Marathon Matches (MMs) are one of the most effective ways to up your programming skills, gain rank, and earn bragging rights.
Marathon Matches (MMs) are complex competitive programming problems that can last a week or more. MMs are algorithm or data science problems that can have several solutions. Scores are based on the best solution for the problem.
Marathon Matches are the cornerstone of competition. They help to sharpen mental endurance because the problems can last weeks!
Marathon Matches (MMs) have a long history dating back to 2005, when only Single Round Matches (SRMs) existed at Topcoder.
The duration of competitions varies from match to match, but one can expect to work on a project for a considerable length of time.
Competition duration and code length are much longer for MMs (1-2 weeks with 5,000 lines of code) compared to Algorithm competitions (1.5 hours of 20-300 lines).
Algorithm competitions aim to produce the best possible solutions to a problem, while with MMs, there are no exact solutions and many code optimizations can be done.
“Like anything worth doing in life, you learn new skills and techniques. For me, probably the most interesting part of competing in MMs is meeting new people from across the world and learning from them. Plus, you also get to compare yourself to these great people and see how good you are. Another great thing is the research involved. To see your algorithm perform well is very rewarding. You get to learn from each result while optimizing your solutions. And of course if you’re really goot, you can become the TCO champion. That’s definitely something to aim for.”
“I made a lot of improvements. I made a 40k improvement. I’m not only looking at my final scores, but I’m also looking at test cases to see what works and what doesn’t. I don’t like to be distracted when I’m competing. There are so many problems to solve, but that is the fun part. I want my solutions to be the one that matters most.”
| competition | rank | provisional score | final score | rating | Volatility | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marathon Match 127 – CarRacing ROUND | 54 | 9.42 | 9.83 | 866 | 185 |
competitionMarathon Match 127 – CarRacing ROUNDrank54provisional score9.42final score9.83rating866Volatility185 |
| Marathon Match 95 | 60 | 118939.39 | 117545.45 | 901 | 189 |
competitionMarathon Match 95rank60provisional score118939.39final score117545.45rating901Volatility189 |
| Poland Lightning Round | 64 | 286516.85 | 290067.42 | 920 | 205 |
competitionPoland Lightning Roundrank64provisional score286516.85final score290067.42rating920Volatility205 |
| Round 2 | 129 | 326153.10 | 309671.56 | 918 | 228 |
competitionRound 2rank129provisional score326153.10final score309671.56rating918Volatility228 |
| Round 1 | 98 | 267639.57 | 279294.01 | 930 | 252 |
competitionRound 1rank98provisional score267639.57final score279294.01rating930Volatility252 |
| Marathon Match 87 | 38 | 865772.45 | 858734.24 | 923 | 280 |
competitionMarathon Match 87rank38provisional score865772.45final score858734.24rating923Volatility280 |
| AlleleClassifier | 127 | 388150.27 | 376146.59 | 872 | 289 |
competitionAlleleClassifierrank127provisional score388150.27final score376146.59rating872Volatility289 |
| 2013 TCO Marathon Round 3 | 223 | 290516.26 | 306264.15 | 928 | 294 |
competition2013 TCO Marathon Round 3rank223provisional score290516.26final score306264.15rating928Volatility294 |
| 2013 TCO Marathon Round 2 | 223 | 57.44 | 1145.26 | 961 | 318 |
competition2013 TCO Marathon Round 2rank223provisional score57.44final score1145.26rating961Volatility318 |
| 2013 TCO Marathon Round 1 | 139 | 735944.87 | 735598.13 | 1055 | 281 |
competition2013 TCO Marathon Round 1rank139provisional score735944.87final score735598.13rating1055Volatility281 |
Ranking of Countries based on average of all members.
1st Place
Japan
2nd Place
Poland
3rd Place
United States
