Every one of them cost about four months

A marathon medal is not really a medal for one day. It is the sixteen weeks before it — the long runs in the dark, the week the calf went, the taper that felt like being ill. Nobody who has done it thinks the medal represents the race.

So a drawer is the wrong place. This medal hanger is stainless steel, cut in one piece, and sized so that a runner with a marathon a year has somewhere to put the next fifteen.

Marathon medals have grown over the last decade — wider ribbons, heavier discs, some with moving parts. A rail handles that better than hooks, which assume everything is the same size.

This medal hanger is produced in the widths below. If you are buying it as a gift, size on the collection they already have rather than on what looks right on the wall.

Size & capacity

Not sure which size?

One marathon a year for fifteen years is fifteen medals, which fits 45 cm. Two a year needs 60.

Made from one sheet, not assembled from parts

The medal holder is laser-cut from a single piece of AISI 304 stainless steel, 2.5-3 mm thick depending on the width. Nothing welded on, nothing to come loose.

Medals hang on a continuous rail rather than individual hooks, so you're limited by the width of the bar and nothing else.

Mounting

Everything is in the box: stainless standoffs, screws, wall plugs and a paper template. Mark through the template, drill, done — about ten minutes.

Running out of room

Buy a second and line it up directly beneath or beside this one — the proportions are designed so a pair looks intentional. The widest version holds up to 110 medals across three rails.

Getting it to you

This medal holder is made to order in the EU and on its way within 3–5 working days, with fourteen days to send it back if it isn't right.