Races to Watch This Weekend: Javelina, Istanbul and More (Oct 31 to Nov 1)

If you follow races from the East Coast, two of Sunday's overseas marathons happen on Saturday. Auckland starts at 1:00 p.m. ET Saturday and Hangzhou is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Istanbul's gun goes at 9:00 a.m. Turkish time, the same instant U.S. clocks fall back: 2:00 a.m. EDT becomes 1:00 a.m. EST. Add two European ultras and Javelina, and from 1:00 p.m. ET Friday to 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday a race clock is running somewhere in every hour.

Javelina Jundred

Four tickets to the 2027 Western States are on offer: the top two women and top two men, rolling down no further than fifth. Javelina is the second of six races in the 2027 series and the last one on the 2026 calendar.

Wave 1 of the 100-miler leaves McDowell Mountain Regional Park at 6:00 a.m. Arizona time, Wave 2 at 6:30, and the 100K at 7:00. Will Murray (12:10:12) and Tara Dower (13:31:47) set the course records last year, and as of Friday neither appears on UltraSignup's 812-name entrant list. That list's fastest target times belong to Jordan Maddocks and Cole Smith at 12:39:07 and Shae Regan at 14:36:14. Devon Yanko, the 2022 winner, is right behind Regan, and 100K record holder Rajpaul Pannu is entered too. Those are UltraSignup's computed targets, and an entry isn't a confirmed start.

A finish at Murray's record pace would come around 9:10 p.m. ET Saturday. The final cutoff is 12:30 p.m. Sunday in Arizona, which stays on the same time all weekend: 2:30 p.m. ET.

Kullamannen and Mallorca

Kullamannen's 168K starts at Höganäs Church and finishes in Båstad, with a 32-hour limit. The organizer puts the DNF rate at 40 to 60 percent. The elite start list has Juuso Simpanen on the men's side with the top UTMB Index, 867, and Anna Carlsson on the women's, 749.

Mallorca's 138K starts at Cala Estellencs, climbs 5,350 meters and finishes in Port de Sóller. The top three men and women get direct entry to UTMB Mont-Blanc. Tobias Geiser (913) and Andrea Vlasakova (721) have the top indexes on the elite list.

Auckland

The chase here is a number from 2006. Dale Warrander's 2:17:43 still stands, and Toby Gualter, a nine-time national champion making his marathon debut with LA 2028 in mind, says he wants to challenge it. Defending champion Daniel Balchin, who also won in 2023, ran 2:19:55 last year. Brigid Dennehy, who set the women's record of 2:38:10 in 2025, returns too. The race app has an athlete tracker. We didn't find a broadcast.

Hangzhou

A June announcement set the field at 36,000, up from 32,000, with 22,000 in the marathon and a 7:00 a.m. start at Huanglong Sports Center. We found no international stream, tracker or elite list.

Istanbul

The 48th edition runs from the Asian end of the 15 July Martyrs Bridge to Sultanahmet in Europe. An ANKA report counts 8,427 registered for the marathon and 43 elites, and names 2024 champion Dejene Debela, Amdework Walelegn and Sufaro Woliyi, the fastest on the start list, plus defending champion Bizuager Aderra, world silver medalist Judith Korir and Veronicah Maina. The race doubles as Turkey's national marathon championship. The same report lists English commentary on the İBB Spor Istanbul and European Athletics YouTube channels and Turkish on İBB TV; the race's own site was unreachable when we checked.

Marshall

Finishers in Huntington, West Virginia, carry a football down the field at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Tracking runs on the RTRT app.

New York

The big one has its own guide: start times, app, viewing spots. Its first gun fires at 8:00 a.m. ET Sunday, the same moment Javelina's Wave 1 runners hit 24 hours and lose their shot at the sub-24 buckle.