Historic Marathon Challenging 'Boston', Daegu Bets Big... Mayor Hong Jun-pyo Promises "World's Largest Prize Money and Participation Scale"

Daegu International Marathon, Next Year's Winner Prize Soars to $160,000

Elevated to World-Class Level, Highlighting Marathon City Image

Daegu City is hosting an unprecedented marathon event that surpasses 'Boston'.

Based on the success of the 2023 Daegu International Marathon, Daegu City declared on the 20th that the 2024 Daegu International Marathon will be elevated to a level higher than the world-renowned Boston Marathon.

During the '2023 Daegu International Marathon' held on April 2, there was a strong call to further enhance the status of this event, which has been held for over 20 years, and to raise Daegu's image and prestige as an athletics city.

Reflecting these citizen expectations and aspirations, Daegu City has decided to hold the event from next year as a major marathon surpassing prestigious events such as the Boston Marathon.

First, the prize money has been increased fourfold from the current $40,000 awarded to the top overseas elite athlete to $160,000. Prize money for all places from 1st to 10th has been structured to exceed the world-class Boston Marathon, encouraging participation from top global athletes.

The domestic first-place prize money has also been raised fourfold from 5 million KRW to 20 million KRW, and team and coach awards have been increased to the highest domestic levels to promote athletes' skill development.

In particular, when comparing the total prize money with the world's six major marathons, Daegu has set the highest prize money of $885,538, surpassing Boston Marathon's $724,000 and New York Marathon's $572,000.

Additionally, extraordinary incentives have been introduced for record achievements: $100,000 for setting a new world record, 50 million to 100 million KRW for a new Korean record, and $5,000 to $10,000 for a new event record.

Marathon Prize Money Plan.

Moreover, the Masters full course, which was abolished in 2018, will be revived to satisfy the desires of marathon enthusiasts. Daegu City is committed to meeting the requirements to obtain the highest label, the Platinum Label, for the marathon event.

The marathon course will be unified to improve efficiency and promote the city's image worldwide by consolidating the current elite loop course limited to Jung-gu and Suseong-gu and the Masters courses scattered across Seo-gu, Buk-gu, and Dong-gu. Instead of starting at the existing Gukchaebosang Memorial Park, the race will start from Daegu Stadium and run on a city center loop course, turning the event into an opportunity to showcase the entire city of Daegu.

The newly developed course will be finalized after gathering opinions from citizens and experts, then submitted to the Korea Association of Athletics Federations and the World Athletics for certification. Upon passing measurement and inspection, it will be recognized as a World Athletics certified course.

The number of Masters participants will also be significantly expanded from 15,000 to over 30,000 to meet the demands of Masters runners.

The event timing will be planned for late March to early April, considering elite athletes' record-breaking potential, overlap with major marathons, suitable temperatures, and preferences of Masters runners and citizens.

Daegu City will comprehensively discuss these plans again at the evaluation meeting for the 2023 Daegu International Marathon on the 25th and meticulously refine the 2024 Daegu International Marathon in preparation for next year’s event.

Hong Jun-pyo, Mayor of Daegu, said, “While participating in this year’s Daegu International Marathon, I was once again impressed by the enthusiasm of athletes and citizens for marathon participation,” adding, “Next year’s event will be prepared with prize money and participation scale surpassing world-class marathons such as Boston, New York, Berlin, and Tokyo, elevating Daegu’s prestige and placing it among the world’s leading marathon cities.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.