The Two-Year Cycle

In developing the competition, a two-year cycle was developed with the following in mind:

• Elite marathon athletes compete at the top level in two races a year and sometimes three. Due to the wear and tear on their bodies, the athletes need to allow enough time to recover from the competition and begin the extensive training process for the next.

• The goal of the organizers was to truly crown the top marathoners in the world and in order to do that, they agreed that more than two competitions per athlete were necessary to determine who, in fact, is the greatest in the sport.

• In any two-year cycle, a minimum of 10 different World Marathon Majors Qualifying Races will take place. In the years in which they are held, the IAAF World Championships Marathon and the Olympic Marathon will also qualify. These seven events provide a world stage and a variety of different courses on which the athletes can compete and challenge themselves individually.

Despite the two-year format, the $1 million prize purse will be awarded annually, beginning with the first cash payout at the conclusion of the 2006-2007 series. This means every Qualifying Race held after 2006 will overlap two World Marathon Majors series. For example, the 2008 Olympics Marathon will serve as a Qualifying Race in both the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 World Marathon Majors series.

Therefore, when an athlete earns points in a Qualifying Race (outside of 2006), those points will count towards that athlete’s score in two World Marathon Majors series. Points earned in 2007 will be reflected in both the athlete’s 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 score.