Dubai Marathon 2027 Prize Money: Breakdown, Elite Field & Course Records

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The Dubai Marathon 2027 prize money has not yet been announced — the organisers have not published a 2027 breakdown as of 11 November 2026. What is confirmed is the most recent structure: the winner takes home $80,000, paid equally to the men’s and women’s champions, with prize money going down to 10th place. The full breakdown below is the confirmed 2025/2026 structure, currently published on the official prize money page at dubaimarathon.org — use it as the reference for what to expect in 2027. The race is on Sunday 17 January 2027, the 26th edition, and the 2027 elite field has not been announced yet either.

Dubai Marathon 2027 Prize Money at a Glance

DetailDubai Marathon 2027 Prize Money
2027 breakdownNot yet announced (TBC) — checked 11 November 2026
Reference structureConfirmed 2025/2026 breakdown, published on dubaimarathon.org
Winner’s prize$80,000 (men and women, equal)
Paid down to10th place in the open marathon
Open marathon pool$168,000 per gender — $336,000 across both open fields
10km prizesYes — AED 4,000 for the winner (open and UAE nationals)
4km fun run prizesNone — the fun run is untimed and has no prize money
Race dateSunday 17 January 2027 (26th edition)

Dubai Marathon 2027 Prize Money: The Full Breakdown

Dubai Marathon 2027 prize money is the question every elite manager asks first — and the honest answer right now is that the 2027 figures are still to be confirmed. The breakdown below is the one currently published on the official Dubai Marathon prize money page, and it is the structure used in the 2025 and 2026 editions. The 2027 breakdown is expected to follow a similar structure once announced, but do not treat these figures as the 2027 prizes until the organisers confirm them.

PlaceMen’s Open (USD)Women’s Open (USD)
1st$80,000$80,000
2nd$40,000$40,000
3rd$20,000$20,000
4th$10,000$10,000
5th$5,000$5,000
6th$4,000$4,000
7th$3,000$3,000
8th$2,500$2,500
9th$2,000$2,000
10th$1,500$1,500

Adding up the published places, the open marathon pool comes to $168,000 for the men’s field and the same for the women’s — $336,000 in total. One note on the total: some race guides cite an overall prize pool of around $316,000 for the 2025/2026 editions. The per-place figures above are the ones currently published on the official prize money page (checked 11 November 2026), and the $336,000 total is the sum of those published places. Prize money is paid equally to men and women at every place.

One figure you should not trust: a low-quality guide claims a $200,000 first prize. That number is not corroborated anywhere else. The $80,000 winner’s prize is confirmed by the official prize money page and by race reports — after the 2025 race, both winners were presented with cheques of $80,000, the runners-up received $40,000 each and the third-placed runners got $20,000. In dirhams, $80,000 is roughly AED 293,800.

UAE Nationals Prizes

There is a separate prize category for UAE nationals in the marathon, paid in dirhams:

PlaceMen (AED)Women (AED)
1st5,0005,000
2nd3,0003,000
3rd2,0002,000

10km Prizes — and the 4km Fun Run

Prize money is not limited to the marathon. The 10km road race carries its own prizes, paid in dirhams, for both the open field and UAE nationals: AED 4,000 for first, AED 2,000 for second and AED 1,000 for third.

Place10km Open (AED)10km UAE Nationals (AED)
1st4,0004,000
2nd2,0002,000
3rd1,0001,000

The 4km fun run has no prize money — the official prize money page lists no 4km prizes at all. That fits the race: the fun run is an untimed, all-ages family event, not a competition. Two things the official page does not state: when and how prize money is paid (no payment timing or conditions are published), and whether any record bonus will be offered. Dubai has historically offered world-record bonuses, but no bonus has been announced for the 2027 edition yet — check the official prize money page in race week for both.

An elite marathon runner racing alone at the front of the field on a city road, with spectators behind barriers
The elite field starts at 5:45am, 45 minutes before the mass start — the fast times, and the prize money, are decided in that first group.

Dubai Marathon 2027 Elite Field

The Dubai Marathon 2027 elite field has not been announced yet. Elite names are normally confirmed in the weeks before the race, often in December and early January, when the invited start lists appear on dubaimarathon.org. Until then, here is what is known — and what history says to expect.

