The Valencia Marathon has produced some spectacular performances in recent years and this year’s race promises more of the same.
It’s not one of the World Marathon Majors but is undoubtedly one of the quickest courses around – and is usually held in ideal conditions in early December.
Read on to find out what to expect in the 2025 version…
Date, start time and how to watch live
The race takes place on Sunday December 7th and the elite men and women both start at 08:15 local time in Spain.
They will be joined by around 35,000 other runners who will set off in eight different waves between 08:25 and 09:35.
The current weather forecast looks relatively favourable too – at least for the elites. At 08:15 it’s predicted to be dry and sunny, with the temperature 13 degrees and rising to 16 degrees in the following couple of hours. By lunchtime though it will be in the low 20s and what is also a slight concern for all is that a gentle breeze of around 10mph from the west is currently forecast. Winds definitely played a part in slowing down the times in the second half of the Valencia Half Marathon in October.
The good news is you can watch it all unfold live – and for free – on Olympics.com. There will be no geo-restrictions and there will be English and Spanish commentary options.
Men’s race
The course record is held by the late Kelvin Kiptum after he won his first marathon here in 2:01:53 in 2022, the fastest debut in history.
And then last year Sebastian Sawe produced a spectacular debut of his own to win in 2:02:05, since when he’s gone on to triumph at both London and Berlin this year.
That duo have helped Kenya dominate the men’s race in Valencia – Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia in 2023 the only one to break that sequence since 2020.
Lemma, who won Boston last year and London in 2021, is among the favourites this year but not surprisingly there’s a strong Kenyan challenge, including Vincent Nyageo and Patrick Mosin.
Home fans will have plenty to cheer too – Spanish record holder Tariku Novales (2:05:48 in 2023) is joined by track stars Fernando Carro and Adel Mechaal who both make their marathon debuts.
And there’s an intriguing British challenge. Phil Sesemann is the established name who is getting better and better – he set a PB of 2:07:17 in Amsterdam recently but Valencia is his big target.
And he’ll be joined – and has been training with – Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee.
After running 2:11:08 on debut in London earlier this year, Yee says his biggest development since then is the learning curve of racing the marathon itself. Speaking in his latest YouTube video, Yee said: “The fundamental thing between London and now is that I’ve been able to race that marathon for a first time… it’s taught me so much that I can now apply to Valencia. I definitely feel that I have a bit more belief in myself that I can deliver over that distance.”
Yee is planning to split the first half in around 63-64 minutes which could correlate to a finish time of around 2:07, though his watch data predicts even quicker.
Despite the encouraging indicators, Yee is realistic: “I’m no stranger to experiencing that the race doesn’t really start until about 30k. The plan for race day is just to get to the point where I’ve executed all my processes as best I can… and be excited about the unknown that’s about to unfold.”
And he adds, with quiet conviction: “I have confidence that I’m in the best place I’ve ever been.” For British road-running fans, that line alone should make Sunday essential viewing.
Women’s race
A stellar women’s field is headed by world and Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya.
She heads here just three months after winning the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo after an epic finish with Ethiopian Tigist Assefa in what were seriously muggy conditions.
Tokyo of course was where Jepchirchir won Olympic gold and she’s also got marathon victories in New York, Boston and London on her CV, the latter in 2024 where she set what was then a women-only race world record of 2:16:16.
Ethiopian Amane Beriso could be her chief rival on Sunday and is a former Valencia winner, her 2023 triumph in 2:14:58 the current course record.
We’ve also got Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei, a former New York winner, in what should be a fascinating contest.
