Sports / Downtown
Detroit Free Press Marathon
Run from Detroit to Canada and back: every October the course crosses the Ambassador Bridge into Windsor and returns through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
01 / The story of this place
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Detroit's marathon roots go back to the 1963 Motor City Marathon, which looped around Belle Isle, but the Free Press race kicked off in 1978, dreamed up by former Free Press editor and publisher Neal Shine. Its signature move is going international: runners climb the Ambassador Bridge into Windsor, Ontario, then come home through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, billed as the world's only official underwater international mile. The weekend now packs in the full marathon, an International Half, the Motor City Half, a relay, a 5K and kids' races, and the Sunday races sold out for the first time in 2024. In 2025 more than 26,000 people signed up, with the finish line at Campus Martius Park.
- Two countries in one race: the Ambassador Bridge out, the tunnel back
- The world's only official underwater international mile
- Full marathon, two half marathons, a relay, a 5K and kids' races
- A finish line in the heart of downtown at Campus Martius Park
- Tens of thousands of fans cheering along the course
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Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-10-01
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
Events at this place
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We have no published upcoming events linked to this place yet. That does not mean the venue has no events; check its official calendar too.
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