There are several obvious reasons for foreign marathon runners to pick Reykjavik, not least the fact that the running conditions are usually extremely comfortable – the route is smoothly paved, while the weather tends to be breezy and in the mid-teens centigrade.
The atmosphere surrounding a race is also a hugely important factor for most runners, and the atmosphere at the Reykjavík race is electric. While the Icelanders would enthusiastically support the race anyway, it is actually planned to coincide with ‘Culture Night’ (Menningarnótt), a national event that brings up to a third of the entire population of Iceland onto the streets of the capital.
Another obvious reason to run is the city itself: the Viking name, Reykjavík, may literally translate as ‘smoky bay’, but the name in fact refers to the steam rising from Iceland’s many geothermal springs. Reykjavík has some of the cleanest air of any city. Situated on a peninsula, water features heavily in the self-proclaimed ‘Party Capital of the North’, with the old town even nestled around a large pond called Tjörnin. Reykjavík has the very unusual feel of a modern international city trying to fit into a nineteenth-century fishing village. The downtown area of Reykjavik is known for its vibrant atmosphere, with a mix of modern and historic buildings, shops, restaurants, and cultural attractions. The city’s compact size makes it easy to explore on foot, Reykjavik offers a unique blend of Icelandic charm and cosmopolitan energy.
The race offers an atmosphere which is both relaxed and welcoming. Around 1,500 runners participate in the marathon and 3,000 in the half marathon, making both races less crowded than is generally the case in larger events. Since the Reykjavik Marathon also includes 10K and a Fun run (3K), it’s also a family event and fits all age groups and levels.
Although only around 220,000 people live in the larger Reykjavik area, large crowds gather in the streets to support and motivate the runners. However, parts of the course pass through uninhabited areas where there are few spectators, giving the runners a chance to enjoy Iceland’s natural environment and the spectacular scenery. The marathon passes through downtown Reykjavik, a residential area, landmarks, rivers, and along the coastline offering stunning views of the surrounding ocean and mountains. It’s a fantastic way to explore the city, get a taste of Iceland’s unique landscapes, and immerse yourself in the local running culture.
The course is measured by certified AIMS measurer and accredited by the Icelandic Athletic Federation.
LESS
Great marathon in a lovely city
I signed up for the Reykjavik in an (ultimately doomed) last-ditch attempt to get a BQ (Boston Marathon Qualifier) for 2026. I missed that goal, but still ran a great … MORE
I signed up for the Reykjavik in an (ultimately doomed) last-ditch attempt to get a BQ (Boston Marathon Qualifier) for 2026. I missed that goal, but still ran a great race in what turned into a wonderful family vacation.
I typically run the Abbott World Marathon Majors (9 of my 10 prior marathons), so Reykjavik was a welcome change for #11. It’s a small race in a charming city with excellent local support.
Let’s start with registration. As another reviewer noted, the website is… a bit clunky. There’s some kind of distinction between an “Elite/Competition” entry and a “General registration” entry, but I was never quite above to figure out what the distinction was. I ensured mine was “Elite/Competition” so my time would count towards a BQ (not sure if that was necessary – better safe than sorry?), and I think the intention was for this group to start first, but as far as I could tell, everyone just started together in one giant group. There were colored flags to mark “corrals” by expected pace, but these seem to have been entirely ignored by everyone. In the end, the results showed 521 “Elite/Competition” finishers and 806 “General registration” finishers, for a total of 1,327 finishers for the full 26.2 mile marathon. (The half-marathon, which starts together with the full marathon, had a total of 3,667 finishers.)
We made this a family trip (wife, 2 adult daughters, 1 son-in-law) and stayed at the Reykjavik Residence Hotel and the Sand Hotel. I headed to the expo on Friday (the day before the race) which was a short ride by public bus (super-easy; tap-to-pay). The bib pickup was well-organized (if a bit crowded at 3:30pm Friday) and the expo hall itself was packed with great vendors. The bib comes with a small red bag that you can use for bag drop on race day.
