Barcelona Marathon
marathon
The Zurich Barcelona Marathon (Catalan: Marató Barcelona), formerly the Marathon Catalunya and later the Marató de Catalunya, is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of 42.195 km (26.219 mi) usually held in March in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and first held in 1978 in Palafrugell, Catalonia. The marathon is categorized as a Silver Label Road Race by World Athletics.
History
The marathon was first started by a Catalan chemist, Ramón Oliu, after he had run the New York City Marathon in 1976. Because there were no marathons in Catalonia at the time, Oliu decided to organize the first one in 1978. He held it in Palafrugell because he was unable to obtain a permit to hold it in Barcelona, and he named the race "Catalunya 78". This race also has the distinction of being the first popular marathon in Spain, as the Madrid Marathon was held later that same year.
The marathon was held in Palafrugell again in 1979 due to a lack of a Barcelonian permit, but was subsequently moved in Barcelona in 1980. The marathon eventually became known as the "Marathon Catalunya".
After a number of intermediate name changes, the name was eventually changed to "Zurich Marató de Barcelona" in 2012.
In 2010, Kenyan Jackson Kipkoech Kotut won the race in a time of 2:07:30 hours.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Barcelona Marathon” is marathon. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Barcelona, Marathon and marathon, not as a finished interpretation.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q807910. Authority coordinates are 41.383, 2.177. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1978, 1976, 1979 and 1980.
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This entry incorporates text from “Barcelona Marathon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.