The competition was first held in 1977, and also hosts the annual Israeli marathon national championship.

[1] The course follows an out-and-back format around the southern tip of the sea, and the event also includes a half-marathon (21.1 km) and 10 and 5-kilometer runs.

David (Necho) Tayachew of Ben Shemen Youth Village and a member of the Maccabi Tel Aviv athletics club, won the men's marathon category with a personal record time of 2:13:00.

[2] In 2007, a Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete, Mushir Salem Jawher (Leonard Mucheru Maina), won the race and was briefly stripped of his Bahrani citizenship by the Bahrani government for competing in Israel.

[3] In 2012 Patrick Tambwé, a former Congolese runner representing France, ran a course record of 2:07:30 hours – a time which was the fastest by a European since 2007.