I made the short walk Saturday morning (about 55° F) to the start area, dropped my bag, and took my place in the corral at about 8:20am for an 8:30am start. As I noted above, everyone seemed to ignore the colored pace flags and just packed in. At 8:30… nothing happened. 🙂 If there was a separate “Elite/Competition” start, I totally missed it. Finally at 8:36am, the mayor of Reykjavik, who was standing on top of the arch at the start line, made some brief remarks, counted down to one, and we runners started moving.
The first 12 miles of the race are full and half marathoners together (the 10k had a later start), and felt like a typical if small-scale marathon, with great spectator support, live bands, music, and the like as we weaved around the city. This part of the course seemed relatively flat but rather windy. I saw my family twice in these first 12 miles.
At mile 12, full marathoners turned left – and it felt like very few people turned left 🙂 Suddenly I was transported from “public marathon” to what almost felt like a personal training run, heading up bike paths, along the sides of roads, through apartment parking lots, over pedestrian bridges, transiting public parks, and the like. I often had just 2 or 3 runners in sight ahead of me – sometimes none – and had to be fairly careful to watch for “turn left” or “turn right” signs to stay on the course. (Race marshal volunteers were posted fairly consistently throughout to avoid any wrong turns.) This 2nd part of the race felt more hilly – no one huge hill, but a steady succession of uphills & downhills – and again, noticeably windy. Fortunately, the rain held off, and with 55° and cloudy skies, conditions felt perfect (other than the wind & hills of course).
I finally saw my family again around mile 25.5, after we’d re-entered the city, survived a few more hills around miles 21-24, and headed for the home stretch. The course remained fairly devoid of spectators except scattered locals until literally the final 300 yards or so, with the finish line in sight.
After crossing the finish line and receiving my medal, I entered the snack / recovery area, which was really excellent – tons of apple slices, orange slices, rolls, chocolate bars, water and drinks, pretzels, etc. Probably the best post-marathon food spread I’ve ever seen! It was a bit tricky to navigate out of the recovery area and head back towards the bag drop, but eventually I escaped the fencing and reunited with my family.
I was very impressed at how quickly the race results were available online (a few hours at most) and the race photos arrived on Monday morning (and were really good & thorough).
We spent Sunday & Monday touring Iceland (rented a car and drove the golden circle route, Blue Lagoon & Hvammsvik hot springs, puffin jetski tour!). We also did a walking folklore tour on Friday that was fun, and we checked out the museums & concert as part of Reykjavik Culture Night on Saturday after the marathon. Really a fantastic vacation in a magical place with warm, friendly people.
THANK YOU to everyone involved in putting on the Reykjavik Marathon. Overall, it’s a well-organized event that welcomes non-locals and should be on any adventuring marathoner’s race list.
A few other race notes –
* There are relatively few mile / km markers on the course. I recall seeing 5km and 10km, but marking was inconsistent after that. The splits shown on the results page are non-standard (16.4km, 24.5km, 27.4km, 29.9km, 32km, 38km) so you won’t be able to compare to other marathon splits by official chip times.
* It may have been my imagination, but water / drink stops seemed sparse in the 2nd half of the race. I was glad I carried my own drink flask.
* My chip time matched my Garmin time exactly, and my Garmin recorded 26.52 miles.
