Zurich Marathon

Course & Elevation

The Zurich Marathon is an April road marathon that runs out along Lake Zurich from the city centre to Meilen and back. It is organised by ZH Marathon GmbH and held under the sponsored name OCHSNER SPORT Zürich Marathon, with a half marathon and a 10 km race on the same Sunday. The marathon starts at 08:00 on the Quaibrücke and finishes on the Sechseläutenplatz, with the other distances using the same start and finish. The route follows the lakeshore on closed roads, including the Seestrasse as far as Meilen, where the turnaround lies. The race has been held every April since 2003, after the founder Bruno Lafranchi relaunched it in 2002. An earlier Zurich marathon ran from 1984 to 1989. The time limit is 5 hours 30 minutes on net time, and the finish closes at 13:45. A broom wagon follows the back of the field from Meilen, and runners who have not reached the turnaround by 11:10 must hand in their bib and transponder. The men's course record is 2:06:38 (Tadesse Abraham, 2022) and the women's is 2:24:14 (Helen Bekele, 2023). In 2026 the combined event reached a record 18,197 participants, with 5,411 starting the marathon. The 2027 marathon and half marathon are already sold out.