Thousands of athletes and running enthusiasts to come to St. Petersburg to participate in the largest international White Nights Marathon

The 33rd White Nights Marathon will take place in St. Petersburg on 29 June. This year the race joined the BRICS Marathon League. At the first stage, it unites the country's largest and most significant marathons (in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan) into a single series, and in the future, the races of the BRICS countries will also become part of it. TV BRICS International Media Network is an international media partner of the BRICS Marathon League.

This year's participants of the White Nights Marathon will run along a new route: they will start on Palace Square and finish near the Medny Vsadnik monument. In addition to the traditional 42.2 km and 10 km races and relay races for everyone, this year's marathon will for the first time feature an open student relay race.

"The White Nights Marathon is a very special race that has a big impact on our city, as well as on the development of the running industry and athletics in general. Every year it grows, becoming not just a sporting event, but a real city celebration. And we are happy that from year to year more and more people, runners, fans, residents of St. Petersburg, become part of it"

Boris Piotrovsky Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg

"This season, registration for the race closed early, and the total number of participants has grown strongly, and at both distances. Approximately 80 per cent of them will come to St. Petersburg specifically for the event. This is really impressive," said marathon director Dmitry Tarasov. 

This year, runners who complete two or three of the League's three marathon distances during the year will receive special insignia, as well as the opportunity to enter special rankings. Thus, more than 400 people who have already managed to run the first race of the series – Kazan Marathon 2024 – will receive a commemorative award after finishing the White Nights Marathon, and a wall of marathon runners will be waiting for them at the sports exhibition, on which their names will be highlighted separately. 

For the first time in a long time professional athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia will take part in the competition. And the strongest marathon runners from Russia and neighbouring countries will compete with them. Among them are Alexey Reunkov, Ivan Kuznetsov, Iskander Yadgarov, as well as Luiza Dmitrieva, Alina Prokopyeva, Ekaterina Tunguskova (Uzbekistan) and others.

The White Nights race was first held in St. Petersburg in 1990 and since then it has become a tradition uniting athletes and amateurs from different parts of the country and abroad. For the first few years the race lived up to its name and took place at night. In 1995 the start time was moved to 19:00, and then for some time the marathon started in the morning.

This year the organisers will hold a Race Director programme to share experiences between race directors. On the eve of the race, the team will share with them the experience of other events accumulated over the years of holding the starts.

The race is organised by the Committee on Physical Culture and Sports of St. Petersburg with the support of the Running Community and the assistance of the St. Petersburg Athletics Federation.

Photo: White Nights marathon