Sweden Half Marathons 2013 - Stockholm, Malmo and Goteborg / Gothenburg

There are some great running events in Sweden and the late afternoon starts bring a different perspective to running too.  I have been mainly interested in Sweden Half Marathons and these are the 3 Swedish Half Marathons that have been most appealing to me!

1) DN Stockholm Half Marathon (14th September 2013 1600)

In 2012 I ran the DN Stockholm Half Marathon and really enjoyed it.  The event was very well organised with great support and a fabulous route that sees the 17,000 runners going through the Royal Palace, over bridges, alongside the water and right through the centre of the city.

Stockholm Half Marathon - start and finish at the Royal Palace

Stockholm Half Marathon - heading towards the city centre

 The map below shows the route of the Stockholm Half Marathon: 

Stockholm Half Marathon course map

The Stockholm Half Marathon 2013 is on 14th September and the official Stockholm Half Marathon website is here: http://www.stockholmhalfmarathon.se (in Swedish, English, German and Finnish.)


2) Goteborgsvarvet - the Gothenburg Half Marathon (18th May 2013 - staggered starts from 1300 to 1600)

The Gothenburg Half Marathon or goteborgsvarvet is really big, I mean really really big.  The Great North Run in Newcastle, England is often cited as being the largest Half Marathon, but the Gothenburg Half Marathon is apparently larger (now with a capacity of 62,000!) The whole event covers 4 days with an Expo and other races too.

The Gothenburg Half Marathon is broadcast live on national Swedish TV and the YouTube video promotion for the 2013 race is here:


The Gothenburg Half Marathon route goes over two huge bridges, through the centre of the city and starts and finishes in the beautiful Slottskogen park.  There are also music stages all the way round (marked on the route map below.)

This is the full course map of goteborgsvarvet / Gothenburg Half Marathon:

Gothenburg Half Marathon course map / goteborgsvarvet karta

The official website for the Gothenburg Half Marathon is here (in Swedish and English): http://www.goteborgsvarvet.se/en

3) Malmo Half Marathon (10th August 2013 1500)

Sweden's other large city Malmo also has a half marathon.  This is a summer event and again takes in the sights of the centre of the city.  The Malmo Half Marathon is another Saturday race and another afternoon start and whilst this race is may not be of the same scale as Stockholm and Gothenburg, (I think it's only a couple of years old?), it is still an event with all sorts of things laid on around the course.  An unofficial YouTube video made by one of the runners during the 2012 Malmo Half Marathon is here:


and this is the Malmo Half Marathon 2013 course map:

Malmo Half Marathon 2013 course map

and the official website for the Malmo Half Marathon 2013 is here (Swedish and English): www.malmohalvmarathon.se

I'm looking forward to running in Sweden again.  I don't think I'll be able to do the Stockholm Half Marathon this year, but the Gothenburg Half Marathon or Malmo Half Marathon could be fun!

I'll add some more photos to this post if I do run either of them - and be sure to let me know in the comments below if you have run the Stockholm Half Marathon, goteborgsvarvet or the Malmo Half Marathon in the past or if you are planning to run one of these in the future.