World’’s Top Distance Races We’’ve scoured the globe to find the world’’s best distance events ― and we’’ve found the following races which you simply must run if you get the chance.A Swiss Alpine Races This is as beautiful ― and tortuous ― as it sounds: the Swiss Alpine races take runners through verdant upland meadows and deep woods on primitive running trails. Runners travel through tunnels, over high wooden bridges, up flights of steps and through mountain villages, with only yodelling spectators to break the silence. Two of the three races (the 28-kilometre Landwasserlauf and the 67-kilometre "marathon") begin benignly enough on a stadium track in Davos( at 5,000 m). a centre for high-altitude sports training in Europe. The mid-distance Sertiglauf covers the last 39 kilometres of the marathon course, providing runners with the challenge of crossing the 3,000m Sertig Pass. Founded as recently as 1986. the races already attract more than 2,000 runners from over 20 countries to the south-eastern. Germanspeaking quadrant of Switzerland. A training camp, held the week before the race, includes alpine running and hiking in the mountains to help runners to acclimatise to the altitude.B Stramilano 15km Half-Marathon Italy‘s electrifying Stramilano breaks the pattern for road races by holding separate events in four classes of running. On the Saturday. thousands of spectators jam the streets at the heart of the city of 1.7 million people to watch 200 élite men run a four-lap half-marathon. The next day’’s citizens’’ 15-kilometre race draws a field of around 50,000 from 50 countries to trek from the Piazza Duomo(the square in front of Milan’’s massive white marble cathedral, which dates from 1386) to Arena Stadium. About 2,500 non élite runners opt for a half-marathon that begins and ends in the stadium. Finally, there’’s a 6-kilometre children’’s fun run from the Piazza Duomo to the stadium. Founded in 1972, Stramilano is one of the best deals in international road racing. For the equivalent of ￡5, runners receive a programme, medal and T-shirt. Until recently, the race has been largely unknown outside Italy, even though Milan has long been Italy’’s centre for finance, sport and some of the greatest northern Italian cuisine.C Boston Marathon Qualifying for Boston has become a goal for runners everywhere. Arguably the world’’s most famous marathon (now over 100 years old), Boston was known to sports fans decades before there was any such thing as a running boom. While the event has been modernised to accommodate the financial realities of big-time marathoning, Boston retains many of its charms and traditions from the old days. One is the Monday noon start (Patriots Day in Massachusetts) at Hopkinton’’s village green. The Boston experience includes Hopkinton’’s crowded and frantic start, the deafening cheers from the women of Wellesley College, the reality test of the Newton Hills (including, at 17 miles, the infamous Heartbreak Hill) and a downtown Boston finish in front of thousands of spectators. Runners take over the city the weekend before, with exhibitions, warm-up runs along the Charles River and famous-runner sightings among the leading activities. Moderately demanding qualifying standards limit the field to about 7,000 and add prestige to the event.D New York City Marathon The "big daddy" of the modem big-city megamarathon, the New York traces its humble origins to a four-lap run around Central Park which took place in 1970, with 55 finishers. When the race went citywide in 1976, the world took notice, and the field has now ballooned to nearly 30,000. Apply early for entry ― more runners are rejected man accepted through New York’’s lottery system. The race starts at the world’’s largest suspension bridge, the Verrazano Narrows, and finishes among falling autumn leaves in stately Central Park. The meandering point-to-point course(with some hills)passes through all five New York boroughs, giving runners a rich sampling of the city’’s many ethnic neighbourhoods and subcultures and weaving them through crowds of enthusiastic spectators. The racesupport covers every imaginable runner need, from foreign-language translation to psychological trauma counselling.E The M édoc and Graves Marathon It may not be the ideal race to set a world best in, but if it’’s fun and frivolity you want throughout your 42 kilometres, then M édoc has it in abundance. It features an extraordinary party in the grounds of an ancient chateau, a route that cuts through the cloistered, manicured private vineyards of the region, and the kind of hospitality and atmosphere that no other event can match. Fancy dress is the order of the day, with wide-eyed villagers turning out to cheer on hordes of runners as they make their slow progress from the wine parishes of Pauillac, St Est é phe, St Julien and Margaux. Finishers get an open-air supper and take home a wooden-cased bottle of claret, a pendant cast as a bunch of grapes and a knapsack to carry the goodies in. Understandably, the French make up the lion’’s share of the field, but although large tour groups are discouraged, single competitors or small independent groups are welcomed with open arms. Apply early ― it’’s the most popular marathon in France and always heavily oversubscribed. But with all that for under a fiver, it’’s not hard to understand why.F Boder Boulder Set in the Rocky Mountain foothills and with the presence of a core of elite athletes and a fitnessmad population, one of America’’s largest 10-kilometre races is a natural outgrowth of the Boulder Community. Few cities do a better job of giving 30,000 runners a memorable day without losing them in the masses. Some 40 wave starts, in which runners are grouped with those of similar ability, ensure a smooth, uncrowded course. The ’’citizen’’ divisions begin first, so that later everybody gets to watch separate fields of élite men and women sprint to the tape in the 51,000-seat Folsom Field stadium. To take your mind off the gruelling nature of this hilly, mile-high course, there are entertainers performing along the way, including belly dancers, gymnasts and rock bands. There are 10 prizes for each age group, and all finishers receive a certificate with their official time and placing. The race has gone from strength to strength since 1979, when local banker Steve Bosley and Olympic gold medallist Frank Shorter created the event.G London Marathon Inspired by Chris Brasher’’s trip to New York in 1980, the race has now surpassed its older American cousin in numbers of applicants, entrants and finishers. In 1994, with the finish moved from Westminster Bridge back down the Mall to the steps of Buckingham Palace, the number of finishers reached a historic high of 25,000. The now familiar flat-to-downhill course, starting at Greenwich Park and on Blackheath Common and passing the Curry Sark, the Tower of London and the Houses of Parliament along the way, packs in more history than a secondary-school textbook. Competition for places is intense, with the lottery for ’’open’’ spots denting more than a few British club runners’’ ambitions. Not only is the race the world’’s biggest in numerical terms, it also raises the most money for charity. Cartoon characters, charging rhinos and Zulu warriors all find their way onto the start line, with thousands of pounds riding on their successful finish.London Marathon is the world’’s biggest race in numerical terms. A．YB．NC．NG