The Riga Marathon (also known as the Rimi Riga Marathon) is an annual road marathon held in Riga, Latvia, since 1991. A flat, single-lap marathon course in the Baltics' largest city. The marathon course has been measured and certified by AIMS, the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races and is categorized as a Gold Label Road Race by World Athletics. All courses are traffic-free. Rimi Riga Marathon is one of the fastest-growing marathons in Northern Europe. In 2025, there were 40,122 participants across all distances from 109 countries.

The marathon starts and finishes near Riga Castle, and runs through Old Riga as well as across the Daugava River. In the marathon weekend it is possible to run a 42,195 kilometer marathon distance, 21,095 kilometer half marathon, 10 kilometer, 6 kilometer and mile course distances.

History

For the first time, Latvian athletes competed in the marathon distance at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, but the first marathon competition in Latvia took place 15 years later in Liepāja. The popularity of marathon running continued to grow in the 1970s, reaching its heyday in the late 1980s. The Folk Song Marathon (1988–1990) gathered several thousand runners during the revival, of which 250–300 finished at a distance of 42 km.

The start of Riga Marathon history The first start shot of the Riga Marathon was fired at the Freedom Monument on 27 July 1991, shortly after the time of the barricades, when the capital city was shaken by OMON shots. Then this marathon was called the Riga International Marathon. The participants of this marathon were provided with both grand cash prizes (1000 German Marks for the first-place winners), a pennant, and the then exotic fruit – banana – at the finish line.

The track was measured according to the international standards of the time, using a 50 m-long measuring tape and pegs. 735 participants took part in the first Riga Marathon, a third of which were local runners, around 30 representatives of Western countries, and the rest from the USSR.

However, in the next few years after the successful start, the number of participants in the Riga Marathon rapidly decreased. Runners from the Eastern Bloc were deterred from participating by the new visa regime, while Westerners might find the trip to Latvia too risky. Serious difficulties were caused by hyperinflation and repeated changes in the national currency. In 1993, it was possible to pay for participation in the marathon in three currencies – locals could pay both in Latvian rubles and newly issued lats, and foreigners – in Deutsche Marks.

The organizers lacked the sponsors and funds to be included in the AIMS international marathon calendar (at the time it would cost $1,000 per year) to attract western marathon tourists. During this time, local runners also became fewer and fewer, and the running culture and, consequently, the interest of sponsors gradually decreased, reaching the lowest point in 1999, when only 53 Latvian runners finished the 42 km distance.

Certified course and new organizers In 2007, the track was officially certified and recognized for the first time according to the standards of the International Marathon Association (Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, AIMS).

To increase the number of participants, the Riga Marathon was moved to the spring, attracting school youth to the 5 km distance, however, there were still relatively few runners in the marathon distance and the results could not surpass the performance of the first year.

In 2007, the Riga Marathon got its second wind. After 16 years of work, the original organizer of the marathon, Jānis Karavačiks, entrusted the organization to Aigars Nords, who was full of ambition to turn Riga into a running megalopolis with an ambitious city marathon.

The Riga City Council has entrusted the organization of the marathon to NECom or Nords Event Communications, the new organizers already achieved ambitious growth of the event in the first year. With the help of the new title sponsor Nordea and the slogan "This time for real!" the track was officially certified for the first time following the standards of the International Marathon Association (AIMS). The marathon was included in the international calendar, the usual marathon and 5 km satellite distances were supplemented by a new half-marathon, and the Kenyan Johnston Changwoni broke the Riga Marathon record set in 1991.

Under the auspices of the new organizers, the marathon became one of the fastest-growing and most prestigious running festivals in Northern Europe – from 1300 participants in 2007 to Gold Label gold status and more than 38 thousand participants from 82 countries of the world in 2019.

Global pandemic

The long-term partner of the marathon, Rimi, took on the title sponsor duties in 2019, providing support to the Virtual Running Club established during the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept the audience of the event active during the pandemic.

In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers canceled the in-person competition the day before the marathon weekend and moved the marathon to a virtual mode.

Similarly, the 2021 edition of the race was postponed from the weekend of to the weekend of due to the pandemic.

World Capital of Road Running in 2023 But the organizers reached a new peak after the end of the coronavirus pandemic, winning the right to hold the first World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga (World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23) on 30 September – 1 October 2023.

2023 Rimi Riga Marathon was a track rehearsal for the World Championships, allowing recreational runners to try out the World Championship courses.

The World Athletics Road Running Championships and the Rimi Riga Marathon, the two biggest running events in the Baltics, had a combined economic impact of €11,803,000 on Latvia in 2023, according to a study that examined their effects on the country's economy.

For the first time since the epidemic, the two major running competitions, the Rimi Riga Marathon and the World Athletics Road Running Championships, brought together a record-breaking 38,660 participants from more than 100 nations in the capital of Latvia.

