AIMS Best Marathon Runner Award

The AIMS Best Marathon Runner Award is a running prize which is given annually by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) to the top male and female marathon runners of the year. Prior to 2013, the award was known as AIMS World Athlete of the Year Award.

Established in 1992, runners receive nominations from the organisers of AIMS member races (over 300 in number) and the man and woman with the most nominations are each given the AIMS Golden Shoe. The athletic footwear company ASICS is a long-time sponsor of the award. There is no designated period in the year for when the awards are given out, but instead runners are given the Golden Shoe in a ceremony preceding their participation in one of the AIMS races.

Those to have received the award include marathon world record holders Haile Gebrselassie and Paula Radcliffe, who have each been given the honour on three separate occasions. Kenyan Tegla Loroupe has the most wins to her name; she won her first award in 1995 and took the honour for three consecutive years from 1997 to 1999. Others to have been nominated as AIMS World Athlete of the Year are Lornah Kiplagat, Uta Pippig, Khalid Khannouchi and Catherine Ndereba. The award is typically given to athletes who have performed well in marathon races, half marathons and road running events in general. One exception to this was when Paul Tergat was given the 1996 award in honour of his 10,000 metres world record on the track and his second victory at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

Winners

Year	Men's winner	Women's winner
1992	Benson Masya	Liz McColgan
1993	Dionicio Cerón	Not awarded
1994	Vincent Rousseau	Uta Pippig
1995	Not awarded	Tegla Loroupe
1996	Paul Tergat	Uta Pippig
1997	Josia Thugwane	Tegla Loroupe
1998	Ronaldo da Costa	Tegla Loroupe
1999	Abel Antón	Tegla Loroupe
2000	Gezahegne Abera	Naoko Takahashi
2001	Josephat Kiprono	Catherine Ndereba
2002	Khalid Khannouchi	Paula Radcliffe
2003	Paul Tergat	Paula Radcliffe
2004	Stefano Baldini	Mizuki Noguchi
2005	Jaouad Gharib	Paula Radcliffe
2006	Haile Gebrselassie	Lornah Kiplagat
2007	Haile Gebrselassie	Lornah Kiplagat
2008	Samuel Wanjiru	Constantina Diță
2009	Haile Gebrselassie	Mary Keitany
2010	Patrick Makau	Liliya Shobukhova
2011	Geoffrey Mutai	Mary Keitany
2012	Geoffrey Mutai	Tiki Gelana
2013	Wilson Kipsang	Edna Kiplagat
2014	Dennis Kimetto	Florence Kiplagat
2015	Eliud Kipchoge	Mare Dibaba
2016	Eliud Kipchoge	Jemima Sumgong
2017	Eliud Kipchoge	Mary Keitany
2018	Eliud Kipchoge	Gladys Cherono
2019	Lelisa Desisa	Ruth Chepngetich