Pittsburgh Marathon, where the steel city's streets transform into hot bed of athleticism and triumph as runners from all over the world lace up their shoes, stretch those hammies and set their sights on the iconic 26.2-mile journey. Cheered on by the many thousands of spectators lining the streets all adding to that buzz of excitement that surrounds the marathon.

Taking place on the first weekend in May, this is a highly popular event with professionals and weekend warriors and it’s also a popular Boston qualifying event too.

Pittsburgh certainly knows how to put on a good race! Whether you're a hardcore runner or just a casual observer, this marathon has something for everyone. From the scenic views along the course to the unbeatable atmosphere and support, you'll be swept up in the energy of the event from start to finish.

Most marathons these days have an event corporate sponsor - the well known sports good chain Dicks Sporting Goods have been doing the honours since 2009, providing welcome additional funding that has helped the event to continue to grow and develop over the years.

The marathon itself is the signature event over a weekend of race based activities that have expanded to include: a half marathon, marathon relay, 5k race, kids' marathon, Champions Mile, 4 mile fitness challenge, Toddler Trot and a Pet Walk, which means the whole family really can take part!

All being said, this is definitely a worthwhile addition to our marathon calendar, and another event to add to the bucket list for if we ever find ourselves over in Pennsylvania in the springtime.

Event dates

The Pittsburgh Marathon 2024 will take place on Sunday 5th May.

The same day also sees the half marathon and marathon relay events taking place.

The 5k race takes place the day before, Saturday 4th May, as do the Kids Marathon, Champions Mile, Toddler Trot and Pet Walk.

Start time

The official start time for the main marathon is 7.00am.

The half marathon and marathon relays also get underway at the same time.

4 Mile Fitness Challenge starts at 9.30am

For the Saturday events, the 5k starts at 8am, the Toddler Trot at 8.30am, Champions Mile at 9am, Kids Marathon at 9.30am and pet Walk at 12 noon.

Marathon course

The main marathon start line is on Liberty Avenue at 7th Avenue, with the finish at the Boulevard of the Allies, between Stanwix Street and Commonwealth Place. Other main streets on the route include Penn Avenue, West Carson Street, Fifth Avenue and North Highland Avenue.

A popular highlight of the course is the fact that you get to cross 3 Pittsburgh's 3 different rivers across 5 different bridges throughout the duration of the race.

There is an excellent detailed map of the full marathon course on the official site:

Pittsburgh marathon course map

TV & Live Streaming

There has been a wide range of live coverage of the Pittsburgh marathon available from various sources in previous years - we'll be keeping our eyes open as always and post links here as they become available.

There does appear to be a good range of coverage on the local CBS Pittsburgh site, so we would expect at least some updates on the live news channel, and the live radio stream should also have people at the event:

Pittsburgh marathon on CBS

There are some fantastic race tracking services now available for keeping track of individual runners - a free mobile app provides live tracking, progress updates and immediate results among other things:

Pittsburgh marathon tracking app

You can also keep checking on their social media: Pittsburgh Marathon Facebook

Hotels and Accommodation

If you're planning on being in Pittsburgh or the wider regional areas for the marathon weekend and looking for somewhere to stay you can check out availability and make online reservations for all of the top Pittsburgh hotels here.

Reviews & Sharing

If you have found the content on this page useful then please feel free to share it with your friends and family, or if you have any information or updates that might be useful for us to add to the page then please contact us