A mini marathon is a middle to long-distance road race of a distance which is less than a marathon. The term is sometimes used in place of "Half Marathon" (OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis, but can also be applied to races of other distances such as 5 km (Beirut mini-marathon) or 10 km (Dublin Women's Mini Marathon ). Mini-marathons may be run as side events to marathons or as events in their own right.
One of the first events to use the name was the New York Mini Marathon, a women-only race first held in 1972. Dublin's Women's Mini Marathon, a separate event to The Dublin Marathon, has had some 600,000 entrants since its inception in 1983.
Famous quotes containing the word marathon:
“The mountains look on Marathon—
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dreamed that Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians’ grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)