The 2026 DICK'S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon weekend opened on Saturday morning with the UPMC Health Plan / UPMC Sports Medicine 5K and the Chick-fil-A Pittsburgh Kids Marathon, the warm-up acts to a Sunday main event that organiser P3R is calling the largest ever staged in the event's history. More than 52,000 runners are registered across the four flagship races, drawn from all 50 states and 34 countries, with the marathon itself having sold out earlier in April for the first time since 2019.
P3R chief executive Corey O'Connor confirmed on Friday that the event has crossed the 50,000-participant threshold for the first time, the result of a deliberate two-year recovery push after the 2023 weekend logged its smallest field in a decade. Year-on-year half marathon sign-ups grew by 22 percent, the marathon relay by 31 percent, and the kids' race more than doubled from 2025. O'Connor cited the post-pandemic run-club rebound and a partnership with regional schools for the kids' race growth, but pointed to the Steel City Quarter Marathon — introduced in 2024 and now folded into the relay programme — as the entry point most newcomers cite when surveyed.
Initial downtown road closures began at noon on Friday on the Boulevard of the Allies between Wood Street and Stanwix Street, with Saturday's closures opening at 06:45 across the North Shore and downtown for the 5K, the U.S. Steel Pittsburgh Champions Mile and the kids' race; those streets are scheduled to reopen by midday. Sunday's full marathon and half marathon closures begin at the same 06:45 across downtown, the North Shore and the city's main loop routes, with most reopening expected by 14:30 once the final relay teams cross the finish line. Pittsburgh Public Safety has asked spectators on the Birmingham Bridge and West Carson Street to use the Liberty Bridge or Smithfield Street crossings instead.
The forecast for Sunday morning is favourable for fast times, with overnight lows of 7°C climbing to 14°C by the projected men's leader's finish around 10:00, and only a 10 percent chance of light rain in the second half of the marathon window. The elite men's field is led by Ethiopia's Asefa Negese, returning to defend his 2:11:24 course record, with the women's race headlined by Kenya's Vibian Chepkirui after her 2:24:09 win in Vienna last September. Pittsburgh's hilly profile, which climbs over Birmingham Bridge into the West End and back across the Birmingham loop, has historically capped course times around two minutes off elite Berlin-Tokyo openers.
The weekend is also a charity bonanza for the city. P3R's official charity partner programme is on pace to surpass last year's $7.6 million total, with hospital systems UPMC and Allegheny Health Network leading the fundraising tables and the Animal Friends shelter posting the highest per-runner average at $2,140. With the marathon's 35th edition coming up in 2027, organisers say the priority is now hardening the start corral system and expanding wheelchair athlete entry, after the 2025 edition's wheelchair queue produced the only material complaint in the post-event survey.