The Copenhagen Half Marathon is an annual

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

event which takes place in September on the city streets of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, first held in 2015. It is a

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

Gold Label Road Race, making it the foremost race of its type in the country. The race features both public and professional elements. The Copenhagen Half Marathon is the largest annual road running event in the city, followed by the more established

Copenhagen Marathon The Copenhagen Marathon is an annual marathon that takes place on the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark. Established in 1980, it is held in May and has around 10,000 participants. It is a World Athletics Bronze Label race. The course is a mos ...

, which has been held there since 1980.

Geoffrey Kamworor Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor (born 22 November 1992) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes in cross country, marathon, and half marathon races. He was the 2011 World Junior Cross Country Champion. Kamworor won the IAAF World ...

set the half marathon world record during this race with a time of 58:01 in 2019.

History

The event was launched after the success holding of the

2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships took place on March 29, 2014. The races were held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The essentially flat one-loop course was beginning and ending in the city centre by Christiansborg Castle. Detailed re ...

in the city. The course was slightly modified for the newly created annual event, with the race starting and finishing near Parken Stadium. Nearly 20,000 runners took part in the inaugural edition in 2015. The first winners were both Kenyan, with

Bedan Karoki Muchiri Bedan Karoki Muchiri (born 21 August 1990) is a Kenyan professional long distance runner who competes in track, cross country and road running disciplines. He represented Kenya at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. He was a silver medallist at ...

taking the men's race in 59:14 minutes and

Purity Cherotich Rionoripo Purity Cherotich Rionoripo (born 10 June 1993) is a Kenyan long-distance runner. She won the Copenhagen Half Marathon in 2015 in 1:08:29 as well as the Lisbon Marathon The Lisbon Marathon or the Lisbon Marathon EDP is an annual marathon held in ...

being the women's winner in 68:29 minutes. Over 22,000 runners took part in the 2016 edition. The winners were James Mwangi Wangari from Kenya taking the men's race in 59:07 minutes and

from Ethiopia being the women's winner in 68:00 minutes, both beating the existing course record. It held the IAAF Silver Label Road Race status in 2016 and the IAAF Gold Label Road Race in 2017. The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the co ...

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of in ...

, with all registrants given the option of transferring their entry to 2021 or obtaining a refund.

Winners

Key:

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{IAAF Gold Label Half marathons Sports competitions in Copenhagen Athletics competitions in Denmark Recurring sporting events established in 2015 2015 establishments in Denmark Annual events in Denmark September sporting events Autumn events in Denmark