First marathon in 4 years is held in Seoul to celebrate spring

The 2023 Seoul International Marathon / 93rd Dong-A Marathon was held for the first time in four years as a festival for masters runners.

Over 31,500 masters marathoners from 40 countries participated in a 42.195-kilometer full course from Gwanghwamun Square to Jamsil Sports Complex and a 10-kilometer course that started from Olympic Park in Songpa-gu on Sunday to enjoy a race through downtown Seoul on a spring day. A four-person relay race, in which four runners divide up and run a full course, was also held.

The masters race of the Seoul International Marathon, which is the only platinum-label race in South Korea certified by World Athletics and received the award of the World Athletics Heritage Plaque, had not been held for the last three years due to COVID-19 outbreaks. Instead, it was held as a non-face-to-face virtual race where each runner used a GPS app to run a course desired by him or her and inputs the record online. The participants on Sunday ran with a racing number featuring the official emblem to mark the 70th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War.

Amdework Walelegn of Ethiopia won the international male race featuring invited foreign elite runners with a record of 2:05:27. The top five records for the international race were all taken by Ethiopian runners. The country participated in the Korean War.

The domestic male elite race was won by Park Min-ho, whose record was 2:10:13. Except for Oh Joo-han, who is a naturalized Korean originally from Kenya, Park’s new record is the best one since Jeong Jin-hyeok’s record of 2:09:28 in the 2011 Seoul Marathon. Jeong Da-eun won first place in the female race with a record of 2:28:32.


Bo-Mi Im bom@donga.com