I remember the first truly large road race that I did. I had only been running for a couple months and I decided to register for the Buffalo Niagara Turkey Trot.
The race boasts over 10,000 for registration, and the energy that you get from running a race with 10,000 other people is just incredible. Little did I know, that’s not even close to being one of the largest road races.
There are some races with over 100,000 participants! That. Is. Bananas.
After hearing horror stories about how long it takes to get to the starting line for the Marine Corps Marathon, I can’t even imagine the craziness that must be inherent at one of these largest road races.
Largest Road Races Ever Recorded
In order from the largest road races recorded, here are the top ten largest road races in the world. Since so many are outside of the US, part two of this will be the largest ones in the states.
1.) Kahit Isang Araw Lang Unity Run
Location: SM Mall of Asia, Pasay, Philippines
Date of Record Attendance: 22 January 2012
Race Distances: 10 km, 5 km, 3 km
Attendance: 209,000
2.) A Run for the Pasig River
Location: Manila, Philippines
Date of Record: 10 October 2010
Race Distances: 10 km, 5 km, 3 km
Attendance: 116,086
3.) Bay to Breakers
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Date of Record Attendance: 18 May 1986
Race Distance: 12 km
Attendance: 110,000
4.) Cursa El Corte Ingles
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Date of Record: 5 June 1994
Race Distance: 11 km
Attendance: 109,457
5.) Broloppet/Broløbet Malmö
Locations: Copenhagen, Sweden / Denmark
Date of Record: 12 June 2000
Race Distance: Half-Marathon
Attendance: 92,266
6.) City2Surf
Locations: Sydney, Australia
Date of Record: Australia 14 August 2011
Race Distance: 86 km
Attendance: 68,930
7.) JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge
Locations: Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany
Date of Record: 11 June 2008
Race Distance: 5.63 km
Attendance: 73,719, or 65,000
8.) Round the Bays
Locations: Auckland, New Zealand
Date of Record: 10 March 2013
Race Distance: 8.4 km
Attendance: 70,000
9.) Lilac Bloomsday Run
Locations: Spokane, Washington, United States
Date of Record: 5 May 1996
Race Distance: 12 km
Attendance: 61,298
10.) United We Run
Locations: Beirut, Lebanon
Date of Record: 10 April 2005
Race Distance: 5 km
Attendance: 60,000