From Penguins to Puffins
I had a couple extra vacation days to use this summer so was looking for a race that was relatively close to Boston and ideally in a new country. I … MORE
I had a couple extra vacation days to use this summer so was looking for a race that was relatively close to Boston and ideally in a new country. I realized it is actually a pretty cheap and quick flight from Boston to Reykjavik and signed up for this race! I will say registration was a little funky and the registration seemed to reset things when you changed it. Somehow I was signed up for wheelchair and elite/competition and I don’t remember signing up for either of those. I think it happened to a lot of people as they sent an email confirming if we were in the wheelchair division. When I changed it so I was not in the wheelchair division my birthdate somehow reset to the first of the month and I had to change it again. It was just an odd registration website. This year they had 2 entries either competitive/elite for prize money or general. I was somehow in competitive though I’m sure I never selected it. I did sign up rather early before this announcement and maybe they defaulted us to this. I did not realize this until the expo and by then it was too late to change it. There were a number of “competitive” athletes behind me in the rankings so it wasn’t just me with this issue. Anyways pre race communication was good except the glitches with the registration website. Flying into Reykjavik is really easy from the east coast and there are a ton of reasonably priced flights to/from Boston. It was a lot easier and cheaper to get to Iceland than to get to several states. Iceland itself is expensive but not more expensive than Hawaii. I get that Hawaii is also expensive but a lot of us have or will be running a race in Hawaii to complete 50 states and what I am saying is if you can afford to run in Hawaii you can afford to run in Iceland. I traveled to Iceland with my mom. We took a red eye Wednesday night and arrived Thursday morning. Logistics are pretty easy as you can take a shuttle (Flybus) from the airport to a bus stop near downtown Reykjavik. We stayed at the Hotel Holt. The rooms were a bit small but it wasn’t terribly expensive and was a few blocks from the start/finish. It was about 1/2 a mile from downtown Reykjavik so it was a bit quieter than the hotels right downtown which is what we wanted. Reykjavik is a pretty small city that you only need 1-2 days for the city itself but there are lots of tours you can take to see the natural wonders of Iceland. Pretty much everyone speaks English in Iceland and everywhere takes credit cards so you don’t need to learn the language or exchange money. I usually try to learn some of the language where I am traveling to but Icelandic isn’t even on duolingo so I did not for this trip. You need to go to the expo before the race. We went Thursday as Friday we had an all day bus tour scheduled. The expo is about 2 miles outside town. This is a bit inconvenient as there are no ubers in Iceland and you have to take old fashion taxis or figure out some app called Hopp that I couldn’t get to work on my phone. We had no trouble getting a taxi to the expo but ended up walking the 2 miles back as there were none around and my phone couldn’t make international calls or download the app. Given this race attracts a lot of tourists it would be great if they could provide a shuttle from the downtown area to the expo. You may be able to figure out public transportation but we were too jet lagged to figure it. The taxi there and walking back was fine. The expo is really nice and big. One of the nicer expos I have been too. They sort you in lines and you get your bib. The swag is pretty minimal for the race and my biggest complaint though I do feel the race is very fairly priced compared to similar races in the US so the lack of swag is fair. Swag just included bib and a drawstring bag. You could pay extra for a shirt. Even though it would be cool to have a Reykjavik marathon shirt, I have so many race shirts I didn’t get one. The expo had lots of vendors and some free energy drinks. Friday we didn’t do anything related to the race but took a tour of the south coast of Iceland. Definitely take this tour if you can. The best part was we went to the black sand beach where the cliffs were lined with puffins. I am very fortunate my running adventures this year allowed me to see both penguins and puffins in the wild. Saturday was race day. I was somehow in the elite group so started at 8:30. Since our hotel was right by the start, I just walked there about 20-30 minutes before the race and lined up. I used the bathroom in my hotel room and didn’t need the porta potty. The race is nice sized with a few thousand participants each distance. it is a big but not huge race so there is exciting energy but you aren’t constantly weaving around people. The course is nice. Most of it is along the outer edge of Reykjavik with Ocean views. The water and ocean scenes are beautiful. It goes through neighborhoods and the outskirts of the downtown area but most of it doesn’t go downtown. It does not go past some of the more iconic sites like the big church in Reykjavik but it is a good balance of scenery, favorable elevation, and minimizing traffic interference. The first half is a loop around the outer edge of Reykjavik and the second half is an out and back. I preferred the first half. The weather was perfect for me as it was in the 50’s and cloudy though there was a strong wind which added a bit of difficulty. It also rained a bit for the marathon but not the half. The first half of the race had a ton of