Great interest in the Reykjavík Marathon

It looks like there will be a record attendance in the Reykjavík Marathon, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

“Based on the last numbers I saw, 35% more runners have registered than at the same time last year, and a similar story is true of the marathon pledge collection,” Selma Smáradóttir, project manager at Íslandsbanki bank, tells us, but the bank is sponsoring the marathon.

The Reykjavík Marathon will take place on Saturday, August 24, on Reykjavik Culture Night, and Íslandsbanki bank will go all out to make the race as spectacular as possible on the 40th anniversary of the marathon.

“I know that the Fun Run (all age groups) and all the preparations for it will be in a birthday-mode,” Smáradóttir says. She says that Pat­rik Atla­son, better known as Pretty-BoiTjokko , will sing and start the FUN RUN contest.

Are expecting 12-14 thousand participants

Last year, 11,307 runners of all ages were registered to participate, including runners from 84 countries. 214 participants participated in the first Reykjavík Marathon.

Hrönn Svansdóttir, project manager and treasurer at the Reykjavík Sports Association, tells us that the number of entries to the Reykjavík Marathon is approaching seven thousand.

“The registration is good and we expect 12-14 thousand people to take part in the race. We find a lot of interest in registration and it is going well and better than last year,” she says.

Svansdóttir says that there are few tickets left for the full marathon and the half marathon and she expects that there those races will be sold out. There is a limit of how many can participate in the race.

“We always have to make a plan to order prize money, refreshments and more, and then we have to make sure that we’re safe on the track. The space in Lækjargata is also limited, so our plan is to have between 12 and 14 thousand competitors this year,” she says.

There are four distances available in the Reykjavík Marathon, which consists of a full marathon (42,2 km), half marathon (21,1 km), 10 km race and 3 km fun-run.