Our Marathons
The ancient Great Wall of China, the amazing wildlife of South Africa, Buddhist
spirituality in the thin air of Tibet, the never-melting Greenlandic ice cap and
the greatest mausoleum ever made… Getting curious from all the talk about adventurous
marathons? Click on the links below to learn much more about our tough, beautiful
marathons and find out how you can enter the races and get the experience of a lifetime.
The Great Wall Marathon®
The Big Five Marathon®
The Great Tibetan Marathon®
The Polar Circle Marathon®
Standards and principles for Adventure Marathons
All Adventure Marathon courses are characterised by magnificent scenery and/or a
unique cultural atmosphere. They will be rewarding and adventurous to runners and
spectators alike. The scenery of the course is substantial, and surface, ascents,
weather and other smaller obstructions are not taken into consideration. For that
reason, an Adventure Marathon will always be a more physically demanding run than
traditional marathons, and it will contain elements of cross-country running, trekking
and mountain running. However, the basic characteristics of running must be retained,
and obstructions, which cannot be defeated in running, are kept on an absolute minimum.
These standards must be followed in order for a marathon to earn the title of Adventure
Marathon®:
- The course must follow the classical marathon distance
of 42.195 m.
- Various surfaces must occur on the course, and the route
cannot appear homogenous. The surface can consist of asphalt, rock, gravel, sand,
earth, ice, water, stairs, fallen branches and trunks etc.
- Abrupt ascents must be part of the course. As a minimum
there must occur 5-10% ascents spread over 5 to 10 km, unless the marathon is taking
place in high altitude.
- At least one of the following extreme elements must appear
on the course: high altitude (more than 2,000 meters), steep, extended ascents, sand
dunes, cold/frost or heat (more than 30 degrees Celsius)
- The course must be difficult to such an extent that the
runners will be finishing 25-75% later than at an average marathon. No more than
10% of the runners are supposed to use less than 3h15min. The average time must
be higher than 4h30min.