While I write a lot about marathons, the distance that I think represents the perfect race (maybe just for me) is the half marathon. It is a distance of 13.1 miles and is just right for an excellent effort that will not leave you very sore on day 2, like a marathon would. It is definitely one of the more popular race distances in the world as well. This makes for some good sized half marathons which means a lot of company along the way!
The world’s largest half marathon – the Gothenburg Half Marathon
Obviously, the more the merrier when it comes to races! Well, I have just signed up to run the world’s largest half marathon next year and it would be really nice to see some of you at it! This race already has 50,000 runners signed up with a total of 60,000+ expected. Think about this – the largest marathons in the world are in excess of 40,000 runners, but that is stretched out over the course of 26.2 miles. This is 60,000 runners over a distance half that long. Of course, they do used a waived start that has 30 waves over 3 hours. So, it will be spread out a little bit.
This half marathon is called the GöteborgsVarvet Half Marathon and takes place in Gothenburg (or Göteborg), Sweden. It is the second largest city in Sweden and takes place in May. This race has had many fine reviews and it should be a blast! I will cover the travel aspect in a future post, but for not, what do you think? Do you want to join me at the world’s largest half marathon?
Here are the race details:
- Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
- Date: May 23, 2015
- Time: Waived start ranging from 13:00 – 16:00
- Cost: 645 SEK (about $89) through the end of today (October 7) then will go to 845 SEK (about $117)
- Website: Website
- Race Course: Course Map
By the way, for those interested, this city is also home to the marathon I wrote about that is signing up people for their race that does not start for 7 years!
The London Bupa 10,000 (meters) is held on Monday, May 25, 2015. http://www.london10000.co.uk/
Cost is about $45 and there are only 10,000 or so runners. For me, it’s a lot easier to travel in and out of London, so I’ll be there instead. Perhaps you could suggest connections to run both???
Great tip! I will check into it!
Are you going to FTU Advanced San Diego? I already registered but just found out that the San Diego half-marathon is on Sunday that weekend. I’m very tempted on registering.
Unfortunately, no. If I could swing that on my schedule, the draw of a race at the same time would certainly make me want this! You should definitely do it!