Vodafone Istanbul Marathon

The two-continents claim is not marketing. The course starts on the Asian side, crosses the Bosphorus Bridge on foot, which is the only day of the year anyone gets to do that, and finishes in the historic peninsula near Sultanahmet. No other marathon in the world runs between two continents in a single race.

It is also one of the largest participation events the city stages. Recent editions have drawn in the region of 30,000 to 40,000 participants across the three categories, from more than a hundred countries, and the public Fun Run category means the crowd on the bridge is far wider than a field of competitive marathoners.

The bridge crossing is what people come for and it is worth being realistic about it: it happens early, the field is dense, and the view is genuinely the point rather than a detail. Competitive runners treat the closing kilometres through the old city as the harder half.

For everyone not running, this is a road closure event first and a sporting event second. The bridge and large parts of the route through both sides of the city close on race morning, and a Sunday that would ordinarily be quiet becomes the one morning it is worth checking a map before leaving the hotel.

Race morning closures affect a wide area, including the Bosphorus Bridge crossing itself and the approach roads on both sides. If you are not running, plan around the published closures rather than through them, and assume that crossing between continents by road in the morning is not an option.

The Marmaray rail line runs under the Bosphorus rather than over it and is the usual way both runners and spectators move between sides on race day, since it is unaffected by the surface closures.

For runners, the standard pattern is to stay on the European side near the finish and travel out to the start, because the finish is where you will be at your least willing to solve a transport problem.

Entry fees apply to the timed marathon and 15K categories and are set by the organiser for each edition, with early registration priced below later windows.

The Fun Run, the public participation category, has historically been the cheapest way to take part and is the reason the overall participant count runs so high.

We are not quoting a specific fee here because it is set per edition. The organiser's own site is the place to check both the fee and the registration window, which closes well before race day for the timed categories.

Runners planning a race trip, for whom the two-continents crossing is the entire draw and worth arranging a weekend around.

Casual participants, who should look at the Fun Run rather than the timed categories. It is the accessible way onto the bridge.

Everyone else in Istanbul that weekend, who needs to know which roads close and when, and that the Marmaray is the way across.