Standard Chartered Taipei Charity Marathon 2026

Taipei is a metropolis that runs fast—we all know it! 💨

Every month of November, the capital of Taiwan turns into an open-air arena for a weekend 🏙️. The Standard Chartered Taipei Charity Marathon isn’t just another urban marathon 😍. It’s the biggest charity marathon on the island 😲.

Born in 2013 at the initiative of Standard Chartered, one of the major international banking institutions present in Taiwan, the SCTCM took its first strides with a simple but powerful idea: turning every kilometer run into an act of solidarity 🤝. As early as the following year, in 2014, the event won the Sports Promoter Award - Gold Award for Sponsorship from Taiwan’s Ministry of Education 👩‍🎓. In ten years, the race has managed to accumulate more than 130 million New Taiwan dollars (NTD) in donations—proof that generosity, when it laces up its sneakers, goes far 💶. The SCTCM is one of ten races sponsored by Standard Chartered around the globe, from Nairobi to Singapore, and raises funds for the Futuremakers program, the bank’s global initiative aimed at reducing economic inequalities for underprivileged youth 👏.

The marathon route starts from Ketagalan Boulevard, the symbolic artery that runs alongside the Taipei Presidential Office Building—safe to say you kick off with lungs full of History 🏛️. The race then flies down Zhongshan Road, one of the capital’s major north–south avenues, before crossing the Zhongshan Bridge to reach the banks of the Keelung River💧. That’s where the marathon reveals its true personality: kilometer after kilometer along the riverside parks of Nangang, Chengmei, and Guanshan, where bike paths border a peaceful river and where sakura, depending on the season, scatter their petals over the asphalt 🌸. The course alternates between smooth-rolling city avenues and slightly more technical stretches through lush parks beneath the access ramps to the MacArthur Bridges 🌉. The finish is not far from the Dazhi Bridge, in a residential area in the city’s northeast📍. For those who prefer a gentler warm-up, a half-marathon, an 11 km, and a fun run of 3 km round out the program, allowing the whole family to take part in the collective effort 👶.

Time-wise, the SCTCM plays in the big leagues. 🌍 In the men’s marathon, Kenyan Paul Lonyangata ruled in 2020, setting the course record at 2:09:18" 🚀. A time that places the race among serious competitions on the international stage 🌍. On the women’s side, Ethiopian Alemtsehay Asifa pulled off the consecutive double in 2021–2022 and still holds the record at 2:25:55" 💨. The SCTCM’s international profile also shows in its participation numbers: 26,000 runners from 51 countries take the start each year, with participants as old as 88 😮. The event is certified by AIMS and World Athletics, and has recently been included among the qualifying races for the AbbottWMM MTT Age Group Rankings, the global age-group ranking system for the Majors circuit. For Taiwanese runners, it’s a direct gateway to international competition without leaving the island 🏆. What truly sets the SCTCM apart from the rest of the calendar is its proudly displayed solidarity-driven DNA 🧡. Organizers actively encourage each participant to raise funds in addition to running—an individual fundraising system that, in the last edition, made it possible to reach 840,000 NTD in personal donations, for a grand total from all sources of 3.19 million NTD 🙌. What’s more, the presence of 51 nationalities gives the event a cosmopolitan atmosphere that’s rare for an Asian race of this scale, and the banks of the Keelung offer a spectacular setting for onlookers who come to cheer with signs and improvised vuvuzelas 🎉.

After the effort, the city serves itself up as a post-race reward: a bowl of beef noodle soup in one of the hole-in-the-wall joints in the Da’an district is worth all the sports drinks in the world ⚡️. And if your legs still allow it, a visit to the National Palace Museum or a trip up Taipei 101 is a must, to contemplate the morning’s route from 509 m up and realize that, clearly, you didn’t take it easy 😅.

The SCTCM is proof that you can run for something bigger than yourself 🔥.