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The Paavo Nurmi Marathon is the main running event in Turku, Finland, held in August over a Friday and a Saturday and organised by Turun Urheiluliitto. It is named after Paavo Nurmi, the nine-time Olympic champion whose home town is Turku. The first Paavo Nurmi Marathon was held in 1992, inspired by the veterans' world championships held in Turku in 1991, and the 2027 edition is the 36th. The event area is in the heart of Turku at Kauppatori, the market square. The organisers say the routes run along the bank of the Aura River as far as the island of Ruissalo, passing sights such as Turku Castle and the Cathedral and the statue of Paavo Nurmi by sculptor Wäinö Aaltonen. The Friday programme has a children's MiniMarathon, a 5 km and a 10 km, and on Saturday the half marathon and marathon start at 11:00 and 11:10 in two groups according to target time. The maximum running time is six hours. The men's marathon record is 2:18:58, set by Japan's Noriaki Kiguchi in 1994, and the women's is 2:37:22, set by Olga Judenkova in 1995.

Surface: road Profile: Flat

Weather

Typical climate for the race month — an estimate, not a forecast or a race-day record

Temperature 16°C
Humidity 75%
Rain Chance 32%

August in Turku is warm and often damp: afternoon highs average about 21°C and mornings about 12°C, with rain of 1 mm or more on around ten days of the month.

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Turku Marathon race

The Race

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Turku

Race Lore

Born from the 1991 Veterans' World Championships

1992

Organisers in Turku had been developing the idea of a marathon for some time. The final inspiration came from the World Masters Athletics Championships held in Turku in 1991, and the first Paavo Nurmi Marathon was held in 1992. The event is named after Paavo Nurmi, the Olympic champion from Turku who won nine gold medals.

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Course Record

02:18:58

Noriaki Kiguchi (1994)

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