Thousands of runners kicked off the Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday morning, running along a trail that winds through both Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Both winners from the 2025 marathon returned to defend their titles, joined by more than 30,000 others — a record — who signed up for this weekend’s races. Drivers should anticipate closures along the race route while runners can expect ideal marathon weather.

Winners should cross the finish line in the 10 a.m. hour with the marathon wrapping up at 3 p.m.

The marathon starts in downtown Minneapolis, winding its way around Minneapolis lakes before heading north along the Mississippi River. Runners cross the Mississippi along Franklin Avenue and head south back along the river trail.

The final stretch of the race takes runners along Summit Avenue to the finish line at the State Capitol.

Anyone planning to cheer the runners along can check out Twin Cities in Motion’s spectator guide. It recommends the best places to watch the races and shares parking and road closure information.

The marathon also offers an online map of the racecourse.

Marathon organizers recommend taking freeways when possible to navigate around road closures.

The temperature at starting time was around 50 degrees, which will increase to the low-to mid-60s through the early afternoon. Increasingly hot fall weather in past years has led organizers to push the marathon back to mid-October starting in 2027.

Both last year's men's marathon winner, Will Norris of Iowa, and women's marathon winner, Jane Bareikis of Illinois and Kenya, returned to defend their titles.

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.