The Amsterdam Marathon is a road race of 42.195 km (26 mi 385 yd) across the city of Amsterdam that has been contested by men and women annually since 1975. Initially, the marathon was held in the spring (April–May), but since 1991, it has been held in the autumn (September–November). The race was cancelled twice, after the sponsor had withdrawn in 1978 and due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In the inaugural edition of 1975, Jørgen Jensen was the male winner in a time of 2:16:51 (h:m:s), while Plonie Scheringa was the first female finishing in 3:13:38. Gerard Nijboer won the 1980 race in 2:09:01, which was recognized as a world best performance by the Association of Road Racing Statisticians until 1981[1] and remained a Dutch record until 2003.[2] The current men's course record (CR) is 2:03:39 set by Tamirat Tola in 2021 and the current women's course record is 2:17:20 set by Almaz Ayana in 2022.
Nijboer won the Amsterdam Marathon four times, more than any other runner, in 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1989. Wilson Chebet won three times in 2011–2013. The two-time winners in the men's category are Ferenc Szekeres, Cor Vriend, Sammy Korir, Bernard Kipyego, and Lawrence Cherono. And in the women's category Scheringa, Marja Wokke, and Tadelech Bekele each won twice.
Over the years, runners representing Kenya, Ethiopia, and the Netherlands have been the most successful in winning this marathon, where the male runners from Kenya lead the men's ranking with twenty-one victories and the female runners from Ethiopia are at the top of the women's list with fifteen victories followed by Dutch women with twelve victories.
- ^ Ian Hill, Andy Milroy, and Juraj Gasparovic, "World Best Progressions- Road", Association of Road Racing Statisticians, 3 May 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
- ^ Henk Stouwdam, "Maase geeft `Amsterdam' glans met record" (in Dutch), NRC Handelsblad, 20 October 2003. Retrieved 13 October 2023.