spectators and musical acts. This is what I wanted in Cleveland. It seemed like the whole country was out cheering us on. There were so many cute little kids wanting hi-fives. The spectators made it very fun. I was making very good time and on track to finish under 2:50. Things became a bit more difficult at the out and back as the out was right in the wind and I did lose some time there but had a strong finish as we finished running with the wind. The out and back section especially near the turnaround was less exciting and scenic. The course is mostly flat with a few inclines and minor hills that aren’t too steep. The only difficult hill was the one on the out and back section running against the wind but it was more than wind than the hill that was tough. This would be a good PR or BQ race given the favorable elevation profile, nice sized filed and crowd support. For the most part the race was very well organized. Streets were all closed off and everything including where the race distances diverged was well marked. I believe there were 5 aid stations with water and gatorade but no nutrition on course. There were porta potties at most aid stations. One very, very minor critique is there were only 5K markers. I would have preferred a marked every km or at least every 2 km. I am very excited I won entry into the Tokyo Marathon for 2026 but need to practice pacing myself with kilometers and was hoping to use this race to do that but it was tough with such a long distance between the markers. Anyways only having markers every 5 km didn’t really affect the race experience very much. I had a pretty fast race. I didn’t break 2:50 as the wind slowed me down a bit too much on the out and back section but I broke 2:55 and had my 3rd fastest half of the year so was happy with my finish time. There is a nice finish arch. However the rest of the finish was a bit lackluster and disappointing. The medal is very small and simple. It’s one of my worst half marathon medals. To be fair I think this is typical of Europe as the race I ran in London had another one of my worst half marathon medals. Even more disappointing is I went to look for post race food and I saw a table with some fruit and chocolate pieces and walked towards it but it was blocked off and only for marathoners. Seriously, a half marathon is a pretty long distance we should at least be able to get a couple apple slices. I totally understand only providing a meal for marathoners but this was just basic post race food that everyone should get. . There is no afterparty right at the end of the race. However the race is on Reykjavik culture night so the whole town is partying after the race. Reykjavik culture night includes tons of musical acts throughout town, free museum entries and fireworks around 10pm. While I very much enjoyed the race, when you account for no shirt, a small medal and no food, this might be the worst swag of any half marathon I’ve done. I was debating rating the race 4 or 5 sneakers but the no post race food made me round down. I still had an excellent time at the race and an excellent time in Iceland. Iceland is definitely a 5 sneaker destination. Another great thing about this race is it is back of the pack friendly. Many races in Europe have tight time limits with a 3 hour time limit for the half being standard. However this race has a 6:30 time limit for all distances. One of the FAQ’s said half marathoners may be unsupported if over 3:30 pace but from what I could see on the out and back the last walkers whose pace was slower still seemed to have full support and a few marathon finishing times were over 6:30 so they did not seem super strict. I would definitely recommend visiting Iceland and running this race especially if you are from Boston or NYC where there are a lot of cheap and pretty short flights (It’s about 4.5 hours to Reykjavik and about 5 hours back to Boston). It is also an excellent choice for Europe if you are looking to do the 7 continents and are a back of the packer as long as you are okay with not the best swag. There are a lot of other countries I would like to visit but it was such as nice, and relatively easy place to travel to that I would consider coming back.
Excellent destination race!
Overall an excellent race and an incredible destination. Well organized, great on-course support and great spectator support. Mostly flat course and a nice tour of the city. MORE
Overall an excellent race and an incredible destination. Well organized, great on-course support and great spectator support. Mostly flat course and a nice tour of the city.
Best bucket list race-cation you'll do
Don't just go to the race, visit the country. Iceland scenery lives up to the hype. But since this is Race Raves, let me focus. Reykjavik is a compact capital, … MORE
Don’t just go to the race, visit the country. Iceland scenery lives up to the hype. But since this is Race Raves, let me focus. Reykjavik is a compact capital, but its central district is quite entertaining. Despite been on everybody’s bucket list this is a medium size race with about 2,000 runners total. (I got it, Iceland is expensive). Start line for both half and full, is in the middle of the city. Then moves west to the neighborhoods of the coast, bordering the northern coast around the city, turning back into the city center to finish. The marathoners take a detour further east after the turnaround. The entire city comes up to celebrate, during and especially after the race with a concert with local bands. It is a true international race with as many runners from elsewhere as locals. Simple finisher medal, but a great memento of the event. Don’t miss it.
