Spain's oldest metropolitan marathon will celebrate its 48th edition on Sunday when the Zurich Rock 'n' Roll Running Series Madrid sends 45,000 runners out of Plaza de Cibeles at 09:00 Central European Time. The event spans three distances — the full marathon, a half marathon and a 10K — and has announced a sold-out weekend for the second year running, with entries closed in early February after a late surge of international sign-ups. Race organisers MAPOMA confirmed on Monday that participants from 118 countries will take part, continuing a global broadening that has made Madrid one of the fastest-growing races outside the World Marathon Majors.
The Madrid course carries a World Athletics Gold Label — the highest standard a non-Major can be awarded — and has sat at that level since 2014. It is also the most demanding profile on the Gold Label roster, with a cumulative elevation gain of 410 metres across 42.195 kilometres and a long climb through the Paseo de la Castellana and Parque del Retiro in the final 10km. The current course records, Edwin Kiptoo's 2:05:28 set in 2015 and Selly Kaptich's 2:24:54 from 2014, are the oldest open Gold Label course records in Europe, a distinction that MAPOMA president José Antonio Díaz has repeatedly said reflects the honesty of the profile rather than a lack of depth in the field.
This year's elite recruitment has been notably focused on the women's race. MAPOMA has assembled a pace group of five women, led by Kenya's Stella Chesang and Ethiopia's Tigist Memuye, both with personal bests inside 2:23, and has publicly set a target of beating Kaptich's 12-year-old course record. Spain's leading entrant is Majida Maayouf, the European 10,000m bronze medallist in 2022, who will make her marathon debut at 36 after a winter training block in Iten. The men's field is comparatively thin on sub-2:05 performers — an inevitable consequence of the Gold Label calendar clash with Hamburg and London — but 2025 champion Evans Cheruiyot returns to defend his title, with compatriots Philemon Kacheran and Stephen Kissa expected to contest the podium.
Madrid's Sunday sits at the heart of what has become the single busiest day on the 2026 global calendar. London begins 90 minutes later, Hamburg 30 minutes earlier and the Big Sur International Marathon in California runs at 14:45 CET. Madrid organisers have leaned into the calendar clash this year rather than away from it, with a new partnership with World Athletics' RunCast platform providing a live split tracker across all four races. MAPOMA's head of communications Paloma Santos told Spanish newspaper El País that more than 7,000 UK and 5,500 US entrants had signed up for Madrid this year, a record share of international runners, drawn in part by the choice of racing the same weekend as London without having to secure a ballot place.
Weather is the one variable that still worries the organisers. The Agencia Estatal de Meteorología is forecasting a 22C peak in central Madrid by early afternoon with a dry easterly breeze; the forecast low of 11C at the 09:00 start is comfortable, but the second half of the course, routed through the exposed Casa de Campo and up the long Paseo de la Castellana climb to the Plaza de Castilla turnaround, will be run in direct sun from around 11:30 onwards. MAPOMA has doubled the number of water stations and added two mobile cooling zones in response, and the final 10km retains its traditional downhill through Gran Vía for a crowd-supported finish back at Plaza de Cibeles. Livestream coverage on RTVE Play begins at 08:45 local.