Helsinki City Marathon

The Helsinki City Marathon is an annual marathon held in Helsinki, Finland. It was established in 1980 and is normally held in August. The marathon is run "In the settings of Baltic sea and open parks", and is considered to be one of the most beautiful marathons in the world by some.

The 2007 marathon drew more than 6,000 participants and 50,000 watchers.

The course starts near the statue of Paavo Nurmi and finishes at the Olympic Stadium. Various parks, miles of Baltic Sea coastline, and the Helsinki City centre are all located along the route.

Typical race temperatures are 18 - 22 °C. The race time limit is 6 hours. First prize amounts to €3,500.

The 2007 winner of the marathon was Peter Biwott (Kenya) in a time of 2:20:31, whilst the first female over the line was Flora Kandie (Kenya) in a time of 2:51:05.

The 2008 marathon was run on the 16th of August.

External links

* [http://www.helsinkicitymarathon.com/hcm/e_etusivu.html Helsinki City Marathon]
* [http://marathoninfo.free.fr/historique/helsinki.htm Marathon Info]
* [http://helsinkinetwork.ning.com/photo/album/show?id=736546:Album:848 Many Pictures of Helsinki City Marathon 2008]