The defending champions are Ethiopia’s Nibret Melak (men) and Anchinalu Dessie (women), the winners of the 25th anniversary edition in 2026. Whether either returns to defend in 2027 has not been confirmed. History says the field will be dominated by Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes chasing fast times on the flat Jumeirah course — Ethiopia holds 18 men’s and 19 women’s Dubai titles in the event’s 25-year history, after the 2026 Ethiopian double.

Dubai has a remarkable pattern: the men’s title has gone to a debut marathon runner six times in a row, most recently Melak in 2026, who won his first ever marathon in 2:04:00. The flat, sea-level course, the cool January start and the $80,000 winner’s cheque bring ambitious debutants who would not get an invitation to a World Marathon Major — so expect the 2027 start list to include several first-timers, and at least one of them to be in the medals. The elite marathon starts at 5:45am, 45 minutes before the 6:30am mass start. For registration, fees and start times, see our Dubai Marathon 2027 complete guide.

Dubai Marathon Course Record

The Dubai Marathon course record stands at 2:03:34 for men, set by Ethiopia’s Getaneh Molla in 2019, and 2:16:07 for women, set by Ethiopia’s Tigist Ketema in 2024. Both records were set by athletes running their debut marathon — Molla’s 2:03:34 was the fastest marathon debut in history at the time, and Ketema’s 2:16:07 was the fastest women’s marathon debut ever.

RecordTimeAthleteYear
Men’s course record2:03:34Getaneh Molla (Ethiopia)2019
Women’s course record2:16:07Tigist Ketema (Ethiopia)2024

The previous women’s record was Ruth Chepngetich’s 2:17:08, also set in Dubai in 2019 — the same race in which Molla set the men’s mark. Ketema broke it by 61 seconds in 2024, in a race where the entire women’s podium went under 2:20. On the men’s side, Molla’s record has now survived seven editions: the closest anyone has come since is Melak’s 2:04:00 in 2026, which missed the record by just 26 seconds. The course itself — two loops of Jumeirah Beach Road past the Burj Al Arab, almost perfectly flat at sea level — is covered in our Dubai Marathon 2027 route guide. No course-record bonus has been announced for 2027.

The Burj Al Arab seen through haze from Jumeirah Beach in Dubai — the landmark marathon runners pass on every loop of the course
The Burj Al Arab from Jumeirah Beach — runners pass it on both loops of the course, and it is where the fastest marathon times in the Middle East are run.

Dubai Marathon 2026 Results

The Dubai Marathon 2026 results, from the 25th anniversary edition on Sunday 1 February 2026, were an Ethiopian double with two world-leading times. The race drew 20,000 total entries — a record 4,000 in the full marathon — from 151 countries, with more than 19,000 finishers, starting in ideal 14°C conditions.

Dubai Marathon 2026 Results: Men

PlaceAthleteTime
1stNibret Melak (Ethiopia)2:04:00
2ndYasin Haji (Ethiopia)2:05:52
3rdJohn Hakizimana (Rwanda)2:06:04

Melak won on his marathon debut — the sixth consecutive men’s title in Dubai to go to a debutant — and his 2:04:00 was a world-leading mark for 2026 at the time. Hakizimana’s third place set a national record for Rwanda.

Dubai Marathon 2026 Results: Women

PlaceAthleteTime
1stAnchinalu Dessie (Ethiopia)2:18:31
2ndMuliye Dekebo (Ethiopia)2:18:43
3rdFantu Worku (Ethiopia)2:19:08

Dessie won her third straight marathon in a personal best of 2:18:31 — nearly four minutes quicker than she had ever run — after earlier wins in Seville (2:22:17) and Beijing (2:26:08). All three women’s medallists were Ethiopian, and all three ran personal bests. For comparison, the 2025 winners were Bute Gemechu (men, 2:04:51) and Bedatu Hirpa (women, 2:18:27).

Dubai Marathon 2027 Winners

There are no Dubai Marathon 2027 winners yet — the race is on Sunday 17 January 2027, and the winners will only exist after the finish at the Dubai Police Academy grandstand. The form guide points to another Ethiopian debutant: six men’s titles in a row have gone to debut runners, and Ethiopian athletes hold 18 men’s and 19 women’s Dubai titles in total. The defending champions, Nibret Melak and Anchinalu Dessie, are the names to watch first — if they return, they start as favourites; if they do not, the $80,000 winner’s prize is wide open.

