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The Copenhagen Marathon is a road marathon held on a Sunday in May, organised by the athletics and running club Sparta Atletik & Løb, which staged the first race in 1980. The 2027 race starts at 09:30 on Øster Allé in Østerbro, next to Fælledparken. The organisers describe the route as flat and festive: it runs through inner Copenhagen and over bridges to Christianshavn and Amager, with a big street party at Dr. Louises Bro, and continues through Nørrebro, Vesterbro, Frederiksberg and Østerbro. Entries are allocated by a free lottery, which had a three-week entry period in May and June 2026. More than 80,000 runners apply for an entry. In 2026, 22,425 runners took part and 21,708 reached the finish. The course records are 2:08:23 for men, set by Berhane Tsegay of Eritrea in 2022, and 2:22:08 for women, set by Mercy Chebwogen of Kenya in 2026. In the first race in 1980, there were 995 participants, 47 of them women.
Typical climate for the race month — an estimate, not a forecast or a race-day record
May in Copenhagen is cool and fairly dry: highs average about 16°C and lows about 8°C, with measurable rain on around seven days of the month.
The Race
Copenhagen
Sparta Atletik & Løb organised the first Copenhagen Marathon in 1980, when the race was called the Wonderful Copenhagen Marathon. There were 995 participants, only 47 of them women. In the early years not all of the route was closed to traffic, so runners sometimes had to weave between cars.
In May 2026 Kenya's Mercy Chebwogen won the women's race in 2:22:08 on her marathon debut. She trailed the leaders by nearly a minute at halfway, caught them at 28 km and broke the women's course record. In the men's race, Ethiopia's Tadesse Kassa won in 2:08:26, five seconds short of the men's course record.
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02:08:23
Berhane Tsegay (2022)
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