North Pole Marathon

Course & Elevation

The North Pole Marathon is a 42.195 km marathon staged on sea ice at the Geographic North Pole, 90°N, billed by the organisers as the World's Coolest Marathon. The first race was held on 17 April 2003, and the event has been staged 19 times, first in spring from a drifting ice camp called Barneo and, since 2023, also as a summer edition. In the spring format runners covered a circular route of about 4.2 km, repeated ten times, which meanders among hillocks of ice rather than forming a perfect circle. The summer edition is an expedition: the 2027 trip is a 12-night voyage on the hybrid-electric polar ship Le Commandant Charcot, sailing from Longyearbyen in Svalbard on 27 July, with the Pole reached on 1 and 2 August and the marathon run on a suitable ice floe on arrival. A half marathon, 10 miler, 10K and 5K are offered alongside the marathon. The organisers give typical temperatures of -25°C to -30°C in April and -5°C to -10°C with wind chill in July and August, occasionally reaching 0°C. Participants pay for the whole expedition, which in 2027 starts at US$45,500 per person. The organisers say 675 runners from 58 countries have taken part since 2003.