The inaugural race was held on 9 October 1995.[2][6] The marathon was won by Brazilian runner Luíz Antônio dos Santos and Russian runner Nadezhda Wijenberg, with finish times of 2:17:11 and 2:39:33, respectively.[6]
In 2000, Brazilian military parachutist and debut marathoner Alex Januario led for most of the race, but finished second after Kenyan runner David Ngetich passed him less than 3 km (1.9 mi) away from the finish line.[7]