The Everest Marathon, the world's highest marathon, was started in 1985 by Jan Turner and Tony Hunt on a trek to and from Everest Base Camp

Everest Base Camp

There are two base camps on opposite sides of Mount Everest. South Base Camp is in Nepal at an altitude of , and North Base Camp is in Tibet at ). These camps are rudimentary campsites on Mount Everest that are used by mountain climbers during their ascent and descent...

. Jan Turner pioneered the course in 12 hours without aid stations and a full back pack. On their return to Namche Bazaar

Namche Bazaar

Namche Bazaar is a village and Village Development Committee in Solukhumbu District in the Sagarmatha Zone of north-eastern Nepal. It is located within the Khumbu area at , populating the sides of a hill...

 they set up an impromptu half marathon

Half marathon

A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...

. On return to the UK, Jan Turner advertised for competitors and got a trekking agent (Bufo Ventures) to organise logistics. After The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

 condemned the idea and warned people would die, the race took off and was held in full in November 1987. Since then there have been various versions of the event but the Hilary Tenzing Everest Marathon is the highest and closest to the original concept.

There are two versions of the Everest Marathon. The Everest Marathon (1987–present) and The Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon (2003–present). The Everest Marathon starts at Gorak Shep, whereas the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon starts at Everest Base Camp, from higher Expedition Khumbu ICE Fall. Both finish in Namche Bazaar.

Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon is properly conducted with Official Permission from Sagarmatha Everest National Park & Nepal Tourism Board under Government of Nepal to commemorate the First Successful 1953 Everest Expedition by Edmund Hillary

Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...

 & Tenzing Norgay

Tenzing Norgay

Padma Bhushan, Supradipta-Manyabara-Nepal-Tara Tenzing Norgay, GM born Namgyal Wangdi and often referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer...

on May 29, whereas other Marathons are run privately run in the name of Charity.

2010 saw the first ultra marathon (Everest Ultra) to be held from Gorak Shep to Lukla with a distance of 65 km.