Guide
How to Frame a Marathon Medal With Your Route — The Medal Display Frame
A medal in a drawer is a medal nobody sees. The medal display frame puts it on the wall next to the print of the run that earned it: a 12 × 16 in classic frame, a double mount in snow white over black or navy, the 8 × 10 in print on one side and the medal in an aperture on the other. Here is what fits and how it is made.
By Contour Prints · 17 September 2026
The frame
The frame is 30 × 40 cm (12 × 16 in), hung the wide way, a solid wood classic moulding 20 mm across the face and 22 mm deep, in black, white, natural oak or five other finishes, glazed in shatterproof acrylic. Two mounts sit inside it: a snow-white top mount and a black or navy mount beneath, cut so the lower colour shows as a fine border around each aperture. The print is a giclée on 240 gsm lustre paper. It arrives assembled, with the hanging fixings on the back, and the medal aperture ready.
What fits
| Part | Size |
|---|---|
| Frame, outside | about 34 × 44 cm |
| Print, the sheet | 8 × 10 in (20.3 × 25.4 cm), portrait |
| Print, visible through the mount | about 3 mm less on each side |
| Medal aperture | sized for a standard finisher's medal with its ribbon folded behind |
Most big-city marathon medals fit. The very large ones, and the ones with a fixed hard ribbon, are the exception; measure the medal across its widest point and ask us if it is over 9 cm.
Which print to put in it
Three work at 8 × 10 in:
- The Marathon Print at the medal frame size: the route by pace, the time, the splits. The Studio lays it out for the smaller sheet.
- The Race Day Print: the Marathon Print with your photograph of the day above the course. The photograph, the course, the medal: the whole day in one frame.
- The Photo Print: the photograph alone in one of six layouts, for the runner whose data is not in Strava.
Choose the medal frame as the size in the Studio and the print is composed for it; on the order page pick the mount colour and the frame finish.
Fitting the medal
The medal sits in the aperture from behind, held by the backing board, with the ribbon folded behind the mount. Undo the flexible tabs on the back, lift the board, seat the medal face down into the aperture, fold the ribbon, replace the board and close the tabs. Two minutes, no tools. The print is already in place.
Can I put two medals in?
Not in this frame; it has one aperture. Two frames hang well as a pair, and the print can differ in each.
Does the medal have to be a marathon medal?
No. A half, a triathlon, a cycling sportive, a school sports day: anything on a ribbon that fits the aperture.
Can I buy the frame without a print?
No; the frame is made with the print in it. The Photo Print with a photograph of the medal's own race is the nearest thing.
How it works
From the Studio to your wall in three steps.
Step 01
Choose your subject
Connect Strava in one tap for a race, a ride or a whole year. Or search for a place, type a postcode for your street on the old Ordnance Survey, or add a photograph — none of those needs an account.
Step 02
Choose your style
Start from a finished design and make it yours: the words, the colours, the size. Twenty-three styles for your own miles, four treatments for a place, six layouts for a photograph, and the old survey as drawn or in your colours.
Step 03
We print and frame it
Pick a frame, check out, and it is printed to order on fine-art paper, framed by hand and posted to you, tracked.
- Made to orderPrinted for you, never from stock
- Fine-art paperArchival inks, framed by hand
- Tracked deliveryUK delivery £7.85, tracked · worldwide, priced at checkout
- Arrives damaged?We replace it, no quibble