Overview The Cleveland Marathon is the city's spring road race, a Boston qualifier that starts and finishes downtown at Mall B, and by its own account it was the first American marathon to invite Soviet elite runners during the Cold War. It was first run in 1978, which makes the May 2027 race weekend its 50th. The weekend carries a full marathon, a half, a 10K, a 5K, a three-person relay, a kids' run, a challenge series for runners doing more than one race, and a virtual option. University Hospitals held the title in 2026. On site For 2026 the organizers redrew the full course, still starting and finishing on St. Clair Avenue: the second half goes back out Lake Avenue to West Boulevard through Lakewood, returns with a two-mile stretch on the Shoreway, and finishes with a final mile through Ohio City and Hingetown. Seventeen water stations sit along the route, and the course stays open at a 16-minute-mile pace plus a buffer, seven hours in all. The finish runs into a charity village, finish-line engravers, the PR Bell, gear check, and a beer garden at the 26.3 Mile After Party. Bib pickup happens at the race's health and fitness expo. Audience Participants come from nearly all 50 states and several countries, and the race says the field splits almost evenly between returning runners and first-timers. Around 470 of them ran for a charity partner in 2026. Spectators line the neighborhoods and the lakefront. Talent and Influencers Ashton Swinford of Hudson, Ohio won the women's marathon for a fifth straight year in 2026, and Jacob Kocis of Versailles, Kentucky took the men's race. Sam Snodgrass ran an unofficial half marathon course record of 1:07:29 in 2025. Track record Reno Starnoni directed and laid out the first race in 1978, from Cleveland State University west to Bay Village and back. The race offered $150,000 in prize money in 1988, added the half marathon in 2005, and counts more than 500,000 runners since it began. Its charity arm, set up in 2007, raised $774,033 for 40 nonprofits in 2025 and $500,000 for 43 in 2026, and the race puts its lifetime charity total at more than $5 million. Brand presence In 2026 University Hospitals was title sponsor and medical provider, with its sports medicine institute running the training program. Other partners owned a piece of the weekend: INFINITI of Beachwood took the 10K title and the automotive category, Athletifreak made the participant shirts and race apparel, and Miller Lite presented the after party. In 2025 Cuyahoga County built the county's first marathon aid station with the race.