Marathon runners crossing the finish line under a FINISH gantry, with timing clocks and crowds cheering
The finish-line gantry at a big-city marathon — in Dubai, the winners are usually decided long before the grandstand, but the medals are settled in the final kilometres.

Dubai Marathon 2027 Results

Dubai Marathon 2027 results will be published here after the race on Sunday 17 January 2027 — there are no results to report before the gun goes. On race day, live results will be available through the official timing partner (MikaTiming) and on dubaimarathon.org, with the winners and full results normally published the same day. This page will be updated with the 2027 winners, winning times and full podium once the race is run. Until then, the 2026 results above — Melak 2:04:00, Dessie 2:18:31 — are the most recent form guide, and the course records (Molla 2:03:34, Ketema 2:16:07) are the times the 2027 elite field will be chasing.

Dubai Marathon Results: How to Find Past Results

Dubai Marathon results for past editions are published on the official site, which keeps a results archive going back through the 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions. If you are looking for a specific year’s finishing times — or your own result from a previous race — the official archive on dubaimarathon.org is the reliable source, ahead of aggregator sites that often mix up editions. For race-week logistics, bib collection times and the expo are in our Dubai Marathon 2027 bib collection guide, and if you are choosing between the city’s two big running events, our Dubai Marathon vs Dubai Run comparison explains the difference: the marathon is a paid, timed, competitive race in January; Dubai Run is a free, untimed fun run in November.

Related: for registration, entry fees, start times and bib collection, see our Dubai Marathon 2027 complete guide, and for the course in detail, the Dubai Marathon 2027 route guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Dubai Marathon 2027 prize money?
The Dubai Marathon 2027 prize money has not been announced yet — the 2027 breakdown is still to be confirmed (TBC) as of 11 November 2026. The most recent confirmed structure, published on the official prize money page, pays the winner $80,000 (men and women equally), $40,000 for second and $20,000 for third, down to 10th place. The 2027 breakdown is expected to follow a similar structure once announced.
Who won the Dubai Marathon 2026?
Nibret Melak of Ethiopia won the men’s race in 2:04:00 on his marathon debut, ahead of Yasin Haji (2:05:52) and John Hakizimana of Rwanda (2:06:04, a national record). Anchinalu Dessie of Ethiopia won the women’s race in 2:18:31, a personal best by nearly four minutes, ahead of Muliye Dekebo (2:18:43) and Fantu Worku (2:19:08).
What is the Dubai Marathon course record?
The men’s Dubai Marathon course record is 2:03:34, set by Ethiopia’s Getaneh Molla in 2019. The women’s course record is 2:16:07, set by Ethiopia’s Tigist Ketema in 2024. Both were set by athletes running their debut marathon.
Who is in the Dubai Marathon 2027 elite field?
The Dubai Marathon 2027 elite field has not been announced yet — elite start lists are normally confirmed in December and early January. The defending champions are Nibret Melak (men) and Anchinalu Dessie (women), the 2026 winners. Check dubaimarathon.org in December for the confirmed elite names.
When will the Dubai Marathon 2027 results be published?
Dubai Marathon 2027 results will be available after the race on Sunday 17 January 2027. Live results will be published through the official timing partner (MikaTiming) and on dubaimarathon.org on race day, with the winners and full results normally out the same day. This page will be updated once the race is run.
Does the 10K or 4K fun run have prize money?
Yes for the 10km, no for the 4km. The 10km road race pays AED 4,000 to the winner (open and UAE nationals categories), AED 2,000 for second and AED 1,000 for third. The 4km fun run has no prize money — it is an untimed, all-ages family event, and the official prize money page lists no 4km prizes.
How much is the Dubai Marathon prize money in AED?
The winner’s prize of $80,000 is roughly AED 293,800. The marathon prizes are published in US dollars, while the UAE nationals and 10km prizes are published in dirhams — AED 5,000 for the fastest UAE national marathoner and AED 4,000 for the 10km winner.

Last updated: 11 November 2026


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