Regarded as the main international event in Latin American athletics, the Brazilian competition is held yearly in the city of São Paulo on December 31.

There was never an official effort on the part of the organization to address the change in the nomenclature, which causes many, including some media outlets,[1] to continue using the term "Saint Silvester Marathon" when referring to the event.

Several other places like Amadora, Porto and Volta à cidade do Funchal in Portugal (Corrida de São Silvestre[2]), Calderara di Reno (Maratona di San Silvestro[3]) and Bolzano (BOclassic) in Italy, and Madrid in Spain (San Silvestre Vallecana), organize yearly Saint Silvester road races or marathons every late December.

Cásper Líbero, a "media millionaire" of the early 20th century Brazil, is credited with originally coming up with the idea for the race.

That meant that athletes from other countries could not come in to participate, but foreigners residing in the city of São Paulo (immigrants) were free to enroll.

The women's race started as an open event, and the first Brazilian victory would come only in its 20th edition (in 1995), when Carmem Oliveira won.

Starting December 31, 1982, Rede Globo began to telecast the road race via satellite to the whole of Brazil, in partnership with TV Gazeta.

In recent times, the foremost long distance runners of the last two decades (almost all of them, with the exception of Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia) have participated at least once in the event.