ABSTRACT Marathons are significant sports events that can boost the regional economy. This study aims to examine the determinants of marathon runners’ behavioral intentions. Based on the 944 questionnaires collected in the Chicago and Xiamen Marathons in 2019, structural equation modeling, bootstrapping, and ordinary least squares regression methods are applied for the analysis. It reveals that event image and event quality can enhance destination personality which further positively influences runners’ behavioral intentions toward both cities. It also shows that destination personality mediates between event image, event quality, and behavioral intention for runners in both events. These findings have important implications for sports tourism research in various cultural contexts.