Longest marathon winning streaks

Steve Jones won three marathons in a row - not a huge number but just check out the times!

Chicago 1984 2.08.05

London 1985 2.08.16

Chicago 1985 2.07.13

For women, Naoko Takahashi has 6 including Olympic gold and WR. Ndereba with 4 including Boston twice and Chicago twice (with WR). I thought Simon, being one of the most consistent runners of all time, would have some good record but surprisingly she doesn't have any streak except for 3 in a row Osaka Ladies marathon. Of course Radcliff won 3 in a row before Athens with 2 WR (plus fastest debut marathon)...

Seko has 5 in a row and 4 in a row with LA Olympics where he finished 14th. Since he won his first Fukuoka, he finished 2nd to Bill Rodgers at Boston, then steak of 5 with Fukuoka 3 times and Boston and Tokyo. Then bumbed out at LA; came back to win London, Chicago, Boston again, and Lake Biwa. Finished his career with 9th at Seoul. All in all, he won 10 marathons out of 15 startings.

That first sentence didn't really make sence (what do you expect from a damn foreigner...! ;o)). I meant Seko had 6 and 4 with 14th place at LA sandwitched in between.

It has to be Ted Poulos. I'm not sure how many marathons he's run, but in all of them, no 7-year-olds finished in front of him.

I was thinking about how great Kipchoge . He's now won 9 straight efforts at the 26.2 distance. 8 marathons and breaking 2. 7 of those wins have been majors.

What's the Guiness world record for most marathon wins in a row. Maybe there is some joker winning like in 2:40?

So was there a WR for most marathon wins in a row for a pro?

Why post the thread if you're going to answer your own question in the first paragraph?

rojo wrote:

Maybe there is some joker winning like in 2:40?

That's gotta be a direct jab at Chuck Engle, no?

He took down his website and stats, but I'd bet he's got some strings of 2:30-2:45 wins of small marathons on the order of 5-10 in a row.

rojo wrote:

I was thinking about how great Kipchoge . He's now won 9 straight efforts at the 26.2 distance. 8 marathons and breaking 2. 7 of those wins have been majors.

What's the Guiness world record for most marathon wins in a row. Maybe there is some joker winning like in 2:40?

So was there a WR for most marathon wins in a row for a pro?

How many has Yuki Kawauchi won in row now? He seems to run a mararthon every few weekends and tends to win them. So far he is undefeated for marathons in 2018. OK I know officially he is an amateur so maybe he does not count.

rojo wrote:

I was thinking about how great Kipchoge . He's now won 9 straight efforts at the 26.2 distance. 8 marathons and breaking 2. 7 of those wins have been majors.

What's the Guiness world record for most marathon wins in a row. Maybe there is some joker winning like in 2:40?

So was there a WR for most marathon wins in a row for a pro?

Breaking2 doesn't count. It wasn't a real race, it was under different rules, it was a time trial without competition.

Otherwise, Kipchoge is the undisputed master of the marathon.

Kawauchi fan wrote:

rojo wrote:

I was thinking about how great Kipchoge . He's now won 9 straight efforts at the 26.2 distance. 8 marathons and breaking 2. 7 of those wins have been majors.

What's the Guiness world record for most marathon wins in a row. Maybe there is some joker winning like in 2:40?

So was there a WR for most marathon wins in a row for a pro?

How many has Yuki Kawauchi won in row now? He seems to run a mararthon every few weekends and tends to win them. So far he is undefeated for marathons in 2018. OK I know officially he is an amateur so maybe he does not count.

He makes tons of money running. He's not an amateur.

His current streak is 5.

After Montreal, Bill Rodgers 1976-1980 had 10 wins in a row, except for a DNF 1977 Boston

He's has got to be in the conversation.

He wilted in the 77 degree F Boston.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Rodgers_(runner)

1976 NYC (2:10:10) 1st CR

1976 Sado Island, Japan (2:08:23) 1st CR (200 meters short)

1976 Maryland (2:14:28) 1st CR

1977 Kyoto, Japan (2:14:25) 1st

1977 Boston (DNF)

1977 Amsterdam, Netherlands (2:12:46) 1st CR

1977 Waynesboro (2:25:12) 1st

1977 NYC (2:11:28) 1st

1977 Fukuoka (2:10:55) 1st

1978 Boston (2:10:13) 1st

1978 NYC (2:12:12) 1st

1978 Fukuoka (2:12:53) 6th

1979 Boston (2:09:27) 1st AR

1979 Montreal (2:22:12) 15th

1979 NYC (2:11:42) 1st

1980 Boston (2:12:11) 1st

1980 Toronto (2:14:47) 1st

1980 NYC (2:13:20) 5th

1981 Houston-Tennaco (2:12:10) 1st CR

Not remotely at the same level, but Tomomi Sawahata (from the same prefecture of Japan as Kawauchi) is on a 17 marathon win streak on the women's side (at the time of that article it was 15) https://japanrunningnews.blogspot.ca/2017/11/undefeated-in-marathon-meet-tomomi.html

ARRS kept track of this. Their record is 18.

http://arrs.net/WS_Mara.htm

I was gonna say Grete, back when she was the dominant female marathoner.

Rodger Kram wrote:

After Montreal, Bill Rodgers 1976-1980 had 10 wins in a row, except for a DNF 1977 Boston

Not to take anything away from Bill Rogers, but a DNF is a losing race so there is no streak. This might be the one time where it is better to never have started.

Hardloper wrote:

ARRS kept track of this. Their record is 18.

http://arrs.net/WS_Mara.htm

Hardloper is stealing my job of quoting the ARRS. ;)

If you DNF that's a loss. You can't NOT count it as a race since he started.

Here are some marathon win streaks, by some of the most dominant men of different eras, 1950s to present. There are of course big differences across these eras, but in each of these cases, these men were among the most dominant for a time. I am including some that have DNFs in them -- I don't care either way, but they are included here for consideration, and partly to emphasize how incredible Kipchoge's current streak of 7 or 8 (depending on your attitude toward the Monza race) actually is. With or without Monza, it is a great streak, winning in fast times against most of the best competition of this era, no DNFs. Kipchoge's streak, among top-level marathoners, is unequaled.

Jim Peters 7 (from his marathon debut in 1951, ending with his 2nd at Boston 1954. This streak includes DNF at the 52 OG. Longest DNF-free streak here is 4.)

Abebe Bikila 6 (from his marathon debut in 1960, ending with his 5th at Boston 1963; he also had a streak of 5, after that loss, to the end of his career, with 2 DNFs.)

Derek Clayton 5 (from his marathon debut in 1965, ending with his 7th at Mexico City OG)

Frank Shorter 8 (from his Pan-Am win in 1971, ending with his 4th at Honolulu 1974. This includes a DNF in 1973, and an =1st at the 72 USOT. Longest DNF-free streak here is 6.)

Bill Rodgers 10 (from his NYC win in 1976, ending with his 6th at Fukuoka 1978. This includes a DNF at Boston 1977. Longest DNF-free streak here is 6.)

Toshihiko Seko 5 (from his Fukuoka win in 1979, ending with his 14th at 1984 OG)

Rob DeCastella 4 (from his Fukuoka win in 1981, ending with his 5th a 1984 OG)

Haile Gebrselassie 8 (from his Berlin 2006 win, ending with his 4th at Tokyo 2012. This includes 2 DNFs within the streak of 8. Longest DNF-free streak here is 5.)

Sammy Wanjiru 4 (from his 2008 OG win to his last marathon, Chicago 2010. This includes one DNF.)