The Copenhagen Marathon is regarded as one of the best big city European marathons.
Runners love the Copenhagen Marathon for being very well organised, having brilliant crowd support throughout, and a flat course which works for everyone from first-time marathon runners to those chasing a new personal best.
A few of the TRC team have run the Copenhagen Marathon, so here’s our race review and our top tips for anyone running the Copenhagen Marathon.
KEY FACTS ABOUT THE COPENHAGEN MARATHON
The Copenhagen Marathon takes place on the second Sunday in May. In 2026, the Copenhagen Marathon will be run on Sunday 10th May (the race sells out quickly, so sign up fast!).
In 2025, there were over 18,000 finishers, making it one of the larger European city marathons.
The race entry is 850 DKK / 114 Euro. That gets you entry into the race, a canvas race bag, a Nike finisher t-shirt and your medal. The quality of the kit, bag and medal are all very good.
The race has a six-hour cut off, but they will keep the finish line open for all finishers (runners going at slower than six-hour pace may need to move onto the sidewalk).
The Copenhagen Marathon was first run in 1980, making it one of the longest-running European city races.
In 2024, 52% of runners were Danish and 48% were international, with Copenhagen welcoming marathoners from over 100 nationalities.
COPENHAGEN MARATHON EXPO
The Copenhagen Marathon expo takes place near the start and finish line in Sparta Hallen. It’s open from Thursday to Saturday. The expo, plus the race village and the start/finish line are all within short walking distance (around 500m) of public transport. A lot of people also cycle to the area for the expo and on race day.
When you arrive at the expo, you collect your race t-shirt and bag, then line up to go into the expo to collect your race bib. One of the great things about the race is that your race bib features your name as the most prominent feature, and not your number. It means the crowds can cheer you on all the way around the course.
It’s a relatively small expo but there were several big running brands there. As the main apparel sponsor, Nike has the biggest area and they have a range of special clothing and merch for the race, but it’s likely to sell out very quickly.
COPENHAGEN MARATHON RACE VILLAGE
The race village is all on grass in Fælledparken. It’s a large area and there’s plenty of room, plus plenty of toilets – though queues for these are inevitably very long on race morning. There’s a large number of urinals for men to try to reduce portaloo queues.
Bag drop was very easy to find and manage, both before and after the race. You need to use the canvas drop back you collect with your bib number (it’s a nice bag and you’ll see runners wearing it around the city in the following days).
There are lots of stands selling food and drink for after the race, so it’s somewhere you can happily hang around for as long as you want.
THE START OF THE COPENHAGEN MARATHON
The starting line of the Copenhagen Marathon is on Øster Allé. It’s a short walk from the race village to the start corrals. This is also the race finish line.
Runners are seeded into waves based on expected finish time. Each wave goes soon after the one before. Those in the final wave will likely cross the start line around 9.55am (your result is based on chip time, not gun time).
There are pacers from 3:00 and every 10 minutes to 5:00. They carry brightly coloured balloons so you can spot and follow them.
The start corrals are busy like any large marathon, but you don’t feel too packed in. As you pass under the start line, the street is wide and you can quickly settle into the pace you want to run.
COPENHAGEN MARATHON COURSE
“Is the Copenhagen Marathon flat?” is something a lot of people asked when we said we were running the race.
The Copenhagen Marathon is a flat course. There are some gradual inclines, but you’ll rarely notice them. There are also longer steady downhill sections, and those do often feel noticeable (you can see the road sloping down ahead of you). Overall it has around 100m of total elevation gain, which is only a little more than the super speedy Berlin and Chicago Marathons.
While the course is flat, it features a lot of turns. Runners may be wary that this will see them frequently slowing down and then needing to speed up, but the turns are wide and never too sharp, so you can maintain the pace you want.
However, one problem with the turns is that it may be hard to stick to the racing line. All of the TRC team who ran had distance readings of around 42.7km (26.5 miles) for the whole course (which was also partly due to some GPS issues at parts of the course).
The route itself is really good. It’s always in the city centre, passing through lots of different districts, and there are always things to look at to distract yourself. The end of the race goes back over some of the earlier kilometres, only now from the opposite direction.
There’s great crowd support throughout the whole course. Some areas are very busy and very loud, especially areas set up by local run clubs who fire off flares and confetti canons, and areas where bands set up to play. It’s one of the best-supported marathons we’ve run.
The Copenhagen Marathon is a full loop course and you finish exactly where you started. The final turn on the course puts the finish line in view 500m ahead of you. It’s a long but fun final section of the race.
WATER STATIONS & FINISH LINE REFRESHMENTS
The race has 10 water and energy drink (in paper cups), and they are roughly every 4km
Water stations are only on the right hand side of the course
Some water stations offer High 5 gels and bananas
There’s a Red Bull zone with cups of Red Bull
There are toilets and medics at each water station
One warning: the streets get quite littered with discarded paper cups (and gel wrappers), which is especially relevant for slower runners. Be a conscientious runner and try to discard these to the side of the road.
After you go through the finish line, it’s just a short walk into Fælledparken where you collect your medal and can pick up some more refreshments like water, alcohol-free beer, bananas and Red Bull, plus you will be given a poncho to put on to keep you warm.
FOLLOWING AND SUPPORTING THE COPENHAGEN MARATHON
The Copenhagen Marathon has one of the best apps and tracking experiences of any race we’ve seen, with live tracking of runners throughout the race. There’s also a live feed of the elite race.
As the course stays in the city centre, the support is excellent and friends and family who are following runners will find it easy enough to get to numerous places on the course. If you’re ambitious, and happy to walk a few kilometres, then it’s possible to get at least five or six sightings of your runner.
We had people following us at the start, 7k, 14k, 26k, 37k and the finish, and that required a total of around eight kilometres of walking (so they felt like they’d put in a decent effort for the day as well!).
PRE- & POST-RACE COMMUNICATIONS
This is all very good and easy to follow. In the days ahead of the race you get an email with your race number and a QR code which you need to take to the expo to collect your bib.
After the race, photos and videos were soon available. The post-race video is nicely put together with footage of you crossing several checkpoints, including halfway and the finish line. There are photographers throughout the race, so you get a wide range of photos to choose from (if you like to get official race pics).
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE COPENHAGEN MARATHON
There are a lot of great options for European marathons in March, April and May, and the Copenhagen Marathon should be considered as one of the top choices for those looking for a well-organised and well-supported marathon taking place in a city which loves running.
Everything about the race felt well put together and slick. You know you’re running a race that’s put on by runners, for runners of all abilities, and the small details – like quality kit, a race bib with your name on, a great app – make a big difference.
It’s fast if you want to run fast, so it has great PB potential, and it’s fun and with great crowds if you’re looking to run your own pace in a city which really gets behind the runners.
All images courtesy of the Copenhagen Marathon.
