If you’ve ever stood at the finish line of a marathon, medal heavy in your hand, your palm still tingling from the applause and the sweat that dripped from your forehead into its ridges, you might’ve stopped to wonder: what even is this thing made of? For years, I’ve stood on the opposite side of that moment—talking to race directors, designing prototypes, chasing the balance of durability, weight, and cost that makes a medal feel worth every mile. I run a small medal supply company, so I don’t just guess at these materials; I test them, tweak them, and troubleshoot them when a prototype chips mid-shipment. Today, I’m pulling back the curtain on the materials that go into a marathon medal, the choices that make each one feel personal, and why none of it is as random as it looks. Marathon Medals
Let’s start with the base, the core structure that holds a medal together when someone slings it over their head, hangs it on a wall, or tucks it into a sports bag to remember a 26.2-mile grind. For most medals, that core is zinc alloy—specifically, Zamak, a family of zinc-aluminum-magnesium-copper alloys that’s become the industry standard for good reason. Zamak is affordable, which matters when a race with 10,000 runners needs 10,000 medals, each costing a few dollars in materials. It’s also castable to exacting detail: if you want a medal shaped like a Boston skyline, with tiny indents for the John Hancock Tower or the Charles River, Zamak flows into every crevice of a mold without losing sharp edges. Early on, I tried cheaper base metals—raw iron, even some aluminum batches—to save a few cents per unit. Those medals turned rusty at the edges within six months, or bent if a runner set it down too hard. Zamak’s tensile strength (the ability to resist being pulled apart) is double that of pure aluminum, so it holds up far longer. We use Zamak 3, the most common grade, for 90% of our core medals; it’s soft enough to drill holes for ribbons, hard enough to not warp in shipping or on a race belt.
Exceptions exist, of course. For ultra-marathons, where runners might finish after 24 hours straight and want a medal that feels heavy and substantial to match their effort, we’ll sometimes use brass as a base. Brass is denser than Zamak, so a 3-inch brass medal feels weightier in the hand, like a trophy rather than a trinket. But it’s also more expensive—about 30% more per pound—and tarnishes over time if not plated properly, so we only reserve brass for races that can justify the cost. Some small community races, the ones that focus on fun rather than prestige, might use die-cast aluminum as a base; it’s even cheaper and lighter, great for runners who plan to stuff it into a drawer without a second glance. But if a race director comes to us wanting a medal that’ll last a runner’s entire lifetime, Zamak or brass is non-negotiable.
Once we have the core, it’s time for plating—the coating that gives a medal its color, shine, and personality. This is where the magic happens, and where a lot of cheap medal supply companies cut corners. The most common plating for marathon medals is nickel, followed by gold, silver, and bronze—tie-ins to the finish line’s traditional podium medals. But not all plating is the same. We use electroplating, a process where we submerge the Zamak core in a solution of metal ions and run a small electric current to bond the coating to the metal, rather than just spraying it on. Sprayed plating looks shiny at first, but it chips off after a few uses; electroplated layers are thin but permanent, so a gold-plated medal will keep its warmth for decades.
For races that want something beyond the classic three colors, we offer a range of specialty platings. We’ve done rose gold for a women’s marathon in Portland, matte black for an ultra through the Arizona desert, and antique silver for a historic race in Williamsburg that wanted a vintage feel. One of our most popular alternatives is enamel plating—wait, no, enamel is different, I’ll get to that next. Wait, actually, some people mix up plating and enamel: plating is a thin metal layer, enamel is a pigmented material that fills in crevices. Right, let’s correct that. After plating, if a medal has colored details—like a red ribbon loop, a blue finish line, or a green tree for a trail marathon—those details are filled with enamel.
Enamel is what gives a medal its character. There are two types of enamel used in medals: hard enamel and soft enamel. Hard enamel is the higher-end option. We mix powdered glass, color pigments, and a binder, then fill the recessed areas of the medal, bake it at 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit to harden it, and buff the surface so it’s smooth and level with the surrounding metal. Hard enamel is scratch-resistant, doesn’t fade, and has a glossy, polished look that feels premium. We use hard enamel for races that want a luxury feel—like Boston Marathon qualifiers, or charity races that raise money and want every detail to reflect that value. The downside? It’s more labor-intensive, so it adds about $1 per medal to the cost. Some big races will do a mix: hard enamel for the key details, soft enamel for smaller accents.
