About the race

General information

Copenhagen Half Marathon 2023, 9th race edition
Date: Sunday 17 September, 2023
Race Start: 11:15 am
Labels: World Athletics Elite Label & European Athletics Quality Road Race
Part of the SuperHalfs running series

Organizers

Sparta Athletics and Running and the Danish Athletic Federation

Sponsors

Zalando

Partners

Sport Event Denmark, the City of Copenhagen, the City of Frederiksberg and Wonderful Copenhagen

Start and finish

Copenhagen Half Marathon commences and finishes at Frederiksberg in Copenhagen. AS of 2023, the events moves start and finish to respectively Gl. Kongevej and Frederiksberg Allé, both of which are located close to each other at Frederiksberg. The mixed gender elite race begins concurrently with the mass participation race at 11:15 am CEST.

Number of participants

The CPH Half has an entrant limit of 25,000 participants. The event was sold-out in 2019 and 2022.

List of winners 2022

MEN TIME RANK WOMEN TIME
Milkesa Mengesha
(ETH)
 59:58 1
Tadu Teshome
(ETH)
 1:06:13
Amedework Walelegn
(KEN)
 59:05 2
Tsigie Gebreselama
(ETH)
 1:06:35
Felix Kipkoech
(KEN)
 59:07  3
Tiruye Mesfin
(ETH)
 1:06:42
Vincent Kipkemoi
(KEN)		 59:09  4
Magdalena Shauri
(TAN)
 1:06:52
Dominic Lobalu
(SSD)		 59:12  5
Eunice Chumba
(BRN)
 1:07:34
Chala Regasa
(ETH)		 59:13  6 Sintayehu Tilahun
(ETH)		 1:07:41
Edmund Kipngetich
(KEN)		 59:25  7 Janet Ruguru
(KEN)		 1:07:51
Matthew Kimeli
(KEN)		 59:39  8 Anchalem Haymanot
(ETH)		 1:08:09

Race records

Men: 58:01 min, Geoffrey Kamworor (KEN), 2019
Women: 1:05:08 min, Tsehay Gemechu (ETH), 2021

European records

Women: 65:15 min, Sifan Hassan (NED), Copenhagen 2018
Men: 59:13 min, Julien Wanders (SUI), Ras Al Khaimah 2019

World records

Men: 57:31, Jacob Kiplimo (UGA), Lisboa 2021
Women: 1:02:52 min, Letesenbet Gidey (ETH), Valencia, 2021

Read more about records and rankings on World Athletics

Danish records

Men: 1:01,55, Carsten Jørgensen (DEN), 1998
Women: 1:09,48, Dorte Rasmussen (DEN), 1991

Entry

Online entry at cphhalf.com. Entry opens December 1.

About the race and the World Athletics Road Race Elite Label

CPH Half builds on the 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships staged in Copenhagen.

As the first road race throughout the Nordic countries, in January 2016, the Copenhagen Half Marathon obtained the IAAF Road Race Silver Label as the sixth half marathon worldwide. Already before the first post World Championships-race edition in 2015 had been held, the race was awarded the IAAF Road Race Bronze Label, and in 2017 it was awarded with the Gold Label, which is considered the most prestigious quality designation. Since 2020, the race is a World Athletics Road Race Elite Label event.

The criteria that must be fulfilled in order to become a World Athletics Elite Label road race event cover areas such as elite field composition, fencing, safety, race timing, communication and broadcasting, etc.

The elite race

The CPH Half attracts a strong international elite field. Seeing lots of fast times since the beginning in 2015, the CPH Half has claimed itself as one of the world’s fastest half marathons, and in 2019 a new world record was set at the CPH Half by Geoffrey Kamworor (Kenya) clocking 58:01.

The course

Covering most areas of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, the course showcases the very best of the Danish capital. The course is extremely fast, at the same time highly spectator-friendly featuring lots of entertainment, power zones and city highlights.

The course has been measured and certified by the Danish Athletic Federation and AIMS, the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races.

The course is completely traffic-free and extensively fenced. Vehicular traffic can, however only in certain time periods, cross the course through six gateways throughout the city. Pedestrians and bicyclists are allowed to cross the course when there are no runners present.

The course is available on map.cphhalf.dk/en. or offline here

Demographics

  • 35-40% foreign participants
  • More than 120 nationalities
  • Gender distribution: 62% men, 38% women
  • Largest age group 25-29 yrs followed by the year groups from 30 – 49
  • Average age is 38 years.

Top 10 country distribution

  1. Denmark
  2. Sweden
  3. Germany
  4. Great Britain
  5. Norway
  6. France
  7. USA
  8. Italy
  9. Spain
  10. Netherlands
  11. Island

Volunteers

1300 persons are volunteering and working during race week including course marshalls, tech crew, medical crew and much more.

CPH Half Expo

Leading up to the race, a three-day expo is held in Sparta Hallen on Østerbro in Copenhagen, where the participants collect their race packet containing their bib number with integrated timing chip, a Nike T-shirt and a baggage bag.

Number of visitors: 35,000.

Environment and Social Responsibility

The Copenhagen Half Marathon organization donates excess food to fødevareBanken, a national food bank which collects and distributes excess food to marginalised citizens, and collects running clothes in order to donate it to the Danish Red Cross.

Live Coverage

The race is transmitted live on TV, in the CPH Half app and on big screens in the start and finish area.

A live transmission recap will be available on cphhalf.com