2021 will mark the city of Gothenburg in Sweden turning 400. To celebrate this historic milestone, the Göteborg Athletic Association is launching a new, one-off marathon event for 2021.
Scheduled for September 19, 2021, the Göteborgsvarvet Marathon joins the Göteborgsvarvet Half Marathon, itself billed as ‘the largest half marathon in the world’ with over 60,000 runners on race weekend. There are a further seven events across the race weekend, such as a children’s race, a relay and a trail run.
Typically, over 200,000 spectators line the route, and the city of Gothenburg comes alive to cheer on all participating runners. The organising team notes that Gothenburg is ready to welcome runners to the marathon start line on 19th September 2021.
The scenic course will wind through the city of Gothenburg, taking in major landmarks including the King Gustaf statue and the Älvsborg Eriksberg docks. The course will also incorporate a full loop of the Göteborgsvarvet Half Marathon route.
Göteborgsvarvet Marathon 2021 reportedly has 6,800 registered runners, which already makes it on track to be the second largest running event in Sweden. A capacity has been set at 15,000 with a proportion of those expected to come from the rest of Europe.
“We wanted to create a new event to mark this historic occasion,” said Race Director Annika Knutsson. “The marathon distance is the pinnacle of road running and it’s fitting that runners will see so many landmarks in the city on this incredible course.”
A team of UK running ambassadors have been chosen to run the marathon and detail their training and journeys to the start line. This includes marathon blogger Charlie Watson @therunnerbeans; endurance athlete, record breaker and commentator Susie Chan @susie_Chan and last year’s winner of The Running Awards’ best personal blog, James Dunn @themorningcoffeerun.
