The Polar Circle Marathon is a classical 42.195 km marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

, which however has the very untraditional feature that it is situated on 66 degrees northern latitude - also known as the polar circle

Polar circle

A polar circle is either the Arctic Circle or the Antarctic Circle. On Earth, the Arctic Circle is located at a latitude of  N, and the Antarctic Circle is located at a latitude of  S....

. This means that the temperatures are relatively low (probably around -10 degrees Celsius in the autumn, when the race is taking place). The marathon course takes the runners over the permanent, 3 km thick ice cap

Ice cap

An ice cap is an ice mass that covers less than 50 000 km² of land area . Masses of ice covering more than 50 000 km² are termed an ice sheet....

 and through tundra

Tundra

In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...

s, moraine

Moraine

A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...

 landscapes, glaciers, among other outstanding nature sceneries. The wildlife that marathoners may encounter is musk oxen, reindeer

Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...

 and other animals inhabiting the arctic desert.

The Polar Circle Marathon is more demanding than usual marathons due to the cold weather and the slippery surface for the parts of the race that goes over the actual ice cap

Ice cap

An ice cap is an ice mass that covers less than 50 000 km² of land area . Masses of ice covering more than 50 000 km² are termed an ice sheet....

.

The Polar Circle Marathon was held for the 5th time in history on 18 October 2008 around Kangerlussuaq

Kangerlussuaq

Kangerlussuaq is a settlement in western Greenland in the Qeqqata municipality, located at the head of a fjord of the same name. It is Greenland's main air transport hub, being the site of Greenland's largest commercial airport....

 in Western Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

. 52 marathoners from 12 countries participated. The winners were:

• Marathon, men: Eduardo Rodriguez Tenes, Spain, 3:15:25
• Marathon, women: Britt Folkerman, Denmark, 4:08:15
• Half marathon, men: Conor McLaughlin, Ireland, 1:50:20
• Half marathon, women: Ragnhild Audestad, Norway, 2:22:21

The Polar Circle Marathon 2009 is run on 24 October 2009.