Helsinki City Marathon

The Helsinki City Marathon is an annual marathon held in Helsinki, Finland. It has been held since 1981 and is the largest marathon event in the country. It is approved by the World Athletics federation as a standard long-distance race. While earlier it was held in August, it has been moved to May since 2018 to be conducted on the "Helsinki City Running Day". The event was held in October in 2020 and 2021 as an exception due to COVID-19 pandemic.

History

The first edition of the Helsinki City Marathon was held on 26 July 1981 and was won by Sinikka Toropainen and Günther Mielke. The largest marathon event in the country, it was held in August every year. It is approved by the World Athletics federation as a standard long-distance race. The half marathon Helsinki City Run has been held since 1994. Since 2018, the event has been conducted in May annually on the day called "Helsinki City Running Day". In 2020, the race was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and was held on 3 October on the same year. Similarly, the same happened in 2021, when the event was held on the 2nd of October.

Events and course

Apart from the main marathon event, other events include half marathon, relay, 5K run and miniathon. The relay event consists of four legs 12.8 km, 8.8 km, 12.3 km and 8.3 km respectively with transition areas Meilahti, Opera House, and again in Meilahti and is run by a team of four runners.

The events usually start near the statue of Paavo Nurmi located in the Mäntymäentie street. The course runs through the appropriate distance various parks along the route, traverses along the Baltic Sea coastline, before reaching the city centre. The races usually end at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, which also hosts the refreshment areas. The marathon route usually traverses at sea level with a highest altitude of and an average altitude of . Only about 1.1% of the route has a steep uphill gradient along the course. The temperature ranges from during the race.

Participation and prizes The racers are allowed to participate in different age categories apart from the open category. A participation fee is charged based on the event concerned. About 15,000 participants raced in the event in 2023. Participants are allowed to participate in multiple events including the double of marathon and half-marathon called the "Helsinki City Double.

Cash prizes are awarded for top three finishers overall, and the best placed finishers across various age groups and other specified categories. All finishers of the event within a specified time limit (six hours for marathon race) are awarded a participation medal, and other memorabilia. Racers who clock a finishing time less than 2 hours 20 minutes (men) and 2 hours 40 minutes (women) are awarded an additional cash prize of 500 Euros each.

Winners Source:

Key:

Men Year Athlete Country Time 1981Günter Mielke 2:23:35 1982Dominique Chauvelier 2:17:02 1983Francisco Medina 2:25:39 1984Niilo Kemppe 2:20:41 1985Jorma Sippola 2:15:36 1986Tommy Persson 2:17:11 1987Douglas Orr 2:19:57 1988Douglas Orr 2:16:43 1989Jouni Kortelainen 2:18:58 1990Alexandr Beljajew 2:14:36 1991 Anatoliy Korepanov 2:18:06 1992 Aleksandr Belyayev 2:20:39 1993 Martín Fiz 2:12:47 1994 Zerehune Gizaw 2:20:18 1995 Tesfaye Bekele 2:16:59 1996 Julius Mitibani 2:19:00 1997 Julius Mitibani 2:18:07 1998 Julius Mitibani 2:21:24 1999 Pavel Loskutov 2:19:18 2000 Nikolaos Polias 2:18:46 2001 Daniel Komen 2:18:43 2002 Sebastian Panga 2:18:39 2003 Giorgio Calcaterra 2:20:55 2004 Dmitry Kondrashov 2:21:29 2005 Vener Kashayev 2:20:07 2006 Francis Wachira 2:18:26 2007 Peter Biwott 2:20:31 2008 Johnstone Chebii 2:24:31 2009 Pavel Andreev 2:22:34 2010 Gezahagne Girma 2:22:362011 Dominic Ondoro 2:23:242012 Titus Kurgat 2:22:45 2013 Hosea Kiplagat 2:22:262014 Justus Kiprono 2:20:422015 Hiroki Nakajima 2:38:252016 Robert Magut 2:27:312017 Robert Magut 2:27:402018 Robert Magut 2:29:422019 Robert Magut 2:27:092020 Joni Hirvikallio 2:29:472021 Eric Mangeh 2:21:372022 Oscar Holmström 2:24:572023 Eric Mangeh 2:26:142024 Oscar Holmström 2:24:102025 Jack Nixon 2:25:17 2026Kari Heikura 2:21:06Women Year Athlete Country Time 1981Sinikka Torpainen 2:53:15 1982Sinikka Torpainen 2:41:18 1983Sinikka Keskitalo 2:39:43 1984Diane Palmason 2:48:21 1985Irmeli Ruponen 2:50:561986Sinikka Torpainen 2:49:00 1987Marita Yli-ilkka 2:41:53 1988Ritva Lemettinen 2:42:35 1989Ritva Lemettinen 2:40:32 1990Swetlana Netschajewa 2:39:03 1991 Albina Galimova 2:36:14 1992 Garifa Baijanova 2:42:41 1993 Anne Jääskeläinen 2:43:32 1994 Sylvia Renz 2:41:30 1995 Roza Vladimirova 2:54:03 1996 Svetlana Netchaeva 2:47:38 1997 Galina Zhulyeva 2:41:38 1998 Tatyana Maslova 2:45:30 1999 Tatyana Maslova 2:47:10 2000 Tatyana Zolotareva 2:44:31 2001 Tatyana Zolotareva 2:45:56 2002 Tatyana Zolotareva 2:50:10 2003 Tatyana Zolotareva 2:57:03 2004 Jennifer Lotoiywo 2:57:31 2005 Minna Kainlauri 3:00:29 2006 Haile Kebebush 2:52:47 2007 Flora Kandie 2:51:05 2008 Margarita Plaksina 2:40:47 2009 Margarita Plaksina 2:45:28 2010 Leena Puotiniemi 2:49:11 2011 Leena Puotiniemi 2:38:05 2012 Salome Biwott 2:41:54 2013 Leena Puotiniemi 2:42:03 2014 Natalya Starkova 2:37:56 2015 Elina Junnila 2:54:13 2016 Anna Herzberg 2:56:29 2017 Anastasia Zakharova 3:06:44 2018 Katarina Skräddar 2:54:45 2019 Katarina Skräddar 2:50:56 2020 Soili Kosonen 2:55:28 2021 Aleksandra Borodinova 2:43:22 2022 Annemari Kiekara 2:41:11 2023 Petra Kilpeläinen 2:47:54 2024 Koleta Moravcová 3:07:15 2025 Eira Rapp 2:48:30 2026Petra Kilpeläinen 2:46:34

Helsinki City Marathon

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