Göteborgsvarvet () 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 shortcu ...

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion by which humans and other animals move quickly on foot. Running is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is in contrast to walkin ...

competition in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

(often called the Gothenburg Half Marathon in English). It is the largest annual running competition in the world in terms of entries, with its 62,000 entries for the Göteborgsvarvet competition on 18 May 2013. In 2016, 64,500 people entered the race. The youngest runner was 17 years old and the oldest female runner 83 and male runner 87. Its name is a

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, ph ...

; the

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it the G ...

-word "varv" has a double meaning and can mean both ''lap'' and ''shipyard'' (" keppsarv"), as Gothenburg historically has been known as a shipyard town (Gothenburgers also particularly enjoy word-play-humour). The race takes place in May, and has been organised annually since 1980. It starts outside, and finishes in, the old athletics arena

Slottsskogsvallen Slottsskogsvallen (, "The Castle Forest Field") is a multi-use stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is currently used mostly for football and athletics. It was the home ground of Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC until 2006. The stadium has a capacity of 8, ...

in the

Slottsskogen Slottsskogen (, ) is a 137-hectare park located in central Gothenburg, Sweden. History When Gothenburg was founded in the 17th century, the area of Slottsskogen was a forest that belonged to the Old Älvsborg fortress. In the 1880s the city h ...

park. It takes off northwards over the large suspension bridge

Älvsborg Bridge The Älvsborg Bridge () is a suspension bridge over Göta älv in Gothenburg, Sweden, connecting the island of Hisingen with the mainland. It was designed by Sven Olof Asplund, and inaugurated on 8 November 1966 by Swedish communication minister ...

, follows the north bank to the

Göta älv The (; "River of (the) Geats") is a river that drains lake Vänern into the Kattegat, at the city of Gothenburg, on the western coast of Sweden. It was formed at the end of the last glaciation, as an outflow channel from the Baltic Ice Lake to ...

river, and returns over Hisingen Bridge, goes through the inner city, before reaching the finish. The race has hosted the Swedish national championship race on five occasions (1995, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2016 and 2017). The 2020 and 2021 editions were both cancelled because of the

Coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Past winners

Key:

References

*Hultman, Hans & Monti, Dave (24 May 2011)
Göteborgsvarvet Half Marathon

Association of Road Racing Statisticians The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road record ...

. Retrieved on 30 July 2011.

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goteborgsvarvet Half marathons Sports competitions in Gothenburg Recurring sporting events established in 1980 Athletics competitions in Sweden 1980 establishments in Sweden May in sports Spring (season) in Sweden Athletics in Gothenburg 1980s establishments in Gothenburg and Bohus County