Must See!
Beautiful race along the water, followed by the Icelandic Culture Night. Basically the entire country comes out to party. There are distances from 3k up so the whole family can … MORE
Beautiful race along the water, followed by the Icelandic Culture Night. Basically the entire country comes out to party. There are distances from 3k up so the whole family can participate. Stay longer and get out of the city and do a bus tour to see the geysirs, waterfalls, glaciers, volcanoes, and hot rivers and springs. Also fuel up with fresh lobster, whale, puffin, lamb, and horse. Amazing country with great people.
COOL Summer Marathon option
Aid every 4k. Friendly race staff. Relatively Flat course with a slight hill around 15k-mark Friendly locals. And usually occurs during their "culture night" celebration. Think 4th of July for … MORE
Aid every 4k. Friendly race staff.
Relatively Flat course with a slight hill around 15k-mark
Friendly locals.
And usually occurs during their “culture night” celebration. Think 4th of July for us Yankees, the Icelanders celebrate their nation and cultural heritage on that night . The day’s festivities begin with the running events and end with fireworks around midnight.
Reykjavik - Great Race and Great Trip
I really enjoyed the Reykjavik Marathon 2019. Surrounded by days of rain, the weather on the marathon morning could not have been nicer. It was 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit … MORE
I really enjoyed the Reykjavik Marathon 2019. Surrounded by days of rain, the weather on the marathon morning could not have been nicer. It was 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit from beginning to end. The first half was flat and scenic as advertised on the website. We ran right along the waterfront past the Harpa Music Hall and the Sun Voyager. However, they never mentioned that the second half was very hilly. The second half was mainly on bike paths through parks and along neighborhoods. I never would have seen these parts of the city without the race. The metal and t-shirt were pretty basic but I achieved a PR and left very happy.
The race is the morning of Reykjavík Culture Night which takes place all across Reykjavík with celebrations in city streets and squares, in museums and businesses. Many roads are closed and stages are set up on the main drag for free concerts. Fireworks over the harbor cap the festivities. I’m not sure if it’s so much a “culture” day as it is maybe their version of “The Purge.” I could hear drunk revelers from my hotel at 3AM. The next morning the streets were littered with trash but street cleaners were already working first thing in the morning. With all that said, it was a blast.
We did the Golden Circle Tour the next day that includes waterfalls, a geyser, an Icelandic Horse Farm and a visit to the Secret Lagoon, a thermal spa. The Secret Lagoon is not much of a secret, there were a couple hundred people there but it might be better than bathing with thousands at the Blue Lagoon. The water is maybe 100 degrees Fahrenheit; a little less than my hot tub at home.
Recommendations: 4 days is adequate to do it all unless you want to go hiking or camping too. Stay at the Radisson Blue 1919; it was 3-minute walk to the starting line and I was able to use my own bathroom and bypass the portable toilets completely. The hotel is a small boutique hotel in the middle of everything. It was a great location and we walked everywhere. The rooms are small by US standards. They are building a new Marriott a few blocks away that should be a great location too. They do not tip in Iceland, it’s all built into the price you pay for dinner. There isn’t a line for tipping on any credit card slips so if you must offer more you need to give cash. Servers do not expect it. My last tip …. Do not try the smoked puffin!
Flat and fast with ocean views
It's in Iceland so it's a relatively cheap and easy flight for most North Americans and Europeans, but ridiculously expensive to spend time in the vicinity. I honestly don't know … MORE
It’s in Iceland so it’s a relatively cheap and easy flight for most North Americans and Europeans, but ridiculously expensive to spend time in the vicinity. I honestly don’t know why Iceland has anything smaller than the equivalent of a $5 bill in their currency. Ok but the race is flat until about 15km and then only one slow, mild up hill which you then come back down. I saw a multiple limb amputee making good time on a skateboard up that hill and promised myself never to complain about hills ever again. Weather was perfect for my run. Iceland never gets hot, so it’s great for running. Lots of music along the route and my fav was definitely the Icelandic folk music group. Not your average race grooves!
