prizes and bonuses for the athletes who run under 2h30′ in men and 2h45′ in women, with the aim of favoring the spectacle at the head of the race.

Promotional rates for departures and for Guipuzcoa nationals

The novelty of this year’s Zurich Maratón San Sebastián is in the participation quotas. The half-marathon will be reduced to 1,000 available bibs to give more prominence to the marathon runners, where 4,500 participants are expected. The 10K is also expected to grow to 2,000 participants, 500 more than last year, to complete this running festival in San Sebastián with 7,500 runners.

As for the price, the same prices and sections will be maintained as last year. The premise is that the fastest 500 runners to register for each distance will be given a promotional price. The price will change progressively. Every 1,000 runners registered in the marathon and every 500 in the half-marathon and 10K will change the price. On the other hand, with the help of the Gipuzkoa Athletics Federation and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, athletes from Gipuzkoa will once again be able to benefit from a reduced price until the 31st of May.

All prices include the corresponding VAT, the race bib with chip and T-shirt as a gift, as well as numerous services such as private accident insurance, cloakroom, showers, free city buses, refreshment posts along the route and at the finish line, finisher’s medal, recovery area and massage, among other services. Likewise, for this edition, there will be a time limit of 2 hours to complete the Half Marathon, the start of which will accompany the main event, and the start of the 10K will be brought forward to 08:15h to facilitate the flow of runners along the circuit. There will also be a series of modifications to the circuit and a box start.