# What is the largest city in the world that doesn’t host a marathon?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-the-world-that-doesn-t-host-a-marathon/1033763>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Tags:** olympic-sports-track\
**Created:** [October 12, 2026, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-the-world-that-doesn-t-host-a-marathon/1033763 "2026-10-12T01:18:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-the-world-that-doesn-t-host-a-marathon/1033763/21 "2026-10-12T22:23:38Z")

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> [@dolphinboy](#):
>
> However, when they built 280, that helped. _But IMHO, San Jose was never considered a suburb of San Francisco._

That is objectively true. I’d maybe consider the peninsula and Marin a suburb of SF. The East Bay (Oakland/Berkeley) is its own thing as well.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-the-world-that-doesn-t-host-a-marathon/1033763/22 "2026-10-13T08:12:24Z")

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> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> So likely one of them.

Like I said, it looks like Puning is the biggest Chinese city without one. And it’s much smaller than Kano.

Further afield - it looks like Maracaibo, Venezuela (pop. 2.2 mil) is the biggest South American city without a full marathon (they have a half).

And in Europe, it looks like Birmingham (2.6 mil) is the biggest without a full marathon ([they tried once](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_International_Marathon)).  
(@FlikTheBlue I’m assuming it counts if it occasionally hosts international athletics championships that include the marathon but doesn’t have a regular marathon of its own)

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-the-world-that-doesn-t-host-a-marathon/1033763/23 "2026-10-13T09:22:51Z")

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Redacted.

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