White Nights Marathon

Location: St. Petersburg
Country: Russia
Website: https://wnmarathon.runc.run/
2025 Marathon Date: 05/07/2025
2026 Marathon Date: 05/07/2026
Winning Time 2025: 02:11:55
% Sub-3s: 5–10%
# Sub-3s: 100–499
Total Runners: 3k–10k

The White Nights Marathon is a distinctive summer race set in the heart of St. Petersburg, Russia. Named for the region’s extended daylight hours, the White Nights Marathon offers runners a rare opportunity to race beneath a sun that barely sets, with a historic and cultural backdrop unlike any other.

The marathon begins and ends in central St. Petersburg, with a route that winds past some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, including the Hermitage Museum, Palace Square, and the Neva River embankments. The course is flat, fast, and visually rich, featuring wide boulevards and long stretches of smooth asphalt.

Run in early July, the marathon capitalises on the White Nights phenomenon, with lingering light and mild evening temperatures creating an atmospheric race setting. While the event is held during daylight hours, the long twilight lends a dreamlike quality to the entire experience.

Organisation is solid, with chip timing, pacers for key time targets, and an efficient layout of aid stations. Multilingual signage helps international runners navigate the event, and the start area has a festival feel, with music and local colour. Security and crowd control are tight, and the field is well managed.

For sub-3 runners, the White Nights Marathon provides a fast, scenic course with ample space to run hard. The field has reasonable depth, especially among Eastern European and Central Asian athletes, and there’s enough pace support to find a rhythm early.

The combination of a flat profile, cool evening temperatures, and atmospheric setting makes this one of Russia’s standout running events. While not widely known in the West, the White Nights Marathon offers something rare: a race with soul, scale, and spectacle - all wrapped in the glow of a northern summer night.

For those seeking a marathon experience that feels part race, part cultural journey, the White Nights Marathon is well worth the trip.