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Why has the Copenhagen Marathon seen a jump in popularity?

The Copenhagen Marathon has sold out for the first time ever, with all of its 15,000 race bibs snapped up some four months ahead of race day.

Published: 10 January 2024 10:06 CET
Why has the Copenhagen Marathon seen a jump in popularity?
Copenhagen Marathon has sold out for the first time. Photo: Sparta Atletik & Løb

Amateur runners in Denmark and abroad can step up their winter training for this year’s Copenhagen Marathon in the knowledge that they will be competing as part of a capacity field of 15,000, after the event sold out for the first time ever.

A rebrand in 2023 and more noticeable marketing, including participation by influencers on social media such as Instagram and YouTube, appears to have paid off for the event, which is organised by Copenhagen athletic club Sparta Atletik og Løb.

The marathon, which first took place in 1980 with 995 runners, has undergone several changes in recent years after two consecutive cancellations due to Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021.

The rebrand saw new colours and slogans appear on the event’s online presence in 2023. The same year, a new route was introduced with the start and finish area moving from harbour area Islands Brygge to Øster Allé near Fælledparken on Østerbro – a more spacious, grassy area close to Sparta’s headquarters.

Organisers have chosen an earlier date for the event, perhaps in the hope of cooler conditions more optimal for fast finishing times. Previously taking place on the third weekend in May, this year’s Copenhagen Marathon is scheduled for May 5th.

Social media updates showed registrations, which cost 800 kroner, reach 10,000 in December and 12,000 on January 7th. The last 3,000 entries were therefore sold in just two days.

“It’s huge for us that Copenhagen Marathon can say we’re sold out – not least four months before the race,” Sparta CEO Dorte Vibjerg said in a press statement.

Sparta organises a number of large scale running events in Copenhagen including the Copenhagen/Frederiksberg Royal Run and the CPH Half, both of which are also sold out in 2024.

“We are seeing a high demand for our races. We are very pleased about this and are convinced that the interest will be followed up on,” Vibjerg said.

“We go out of our way to listen to participants, evaluate thoroughly and always optimise our races to ensure the best possible experience for all,” she said.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Where Malmö plans to place its first three Copenhagen Metro stops

Politicians in the Swedish city of Malmö have decided where the first three stops will be if a new Öresund Metro is built, linking the city to the Danish capital - and they are planning on using the earth excavated to build a whole new city district.

Published: 24 April 2024 15:56 CEST
Updated: 27 April 2024 15:06 CEST
Where Malmö plans to place its first three Copenhagen Metro stops

Malmö and Copenhagen have been pushing for an Öresund Metro linking the two cities since at least 2011, but so far neither the Swedish government nor the Danish one have committed to stumping up their share of the roughly 30 billion Danish kroner (47 billion Swedish kronor, €4 billion) required.

Malmö hopes the Swedish government will take a decision on the project this autumn, and in preparation, the city’s planning board last Thursday took a decision on where the first three stops of the Öresund Metro should be placed.

They have selected Fullriggaren (currently a bus stop at the outermost tip of the city’s Västra Hamnen district), Stora Varvsgatan, in the centre of Västra Hamnen, and Malmö’s Central Station, as the locations of the first three stops, after which the idea is to extend the metro into the city. 

Stefana Hoti, the Green Party councillor who chairs the planning committee, said that the new Fehmarn Belt connection between the Danish island of Lolland and Germany, which is expected to come into use in 2029, will increase the number of freight trains travelling through Copenhagen into Sweden making it necessary to build a new route for passengers.

Part of the cost, she said, could come from tolls levied on car and rail traffic over the existing Öresund Bridge, which will soon no longer need to be used to pay off loans taken to build the bridge more than 20 years ago.  

“The bridge will be paid off in the near future. Then the tolls can be used to finance infrastructure that strengthens the entire country and creates space for more freight trains on the bridge,” Hoti told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.

According to planning documents given out by the city planning authorities, the stop at Fullrigagaren would be called Galeonen and would be roughly, the one at Stora Varvsgatan will be called Masttorget, and the third stop would be called Malmö Central.  

Source: Malmö Kommun

After Fullriggaren the next stop would be at Lergravsparken in the Amagerbro neighbourhood, which connects with the current M2 line, after which the there will be four new stops on the way to Copenhagen Central, including DR Byen on the current M1 line. 

The hope is that the Öresund Metro will reduce the journey time between Copenhagen Central and Malmö Central from 40 minutes to 25 minutes. 

Source: Oresunds Metro

But that’s not all. Excavating a tunnel between Malmö and Copenhagen will produce large amounts of earth, which the architect firm Arkitema has proposed should be used to extend Malmö’s Västra Hamnen district out into the sea, creating a new coastal district called Galeonen, meaning “The Galleon”, centred on the Fullriggaren Metro stop. 

This project is similar to the Lynetteholm project in Copenhagen, which will use earth excavated for the Copenhagen Metro extension to build a peninsular in front of Copenhagen Harbour, providing housing and protecting the city from rising sea levels. 

Rather than producing a sea wall to protect the new area from rising sea levels, Arkitema and its partner, the Danish engineering firm COWI, have proposed a new coastal wetland area. 

“Instead of building a wall, we extended the land out into the sea. Then a green area is formed which is allowed to flood, and over time it will become a valuable environment, partly as a green area for Malmö residents, partly because of the rich biodiversity that will be created there,” Johanna Wadhstorp, an architect for Arkitema based in Stockholm, told the Sydsvenskan newspaper. 
 
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