Jakarta International Marathon 2026

Jakarta. Thirty million inhabitants in the metro area, an urban density that makes you dizzy just looking at it on a map 🗺️, traffic jams that have become a local attraction in their own right, and since 2013, the biggest running event in Indonesia 🏃: the Jakarta International Marathon, aka the JAKIM for regulars.

A few words of context, because Jakarta is going through a bit of a special period. The city is still officially the capital of Indonesia, but it is in the process of handing that title over to the brand-new city of Nusantara, built from scratch on the island of Borneo 🏗️. A capital relocation underway, quietly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Jakarta doesn’t really care: it remains, beyond any debate, the country’s economic, cultural, and sporting heart, with or without the official title. And it still hosts its marathon, which is what matters 😄. Built on a coastal plain just a few meters above sea level, crossed by millions of people every day, Jakarta is also crossed each year in June by thousands of runners who set off in the dark under a tropical heat that gives nobody a break 🌡️. That’s JAKIM.

The story begins in 2013, with a clearly stated ambition: to position Jakarta as a world-class sports tourism destination and, one day perhaps, to join the club of the World Marathon Majors. The first edition immediately sends a strong signal: 10,000 runners on the starting line, Kenyan William Chebor winning in 2:14:30, and the IAAF certifying the course as Grade A in that very first year 🥇. AIMS follows suit right after. Jakarta is officially on the map of the global marathon scene 🌍.

Growth is fast, like everything that happens in Jakarta 😄. As early as 2015, participation climbs to 15,000 runners from 53 countries. The race changes names depending on sponsors, but the atmosphere doesn’t change: live music and traditional dances at several points along the course 🎶, because in Indonesia, even a marathon at 4 a.m. feels like a national celebration. In recent years, JAKIM has relied on the Jakarta provincial government and PASI (the Indonesian Athletics Federation), with a total prize money of 3 billion Indonesian rupiah 💰 (about €148,000). And to make sure they don’t do things halfway, there’s a bonus that’s absolutely unique in the world: a house given to the Indonesian runner who breaks the national marathon record 🏠. That’s really not a typo. A house. For a record. Not bad, huh 😅.

The course starts from the National Monument, the Monas 🗼, this 132-meter obelisk topped with a golden flame, a symbol of Indonesian independence, surrounded by a vast central park that serves as a green lung in the middle of the urban chaos 🌳. From there, runners cross the capital’s major avenues and historic districts: Kota Tua, the old Dutch colonial town with its 17th-century buildings and Fatahillah Square 🏛️, Pasar Baru the old market 🍅, the Jakarta Cathedral and, directly opposite on the other side of the boulevard, the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia 🕌. The two religious monuments have faced each other for decades, separated by just a few dozen meters, and runners pass between them—some taking the time to reflect on that. The route finishes at Gelora Bung Karno (GBK), the great historic sports complex built for the 1962 Asian Games, whose main stadium holds 77,000 people 🏟️. Crossing the finish line in such an arena at dawn is an image that sticks 🌅.

The course profile is fairly fast: 115 meters of total elevation gain, IAAF-certified. Maybe not enough for a record, but enough to have fun without any trouble 👿. Jakarta sits on a coastal plain; the route doesn’t try to invent difficulties. That would almost be reassuring if the main opponent weren’t in the air rather than in your legs 😮‍💨. June corresponds to the dry season (in other words, the best window available in the year if you don’t want to end up soaked to the bone ☔️), but temperatures still range between 25 and 33°C, with humidity that stubbornly refuses to drop below 75%. That’s precisely why the start is set for 4:00 a.m. ⏰. Not for nocturnal romance, not out of a taste for suffering, but because running 42 kilometers of tropical asphalt under the full Jakarta sun would simply be too dangerous. The men’s course record belongs to Kenyan Geoffrey Birgen, who ran 2:14:23 at the 2019 edition, having already won in 2015—clearly very comfortable on Jakarta’s asphalt 👑. On the women’s side, it’s Kenyan Sheila Chesang who holds the record with 2:33:54, set in 2024 🏅. Kenya has dominated the winners’ list very convincingly since the beginning 🇰🇪.

The marathon (42.195 km) and the half marathon (21 km) start from the Monas on Sunday morning. The 10 km and the 5 km start from the GBK complex on Saturday 🏟️. For kids, the Maratoonz are organized alongside the event 👦. All courses are AIMS and IAAF certified, with a national category for Indonesian citizens and an open category for foreign participants from age 17.

Running the Jakarta International Marathon means running straight through a city with an absolutely unique identity ✨. A tangle of Dutch colonial districts, oversized shopping malls 🛍️, mosques, temples, ever-present street food 🍜, and a human energy that’s hard to find elsewhere. At 4 a.m., as the first calls to prayer echo from neighborhood mosques and the city is only just starting to wake up 🥱, the streets of Jakarta belong to the runners. And what a gift! 🙌