Something to note for North Americans: they sort the results on gun time. You’ll be given your chip time, but you’re on your own to re-sort the results based on chip time assuming you didn’t elbow your way to the start line, which you probably didn’t with 4000 runners. Oh and they screwed up the distance this year and accidentally made the course too short. Bummer.
Lovely race, but cheap medal!
I have run Reykjavik half marathon 3 times and I really do like the race and the city. The course is beautiful and except of a few hills it´s a … MORE
I have run Reykjavik half marathon 3 times and I really do like the race and the city. The course is beautiful and except of a few hills it´s a quite flat and fast course. All runners get a T-Shirt and a medal. To be honest it´s definitely not one of my favorite medals, but the race itself is one my favorite ones – everything is easy going and fun!
A fabulous destination race
I ran this race purely for fun and loved every single second. We were blessed with perfect weather...bright sunshine, blue skies yet a little cold. The 10k route is nearly … MORE
I ran this race purely for fun and loved every single second. We were blessed with perfect weather…bright sunshine, blue skies yet a little cold. The 10k route is nearly entirely flat, it goes through residential neighborhoods then along the waterfront. The crowd support is second to none throughout. It was crowded, so if you’re after a PR, make sure you go to the front. I had to walk a few times at the start and wasn’t able to run freely until M3. But the atmosphere was wonderful, the volunteers at check in were friendly and spoke good English and we loved it. We were able to register my family on the race morning and despite what the website said, my under twelve YO was able to register in person. The t shirt was decent, the medal was simple but nice. We really really loved this race, my entire family loved it. Can’t quite stop raving, sorry!
Amazing - just like the country!
LOVED this race! It's on the smaller side, and spectator support is fairly thin the second half of the race, so the latter miles can be a bit lonely. But … MORE
LOVED this race! It’s on the smaller side, and spectator support is fairly thin the second half of the race, so the latter miles can be a bit lonely. But weather was perfect, scenery was unbeatable, and it capped off a perfect vacation in an absolutely incredible country!
Race was well-organized. Easy expo. Would have liked more water stations, but I carried my own and was fine. Best part is that Culture Night is later that day, so you can go drink plenty of beer afterwards and enjoy the festivities without any guilt (you just burned all those calories, after all…)
Awesome
This race was totally awesome. It is during the Iceland Cultural Celebration so there are many activities like free museum entries and hot spring visits. The race course is not … MORE
This race was totally awesome. It is during the Iceland Cultural Celebration so there are many activities like free museum entries and hot spring visits. The race course is not difficult and is well marked. Iceland is very pretty and the weather was perfect.
Make a vacation of it. If you fly Icelandic Air you may go to Reyjavik for a week long layover on your way to somewhere else. It was our layover to Stavanger, Norway, where we did another race the following weekend.
I love Reykjavik!
The Reykjavik Half Marathon is a very nice race with a super atmosphere. The marathon takes place on the same day as the biggest cultural festival Menninganott and the vibes … MORE
The Reykjavik Half Marathon is a very nice race with a super atmosphere. The marathon takes place on the same day as the biggest cultural festival Menninganott and the vibes in the city are gorgeous! Live music everywhere. The course is flat and beautiful. This time the weather could not have been better. The medal could be nicer…
Marathon followed by an all city party!
The course was a very scenic combination of downtown Reykjavik, residential neighbourhoods, city parks, rivers and the seaside. While light on fan support, the running trails portions along the seaside … MORE
The course was a very scenic combination of downtown Reykjavik, residential neighbourhoods, city parks, rivers and the seaside. While light on fan support, the running trails portions along the seaside and the country’s most popular salmon river provided spectacular views of the ocean, mountains and a few glaciers. The start / finish in downtown Reykjavik had a lot of fan support and was conveniently just a block or two away from the majority of the hotels. Beautiful course, people and country!