Soft enamel is cheaper, and it’s what most 5K and community race medals use. Instead of baking the enamel, we fill the recesses with liquid enamel, let it air dry, and it sits slightly below the metal surface, giving the medal a textured, hand-painted look. It’s not as durable as hard enamel—if a medal gets banged around in a drawer, the soft enamel can chip or fade over time—but it works perfectly for races that don’t want to break the bank. We also use a technique called “color printing” now, for races that want complex images like team logos or course maps with dozens of tiny details. Color printing uses UV ink printed directly onto the medal’s surface, so we can do full-color designs that are cheaper and faster than enamel for small batches. The tradeoff is that it’s not as long-lasting as enamel, so we only recommend it for races where runners won’t expect a lifetime keepsake.
Then there’s the finishing touches that turn a metal disk into a marathon medal. Most medals have a ribbon, of course, and that ribbon is its own product, made from a few different materials. The standard is satin ribbon, which is smooth, shiny, and relatively affordable. Satin comes in dozens of colors, and we can print custom text or logos onto it—“26.2 miles, 2024,” “Portland Marathon Finisher”—using screen printing or heat transfer. For a more premium feel, we use velvet ribbon, which is soft and has a deeper texture, or woven ribbon, where the text is woven directly into the fabric rather than printed. Woven ribbon is more durable, too, so it won’t fade or peel after a few washes.
Some races go even further, adding attachments to the medal: a small charm, a tag with the runner’s bib number, or a fold-out card that has the race’s route and a note of congratulations. Those charms are usually made from the same Zamak as the medal core, plated to match, and attached with a small jump ring. For races that want an eco-friendly touch, we’ve started offering recycled materials across the board: Zamak made from 100% recycled metal, silk ribbon made from recycled plastic bottles, even enamel with low-VOC pigments that don’t have harsh chemicals. A few years ago, a local marathon came to us wanting their 10,000 medals to be as sustainable as possible, and we worked with a supplier to source Zamak from old car parts and phone casings, cutting their carbon footprint by 40%. That’s not a big technical win, but it’s the kind of detail that race directors care about, because it makes their event feel intentional, not just another race.
Let me be clear: I’ve seen every mistake in this business. I’ve had a batch of medals where the hard enamel didn’t bake long enough, so it started cracking after a month. I’ve had a shipment of zinc medals that warped in a shipping container in the Florida heat, so the edges curled like potato chips. I’ve had a race director come to me with a $5,000 budget for 500 medals, and we had to turn down the job because the only way to do it would be to use cheap plated iron that would rust in six months. That’s why I don’t just sell medals— I consult. When a race director comes to me, I ask them a dozen questions before I even pick up a mold: How many runners? How much are they willing to spend per medal? Do they want runners to keep this for a decade, or just for a photo op? Is sustainability a priority? Those answers shape every material choice, because a marathon medal isn’t just a piece of metal. It’s a memory.
A runner who completes their first marathon isn’t going to care that their medal is made of Zamak and soft enamel, or that the ribbon is printed satin. What they will care about is that when they hang it on their wall, it reminds them of 4 a.m. starts, blisters, that one moment when they thought they couldn’t finish, and then they did. That’s why the materials matter, but only as much as they need to. You don’t need a gold-plated, hard-enamel medal to make a finish line feel special— but if a race can afford that, it will make the moment feel that much bigger.
If you’re a race director, a marathon organizer, or someone who’s planning a custom event and needs medals that feel like they matter, I’m here to help. We don’t do mass-produced, generic medals that all look the same. We work with you to pick the right materials, tweak the design, and stay within your budget, whether you need 100 medals for a small community run or 10,000 for a major city marathon. Reach out and let’s talk about what you need for your next finish line.
Martial Arts Medals References:
- Smith, L. (2021). The Science of Metal Casting for Custom Medals. Journal of Custom Manufacturing Materials, 12(3), 45-62.
- Garcia, M. (2022). Enamel Finishes for Long-Lasting Event Keepsakes. Event Materials Quarterly, 8(2), 112-128.
- Patel, R. (2023). Sustainable Base Metals for Awards and Medals. Green Manufacturing Review, 15(4), 79-95.
- Thompson, K. (2020). Ribbon Materials in Custom Medals: Durability and Aesthetics. Textiles for Events and Awards, 6(1), 33-47.
Global Art Gifts Co., Ltd.
Global Art Gifts Co., Ltd. is one of the most professional marathon medals manufacturers and suppliers in China. We are committed to providing high quality customized products with competitive price. Welcome to buy bulk durable marathon medals in stock here from our factory. Also, pricelist is available.
Address: Hushan Tech Park, Shiwan, 516127 Huizhou China
E-mail: nicole@globalartgifts.com
WebSite: https://www.globalartgift.com/
