Polar Circle Marathon® and Half Marathon

Combine your visit to remote Greenland with a unique arctic race. Run on the vast ice sheet and experience breathtaking polar landscapes in this challenging running event.The Polar Circle Marathon – often referred to as “the coolest marathon on earth” takes place in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. 

The endless ice and snow of this vast country make up the backdrop of this unusual race, in which runners pass glacier tongues, moraine landscapes and soundless, arctic desert.  This is a rare opportunity to visit one of the most remote corners of the world combined with a challenging running event.The Polar Circle Marathon is a classical 42.195 km marathon, which however has the very untraditional feature that it is situated on 66 degrees northern latitude – also known as the polar circle. This means that the temperatures are relatively low (probably around -10 degrees Celsius in the autumn, when the race is taking place).

A part of the route takes place on the slippery ice cap itself, but the main part of the course is run on the gravel road (often snow covered) that connects the inland ice with the small township of Kangerlussuaq, just north of the Polar Circle.In 2014, the half marathon and marathon were held on separate days, giving runners the opportunity to run them both and complete the Polar Bear Challenge.