The California International Marathon (CIM) is an annual road marathon () held in Northern California since 1983. The net downhill course starts at Folsom Dam and ends at the State Capitol in Sacramento. The race is organized by the Sacramento Running Association.
With just under 10,000 finishers, it is one of the ten largest marathons in the United States.
History
In 1983, marathoner John Mansoor and entrepreneur Sally Edwards organized the first CIM, anticipating an opportunity to also be an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier.CIM History CIM served as the United States National Marathon Championship for men in 1984 and for women in 1984, 1985, 1989, and 1993. It has again served as the USATF National Marathon Championship in 2017, 2018, 2022, 2025, and will again in 2026.
The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants given the option of transferring their entry to 2021, 2022, or 2023.
The men's course record was held for over 20 years, by American Jerry Lawson (2:10:27, 1993), until it was broken in 2024 by Ethiopia's Tsegay Weldlibanos (2:07.35).
On December 5, 2021, Sara Vaughn broke the women's course record, which had stood for 8 years, with a winning time of 2:26:53. The following year, Paige Stoner broke the record by 51 seconds running the race in a time of 2:26:02.The record was broken again in 2025, by marathon debutant, Molly Born.
Course
The course follows a historic gold miners' round beginning at Folsom Dam, passing through suburban Sacramento, and ending at the State Capitol. The race starts at an elevation of and finishes at an elevation of .
Winners
Key: Course record
Date Men's winner Country Time Women's winner Country Time December 4, 1983 Martti Kiilholma 2:13:35 Gabriele Anderson 2:33:25 December 2, 1984 Ken Martin 2:11:24 Katy Schilly 2:32:40 December 8, 1985 Peter Butler 2:10:56 Nancy Ditz 2:31:36 December 7, 1986 Danny Gonzalez 2:13:20 Christa Vahlensieck 2:39:31 December 6, 1987 Peter Maher 2:16:49 Patti Gray 2:40:29 December 4, 1988 Rich McCandless 2:12:44 Janis Klecker 2:34:17 December 3, 1989 Budd Coates 2:14:07 Nan Doak-Davis 2:33:11 December 2, 1990 Peter Renner 2:12:35 Janis Klecker 2:30:42 December 8, 1991 Bruce Deacon 2:15:16 Sally Eastall 2:29:29 December 6, 1992 Steve Plasencia 2:14:14 Kathleen Bowman 2:34:20 December 5, 1993 Jerry Lawson 2:10:27 Linda Somers 2:34:11 December 4, 1994 Graeme Fell 2:16:13 Jennifer Martin 2:36:19 December 3, 1995 Bruce Deacon 2:13:59 Michaela Reger 2:32:45 December 8, 1996 Patrick Muturi 2:14:19 Rizoneide Vanderlei 2:35:46 December 7, 1997 Abderazzak Haki 2:16:31 Grace Chebet 2:40:30 December 6, 1998 Abderazzak Haki 2:15:04 Alena Vinnitskaya 2:32:41 December 5, 1999 Joe LeMay 2:13:55 Nickey Carroll 2:29:21 December 3, 2000 Elly Rono 2:15:38 Kristin Schwartz 2:38:16 December 2, 2001 Bruce Deacon 2:22:12 Irina Safarova 2:36:36 December 8, 2002 Elly Rono 2:11:56 Tatiana Titova 2:33:13 December 7, 2003 Michał Bartoszak 2:16:21 Tatiana Titova 2:33:31 December 5, 2004 Oleg Bolkhovets 2:13:22 Lyudmyla Pushkina 2:37:22 December 4, 2005 Sergey Fedotov 2:18:28 Yelena Orlova 2:37:38 December 3, 2006 Jonathan Ndambuki 2:14:58 Alina Gherasim 2:34:23 December 2, 2007 Laban Moiben 2:14:31 Wioletta Kryza 2:39:20 December 7, 2008 Halefom Abebe 2:16:42 Natalia Sokolova 2:32:01 December 6, 2009 Tesfaye Bekele 2:13:42 Bizunesh Deba 2:32:17 December 5, 2010 Dylan Wykes 2:12:39 Bizunesh Deba 2:32:13 December 4, 2011 Erick Monyenye 2:11:50 Serkalem Biset Abrha 2:33:40 December 2, 2012 Daniel Tapia 2:16:29 Alisha Williams 2:34:57 December 8, 2013 Weldon Kirui 2:14:32 Rebecca Wade 2:30:38 December 7, 2014 Jacob Chemtai 2:11:55 Volha Mazuronak 2:27:33 December 6, 2015 Elisha Barno 2:12:11 Serkalem Biset Abrha 2:31:51 December 4, 2016 Nelson Oyugi 2:11:41 Sara Kiptoo 2:31:20 December 3, 2017 Tim Ritchie 2:11:56 Sara Hall 2:28:10 December 2, 2018 Brogan Austin 2:12:39 Emma Bates 2:28:18 December 8, 2019 Elisha Barno 2:13:36 Jane Kibii 2:29:31 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic December 5, 2021 Brendan Gregg 2:11:21 Sara Vaughn 2:26:53 December 4, 2022 Futsum Zienasellassie 2:11:01 Paige Stoner 2:26:02December 3, 2023CJ Albertson2:11:09Grace Kahura2:29:00December 8, 2024Tsegay Weldlibanos2:07:35Calli Hauger-Thackery2:24:28December 7, 2025Futsum Zeinasellassie2:09:29Molly Born2:24:09
References
External links Race profile at the Association of Road Racing Statisticians' website