The history of the Copenhagen Half Marathon

It almost feels like the Copenhagen Half Marathon has always been here, but in fact, the race was born just back in 2015. The Copenhagen Half Marathon – or CPH Half as the race is also known – is based on the World Half Marathon Championship, which was held in Copenhagen in 2014. Here, ordinary runners could sign up and participate in the half marathon on the same route as the elite, and with 30,000 participants, the race became the 4th largest half marathon in the world in 2014.

In partnership with Nordea-fonden, Sport Event Denmark and the City of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg Municipality, the Danish Athletics Federation and Sparta Athletics & Exercise joined forces to create a world-class annual event, the Copenhagen Half Marathon.

Even before the debut edition in 2015, the race was awarded the International Athletics Federation’s Road Race Bronze Label. This happened in January 2015. A year later – in January 2016 – the Copenhagen Half Marathon was the first race in the Nordic region to be awarded the International Association of Athletics Federations Road Race Silver Label, and in March 2017, the Copenhagen Half Marathon was awarded the IAAF Gold Label – a stamp that is only given to the leading races in the world. The criteria for receiving an IAAF label include areas such as elite field, barriers, safety, results, communication, TV coverage and more.

Since then, the race has been held every year with the exception of 2020, when the event was canceled due to Covid-19.

In 2025 the event will hold it’s 10th anniversary and in 2026 it will be a real world championship as World Athletics has chosen Copenhagen to hold the World Athletics World Road Running Championship in 2026.