Spring 2025 Marathon Medals: 3 Trends Worth Watching 🏃

Boston Marathon is one month away, London Marathon less than two. Race-director briefs landing this week show three clear shifts versus 2024 — each one defines what runners post about through May.

Post-Paris Story Hooks Now Standard

After Paris 2024 embedded Eiffel iron into every Olympic medal, every regional race director wants their own story-anchored material. 2025 briefs increasingly ask: what local material can we embed? Recycled stadium steel, old race-finish-line tape, retired equipment fragments. Cost on a custom die: minimal. Narrative payoff: huge.

Bottle-Opener Bottom Edge

After-race beer is universal. A CNC-cut bottle-opener slot in the bottom edge of a 70mm+ zinc-alloy medal (~฿8/unit upcharge) doubles the medal's functional life. Particularly popular at trail, ultra, and craft-beer-sponsored events.