35th Anniversary Marathon (2025) The 2025 Rimi Riga Marathon marked the 35th edition of the event and set a new participation record with 40,122 runners, including 6,017 international participants from 109 countries. Jeļena Prokopčuka completed her final elite marathon, finishing second among Latvian women (2:51:00).

According to a study, the 2025 Rimi Riga Marathon had an economic impact of €16,759,900 on Riga, including €7,460,700 directed to the accommodation and catering sectors and €2,481,800 in tax revenues from foreign visitors.

Course The start and finish line of the marathon is set on the next to Riga Castle. The marathon course crosses over the Daugava river via the Vanšu, Stone, and also includes a section that runs next to the Old Riga.

All of the courses are single-lap courses and are fairly flat and mostly features the center of the city.

The 33rd edition of Riga Marathon was a rehearsal for the first World Athletics Road Running Championships, which took place in Riga in 30 September – 1 October. On that occasion, the marathon was held over two laps of the official World Championships half marathon course. The 35th edition in 2025 returned to a single-loop course.

Winners

Key: Course record (in bold)

Marathon Ed. Year Men's winner Nationality Time Women's winner Nationality Time 1 1991 Vladimir Kalenkovich 2:28:27 Alla Doudayeva 2:43:53 2 1992 Gusman Abdulin 2:21:29 Olga Youdenkova 2:47:28 3 1993 Aleksandrs Prokopčuks 2:26:41 Svetlana Șepelev-Tcaci 2:55:07 4 1994 Normunds Ivzāns 2:43:09 Laila Ceika 3:19:56 5 1995 Ziedonis Zaļkalns 2:32:44 Galina Bernat 3:02:11 6 1996 Aleksandrs Prokopčuks 2:31:46 Inita Drēziņa 3:30:42 7 1997 Normunds Fedotovskis 2:33:05 Kaja Mulla 3:12:26 8 1998 Ziedonis Zaļkalns 2:33:41 Laila Ceika 3:27:49 9 1999 Arūnas Balčunas 2:37:10 Laila Ceika 3:37:21 10 2000 Ziedonis Zaļkalns 2:30:59 Aušra Kavalauskiene 3:12:11 11 2001 Ziedonis Zaļkalns 2:27:25 Laila Ceika 3:11:45 12 2002 Arūnas Balčunas 2:31:25 Anita Liepiņa 3:12:16 13 2003 Arūnas Balčunas 2:28:07 Aušra Kavalauskiene 3:05:26 14 2004 Dmitrijs Sļesarenoks 2:27:09 Modesta Drungiliene 2:58:29 15 2005 Vjačeslavs Bambāns 2:45:58 Kaja Mulla 3:11:09 16 2006 Yuri Vinogradov 2:41:57 Laura Zariņa 3:04:31 17 2007 Johnstone Changwony 2:18:30 Ludmila Rodina 2:50:07 18 2008 Sammy Rotich 2:16:42 Kaja Vals 3:13:54 19 2009 Oleg Gur 2:18:35 Katsiaryna Dziamidava 2:47:30 20 2010 Slimani Benazzouz 2:17:33 Maryna Damantsevich 2:38:16 21 2011 Julius Kuto 2:15:48 Desta Tadesse 2:37:14 22 2012 Titus Kurgat 2:16:53 Iraida Aleksandrova 2:37:37 23 2013 Duncan Koech 2:15:34 Aberash Nesga 2:40:30 24 2014 Yu Chiba 2:13:44 Tigist Teshome 2:36:51 25 2015 Haile Tolossa 2:12:28 Meseret Eshetu 2:37:03 26 2016 Dominic Kangor 2:11:45 Shitaye Gemechu 2:38:40 27 2017 Joseph Munywoki 2:12:14 Bekelech Bedada 2:31:22 28 2018 Tsedat Ayana 2:11:00 Georgina Rono 2:28:22 29 2019 Andualem Shiferaw 2:08:51 Birke Debele 2:26:18 30 2020 The marathon was held virtually due to the global pandemic. No comparisons with previous years have been made due to the results' dubious legitimacy. 31 2021 Kristaps Bērziņš 2:38:36 Amanda Krūmiņa 3:07:17 32 2022 World Athletics Rimi Riga Marathon. (2022, May 15). Worldathletics.Org. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7176775 Deribe Robi 2:12:07 Aberu Mekuria 2:30:53332023 World Athletics Rimi Riga Marathon. (2023, May 7). Worldathletics.Org. Retrieved May 9, 2023, from https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7192015Aleksandrs Rascevskis2:25:42Amanda Krūmiņa2:49:59342024 World Athletics Rimi Riga Marathon. (2024, May 27). Worldathletics.Org. Retrieved May 27, 2024, from https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7209680Daviti Kharazishvili2:21:46Jaana Strandvall2:55:08352025 World Athletics Rimi Riga Marathon. (2025, May 19). Worldathletics.org. Retrieved September 11, 2025, from https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7221970Melikhaya Frans2:13:20Ayantu Kumela Tadesse2:28:24

Half marathon