Editorial Standards

Our Approach

Marathon Focus exists to help runners choose and prepare for marathons with accurate, practical information. We are marathon runners ourselves, and we treat every race page the way we would want to read one before booking a flight — clear facts, honest context, and sources you can check.

This page explains where our information comes from and how we keep it current. For how we handle visitor data, see our Privacy Policy.

How We Find Information

We start with the race itself. For every marathon in our database, we research the official race organiser — their website, entry pages, course maps, results archives, and published race-day information. Where a race is part of a recognised series (such as the Abbott World Marathon Majors), we cross-check against those official sources too.

Different facts come from different places, and we try to be explicit about that on each page:

• Race identity and descriptions — Hand-researched from organiser sites, entry platforms, and our own race-day experience where we have run the course.
• Edition dates and schedules — Taken from official race calendars and registration pages, then reviewed when organisers announce changes.
• Course maps and elevation profiles — Sourced from official race materials where available, with a link to the original on the race page.
• Weather summaries — Derived from long-term historical climate data for the race location and typical race month, not a day-of forecast.
• Participant and finisher counts — Based on published results and official race statistics where those are available.
• Videos — A mix of official race footage and our own YouTube coverage, prioritising content that shows the course and race-day experience clearly.
• Guides and editorial articles — Written by runners on our team, drawing on race research, course reconnaissance, and the same sources listed above.

How We Keep Information Up to Date

Marathon details change: dates move, courses get tweaked, entry rules shift. We maintain our database as a living catalogue, not a one-off snapshot.

• Edition schedules — We review upcoming and past race dates regularly, especially after organisers publish their next year's calendar.
• Generated datasets — Structured facts such as elevation, weather, coordinates, and course-route summaries are regenerated from our central marathon catalogue so updates propagate consistently across the site.
• Validation before publish — Automated checks run in our build pipeline to catch missing data, broken references, and incomplete entries before pages go live.
• First-hand updates — When we are at a race — filming, running, or volunteering — we update pages with what we saw on the ground: signage, corral flow, aid stations, and anything that differs from the official map.
• Reader feedback — If you spot an error or an outdated detail, we want to hear about it (see below).

No database is perfect on every day of the year. Entry status, ballot dates, and course certifications can change faster than we can refresh a page. When timing is critical — registering, booking travel, or checking qualifying rules — always confirm with the official race website.

Corrections and Contact

If you find something wrong — a date that has moved, a course description that no longer matches the route, a broken link to an official source — please tell us. Use our contact form to send corrections or questions. We review requests and update pages when we can verify the change against an official source.