Maratón Baja California

Maratón Baja California is Mexico's oldest marathon, founded in 1967 and organized annually in Mexicali, the capital of Baja California, by the Instituto del Deporte y la Cultura Física de Baja California (INDE BC) with the backing of the Federación Mexicana de Asociaciones de Atletismo (FMAA). The 42.195 km course is certified by World Athletics and the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) and loops through Mexicali's main avenues, starting and finishing at Ciudad Deportiva. The 2025 edition (the 59th) ran on December 14 with roughly 1,000 runners from across Mexico and the southern United States, won by Jesús Rendón (2:17:50) and Pauline Mutwa (2:44:13); the race also offers a non-competitive four-person relay (the first three legs cover 10 km each and the anchor leg covers 12.195 km) and dedicated categories for wheelchair, blind/low-vision, and deaf athletes. The 60th edition is confirmed for Sunday, November 29, 2026, again starting and finishing at Ciudad Deportiva, with organizers describing it as a benchmark event for athletics in Baja California. Registration for recent editions has cost 200 Mexican pesos, opening a few weeks before race day through indebc.gob.mx, with a minimum age of 18 and total prize money exceeding 600,000 pesos, including bonuses for course records and for the top-finishing Baja California resident. Mexicali's desert climate means cool mornings even in late November, with race-morning temperatures typically in the low-to-mid teens Celsius.