Men-only races

The vast majority of the men-only races listed here operate as a duo with a women-only event, held in parallel during the same event 🤝. This is the case for the Cross du Courrier de l'Ouest et de la ville d'Angers, which offers several distances in separate categories, or the Corrida la nocturne Yvetotaise, in Normandy, which runs the two races back-to-back the same evening under the streetlights 🌙. The same logic applies to the 5K on the Beach, in New York 🇺🇸, which holds its men’s and women’s races on the same beach 🏖️, or the Women's Race (Spinneys), in Beirut, which despite its name also offers a men’s category alongside the main women’s event 🇱🇧.

The sensations and atmosphere in these categories don’t fundamentally differ from a standard mixed race. The real change is mostly in the field: in a men-only category, direct competition for the podium naturally narrows to the athletes present in that same race. Some of these events have a particular history behind this format. The Lake Biwa Men’s Marathon, in Ōtsu, Japan 🇯🇵, is among the very last major elite marathons in the world to have kept a strictly men’s edition for so long: the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon 🏃‍♂️, contested since 1946, only opened its women’s version in 2021—an evolution that is quite recent for this historic classic of Japanese marathon running.

Others play the humor card right in their name: Les Marcels à Plescop, in Brittany, refers to the tank top popularized by Marcel Aubert in the 19th century 👕, while La Moustache - La Bottine, in Nevers, combines running with a cheeky nod to men’s facial hair 🥸.

Finally, some events don’t necessarily have an identical women’s counterpart, such as the Amstel Gold Race, a historic Dutch cycling classic 🚴, which nevertheless has been holding its own separate women’s edition for a few years now in a different format, or the Trail du Roc de la Lune, in the Gard.

After the effort comes the reward, and that obviously makes no distinction between categories 🍻: shared refreshments, a common finish village, and often a joint awards ceremony with both podiums, men and women brought together for the occasion.

Want to discover the women’s counterpart to these categories? Head to the women-only races 🚺 to explore the other half of these events organized in parallel.