The average finish time at the 2026 Marine Corps Marathon was 4:57:50, the slowest since 2019.
24,973 runners finished the 51st Marine Corps Marathon on October 25, one of the largest fields, behind only last year's 30,085. Kyle King, an active-duty Marine from Northern Virginia, won the men's race in 2:17:31 for his third straight title and fourth overall. Kaylee Slade won the women's race in 2:44:26.
Earlier this fall, I took a look at 239,794 Marine Corps Marathon finishing times from 2012 to 2025 to find the average finish time for the event. Here is how this year's field stacks up.
How 2026 Compares
The 2026 average was 9 minutes and 10 seconds slower than the 2025 average finishing time of 4:48:40. Only three of the 13 in-person races since 2012 had a slower average, 2016, 2017 and 2019. The 2019 race holds the slowest mark at 5:05:55, and 2024 holds the fastest at 4:36:32.
Runners started in the upper 30s under sunny skies, and temperatures climbed into the 60s by the afternoon.
With 2026 added, the average across all 264,767 finishes since 2012 is now 4:52:50, up 31 seconds.
Where Runners Finished
Nearly a third of the field, 7,966 runners, finished between four and five hours. Just over half of all finishers broke five hours, and 21.5 percent broke four. At the front, 446 runners went under three hours. At the back, six finished after eight hours.
The median finish time was 4:53:31. Here is what it took to finish in each part of the field.
The 3:59 Effect
As in past years, more runners finished just before the four-hour mark than just after it. 156 runners crossed the line at 3:59, compared with 134 at 4:00. The same was true at 3:30 and 6:00.
Five hours went the other way this year, with 144 finishers at 5:00 and 126 at 4:59. That also happened in 2022 and 2023, but across all results from 2012 to 2025, 4:59 still outdraws 5:00 by 197 runners.
The busiest minute of the race was 4:35, when 193 runners finished.
264,767 finishes per minute, 2012-2026 (MCM Finisher Data)