A bonus is the race being held in conjunction with Culture Night, an event that takes place all across central Reykjavik, with celebrations in the streets and squares, in museums, businesses and residential gardens! Reykjavik Culture Night marks the start of the city’s cultural year, when museums and theatres and other cultural institutions launch their annual programs of events. The main objective of Reykjavik Culture Night is to deliver a diverse and rich offering of cultural events from 1-11pm, ending with a magnificent firework show by the harbour. All events are free of charge for everyone to enjoy.
Before and after race day I enjoyed exploring Iceland’s natural wonders (including a post-race soak in the Blue Lagoon) with a great group of people that had booked with Marathon Tours.
Flat course, beautiful scenery
I would highly recommend this race to anyone trying to PR -- it's almost entirely flat, with the exception of a few small hills, and not too many turns on … MORE
I would highly recommend this race to anyone trying to PR — it’s almost entirely flat, with the exception of a few small hills, and not too many turns on the course. The weather was gorgeous (about 60-65 degrees, sunny) and the scenery is quite lovely, with a run through the city and along the bay. My only real critique is that the aid stations were too far apart and there weren’t enough portalets — I lost my PR time waiting in line 10+ minutes to use one.
Summer marathon in northernmost capital.
18 ° C this will be the temperature of the Nordic Reykjavik Marathon 2016 "A beautiful day" as announced by U2 Group at the beginning of the marathon. A warm … MORE
18 ° C this will be the temperature of the Nordic Reykjavik Marathon 2016 “A beautiful day” as announced by U2 Group at the beginning of the marathon. A warm atmosphere throughout the course that winds through the streets and parks of the capital of Iceland. The last kilometers of the waterfront allowed us to discover a beautiful natural panorama (wild beach, sea and snowy volcano on the horizon). Despite the fatigue, the return to the city operates on a flat course with focus to the iconic Church, and the issue will occur to me after 4 hours and 13 minutes of a marathon very well organized and very pleasant to run.
Beautiful, scenic fast course
i love this event. This was the 6th time running the half marathon. The course starts in the city center, near the duck pond. The 1st 3 miles you will … MORE
i love this event. This was the 6th time running the half marathon. The course starts in the city center, near the duck pond. The 1st 3 miles you will experience the locals as they cheer you on with their support. Adults and young children bang together pots and spoons, play guitar and drums and trumpet . As you leave this area you turn along the coast with amazing scenes of Mt Esja. A quick run through the local dock yards and you come back on to main roads. Soon you will pass the Harpa, Hofdi House, and more along the coast. 3 more miles out and you turn around and head back into town and the finish. This afternoon and tonight you can experience Culture Night. Finally as darkness falls at 11:00pm, grab a good viewing spot for the fireworks. Iceland is closer than you think. Put this race on your list as your next summer race! You won’t regret it. Ideal temps (45-55F) with the cleanest air in the world.
Perfect tour through Reykjavik!
The expo is fantastic and offers all a runner need! The race next day is the start into a wonderful day as marathon day in Reykjavik is also Menningarnott - … MORE
The expo is fantastic and offers all a runner need! The race next day is the start into a wonderful day as marathon day in Reykjavik is also Menningarnott – the bigget culture festival of Iceland with live music everywhere. The race is completely flat and offers beautiful views of the cozy Icelandic capital.
Iceland during the best time of year
I completed this race in 2011. The race started in downtown Rejkavik. The most difficult part of this race was that it was in kilometers which I am not used … MORE
I completed this race in 2011.
The race started in downtown Rejkavik. The most difficult part of this race was that it was in kilometers which I am not used to (coming from the United States). However, this ended up being a benefit as I was unaware of how far I’d gone.
It’s during the perfect time of year to visit in August. The sun is out for the majority of the day and the weather is perfect.
Overall, it was a fun race. It was relatively flat. It was also a great way to see the sights of Reyjkavic. There were plenty of people out during the race cheering on the runners. I highly recommend it.