marathons are part of the history of Rio since 1979 - Yearly, with the exception of the years of 2001 and 2002, the world witnessed the Maratona Caixa da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de janeiro city's marathon), where the best athletes in the world gather to run in the warm and moist climate of the rainforest - Since 2003 the race follows a path along the coast, from recreio to aterro do flamengo.

The 42k course is run simultaneously with two other races, namely the Meia maratona da cidade do Rio de Janeiro and the Olympikus Family Run, with 21k and 6k courses respectively, and all are welcome to register as long as there are still places available - For the 2016 marathon, the places were filled in record time, more than six months before the actual contest would take place.

Besides the marathon, Rio also hosts other shorter races, like the Bravus Race, a distinguished obstacle course for the uniqueness of the hardships, like diving in pools of ice, running through live wires and jumping over logs on fire - A cooperative race instead of a competitive one, this obstacle course focuses on endurance and adaptability - An updated calendar of all street races in Rio can be found at the Corrida urbana website.