Tallinn Marathon Competition Courses Announced
Starting from the foot of Toompea, all the competition courses for this year’s Tallinn Marathon will have a fast single-lap route profile, taking participants to the six districts of the Estonian capital.
Estonia’s biggest recreational sports event will take place on September 10-11.
The competition centre and the sports and health fair area of the Tallinn Marathon are located at the Freedom Square. Award ceremonies and a cultural programme will also be held there.
The start and finish of Estonia’s biggest activity event will be at the foot of Toompea on Falgi tee, with a spectacular view of the Pikk Hermann Tower, where the blue-black-white Estonian flag will be raised every morning at sunrise and lowered at sunset.
The competition programme of the International Tallinn Marathon, which attracts top-level long-distance runners and thousands of sports enthusiasts, starts on September 10 at 9:00 with the half marathon (21.1 km). The half-marathon route will take participants via Paldiski maantee, Ristiku street, and Kolde puiestee to the Stroomi Beach Park’s cycle and pedestrian courses. Locks will be set up to cross Sõle street and Paldiski maantee, where specially trained judges and regulators will help to ensure the smooth running of transport during the event. The runners will then proceed to the spacious pedestrian walkway in Kõrgepinge street, built on the railway embankment, continuing to Tuuliku street, Tuuleveski street, and the tunnel under Paldiski maantee to the pedestrian walkways in Rocca al Mare. Via Vabaõhumuuseumi tee, the route follows the seaside promenade back to the Stroomi Beach Park area, and the final kilometres will lead through Kolde puiestee, Ristiku street, Kopli street, and Rannamäe tee to Toompuiestee, where the route will come to an end on Falgi tee.
On Saturday at 14:00, the five-kilometre Nike Youth Run will take participants from Falgi tee, Toompuiestee, Rannamäe tee, Tolli street, and Suurtüki street to the Towers Square, and from there to Tallinn Old Town. Via the historic streets you will reach the Town Hall Square and through Harju street to the finish line at the Freedom Square. This year, two thousand five hundred participants will take part in the popular Nike Youth Run.
At 17:00 in the evening of the 10th of September starts the ten-kilometre RIMI Autumn Run, which always welcomes a large number of people. The route will take participants via Paldiski maantee, Ristiku street, Kolde puiestee, Kopli street, and Tööstuse street to the attractive Kalamaja neighbourhood, where the route passes through the historic industrial area of North Tallinn, circles around the imposing seaplane hangar at Seaplane Harbour, past the fashionable Noblessner Quarter, the notorious Patarei Prison, and Kalasadama Harbour.
Via the Culture Kilometre you will reach the Creative Hub, continuing through Põhja puiestee and Rannamäe tee to Toompuiestee, and reaching the finish line on Falgi tee.
On Saturday, it’s worth coming with the whole family, as the Limpa Kids’ races will take place at Snelli Stadium from 12:00-16:00, which welcomes children from the capital and from further afield.
On Sunday the 11th of September, the classic 42.195 km marathon starts at 9:00 from the foot of Toompea. Via Paldiski maantee, Ristiku street, and Kopli street, runners will take to the sleepy roads of early morning Kalamaja, where they will make a short detour through Noblessner and the industrial quarter of North Tallinn, before heading via Erika street and Kolde puiestee to the cycle and pedestrian courses of Stroomi Beach Park. Just like on Saturday, Sõle street and Paldiski maantee will be crossed thanks to the locks. Similar to the half-marathon, the Sunday course will run to the Paldiski maantee bridge, where marathon participants can run alongside Lake Harku and then complete an eight-kilometre lap through the beautiful countryside along the Astangu cycle and pedestrian road. The route will take you to the Rocca al Mare cycle paths through the tunnel under Paldiski maantee, and the final part of the marathon course will be the same exactly as the half marathon the day before.
What makes this year’s Tallinn Marathon unique is the fact that for the first time, the running routes will cover the territory of six districts of Tallinn—Central Tallinn, North Tallinn, Haabersti, Mustamäe, Kristiine and Nõmme. The single-lap distances will add significantly to the organisers’ workload but should ensure smoother traffic management during the event of running the competition as multi-lap races.
In parallel with the regular event, the Virtual Run of the Tallinn Marathon will take place from September 1-30 that can be run from any corner of the world. Estonia’s biggest virtual sporting event will offer the chance to take part in the hugely popular combined marathon, or “Marathon Combo”, which is accessible to all runners and sports enthusiasts. The Virtual Kids’ Race will be organised as well.
More than fifteen thousand people are expected to take part in Estonia’s biggest running and sports event again this year, a fifth of whom will be foreign participants.
Tallinn Autumn Runs, organised by Spordiürituste Korraldamise Klubi since 2000, and Tallinn Marathons, held since 2010, have attracted more than 250 000 persons to join so far. The highest attendance record for an international sporting event in Estonian history was set in 2018, the anniversary year of the Republic of Estonia, when a total of 23 940 runners and exercise enthusiasts from 67 countries took part in the Tallinn Marathon and the Tallinn Autumn Run.
