Riga Marathon

The marathon was first held in 1991.

In 2007, it became a member of AIMS.

The main sponsor of the marathon from 2007 to 2014 was Nordea.

By 2013 the number of participants reached 20 020 people from 65 countries, of whom 1278 competed in the marathon distance.

For several years Riga Marathon held IAAF Bronze Label status, but was awarded Gold Label in late 2018.

In 2020, the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers cancelled the in-person edition of the race on the day before the marathon weekend due to the coronavirus pandemic.[3][4][5][lower-alpha 1]

Similarly, the 2021 edition of the race was postponed from the weekend of 16 May to the weekend of 29 August due to the pandemic.[8][9]

External image
Course map of full marathon in 2018[10]

Runners on Vanšu Bridge in 2013

The start and finish line of the marathon is set on the 11 November Embankment next to Riga Castle.[11]

The marathon course crosses over the Daugava river via the Vanšu, Stone, and Island Bridges, and also includes a section that runs through the cobblestoned streets of Old Riga.[10]

As of 2019, the prize money received by the winner of the marathon can reach 15 000 euros, depending on the distance result, with an additional bonus reserved in case the distance record is broken. Money prizes are received by best eight finishers, with additional 2000 euros awarded to the highest placed Latvian runners in each of the distances.

Key:    Course record (in bold)

Marathon

Ed.	Year	Men's winner	Nationality	Time[lower-alpha 2]	Women's winner	Nationality	Time[lower-alpha 2]	Rf.
1	1991	Vladimir Kalenkovich	Belarus	2:28:27	Alla Doudayeva	Belarus	2:43:53
2	1992	Gusman Abdulin	Kazakhstan	2:21:29	Olga Youdenkova	Belarus	2:47:28
3	1993	Aleksandrs Prokopčuks	Latvia	2:26:41	Svetlana Șepelev-Tcaci	Moldova	2:55:07
4	1994	Normunds Ivzāns	Latvia	2:43:09	Laila Ceika	Latvia	3:19:56
5	1995	Ziedonis Zaļkalns	Latvia	2:32:44	Galina Bernat	Estonia	3:02:11
6	1996	Aleksandrs Prokopčuks	Latvia	2:31:46	Inita Drēziņa	Latvia	3:30:42
7	1997	Normunds Fedotovskis	Latvia	2:33:05	Kaja Mulla	Estonia	3:12:26
8	1998	Ziedonis Zaļkalns	Latvia	2:33:41	Laila Ceika	Latvia	3:27:49
9	1999	Arūnas Balčunas	Lithuania	2:37:10	Laila Ceika	Latvia	3:37:21
10	2000	Ziedonis Zaļkalns	Latvia	2:30:59	Aušra Kavalauskiene	Lithuania	3:12:11
11	2001	Ziedonis Zaļkalns	Latvia	2:27:25	Laila Ceika	Latvia	3:11:45
12	2002	Arūnas Balčunas	Lithuania	2:31:25	Anita Liepiņa	Latvia	3:12:16
13	2003	Arūnas Balčunas	Lithuania	2:28:07	Aušra Kavalauskiene	Lithuania	3:05:26
14	2004	Dmitrijs Sļesarenoks	Latvia	2:27:09	Modesta Drungiliene	Lithuania	2:58:29
15	2005	Vjačeslavs Bambāns	Latvia	2:45:58	Kaja Mulla	Estonia	3:11:09
16	2006	Yuri Vinogradov	Russia	2:41:57	Laura Zariņa	Latvia	3:04:31
17	2007	Johnstone Changwony	Kenya	2:18:30	Ludmila Rodina	Russia	2:50:07
18	2008	Sammy Rotich	Kenya	2:16:42	Kaja Vals	Estonia	3:13:54
19	2009	Oleg Gur	Belarus	2:18:35	Katsiaryna Dziamidava	Belarus	2:47:30
20	2010	Slimani Benazzouz	Morocco	2:17:33	Maryna Damantsevich	Belarus	2:38:16
21	2011	Julius Kuto	Kenya	2:15:48	Desta Tadesse	Ethiopia	2:37:14
22	2012	Titus Kurgat	Kenya	2:16:53	Iraida Aleksandrova	Russia	2:37:37
23	2013	Duncan Koech	Kenya	2:15:34	Aberash Nesga	Ethiopia	2:40:30
24	2014	Yu Chiba	Japan	2:13:44	Tigist Teshome	Ethiopia	2:36:51
25	2015	Haile Tolossa	Ethiopia	2:12:28	Meseret Eshetu	Ethiopia	2:37:03
26	2016	Dominic Kangor	Kenya	2:11:45	Shitaye Gemechu	Ethiopia	2:38:40
27	2017	Joseph Munywoki	Kenya	2:12:14	Bekelech Bedada	Ethiopia	2:31:22
28	2018	Tsedat Ayana	Ethiopia	2:11:00	Georgina Rono	Kenya	2:28:22
29	2019	Andualem Shiferaw	Ethiopia	2:08:51	Birke Debele	Ethiopia	2:26:18
30	2020	cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic						[3]

Half marathon

Water station in 2013

Year	Men's winner	Nationality	Time[lower-alpha 2]	Women's winner	Nationality	Time[lower-alpha 2]	Rf.
2006	Viktors Sļesarenoks	Latvia	1:15:20	Anita Liepiņa	Latvia	1:33:43
2007	Dainius Saucikovas	Lithuania	1:09:17	Ilona Marhele	Latvia	1:22:21
2008	Pavel Loskutov	Estonia	1:05:52	Helen Decker	United Kingdom	1:20:00
2009	Joel Komen	Kenya	1:06:49	Daniela Fetcere	Latvia	1:23:05
2010	Valērijs Žolnerovičs	Latvia	1:05:40	Irene Chepkirui	Kenya	1:14:04
2011	Sergei Lukin	Russia	1:06:28	Lyubov Morgunova	Russia	1:15:01
2012	Valērijs Žolnerovičs	Latvia	1:06:04	Jeļena Prokopčuka	Latvia	1:10:27
2013	Jānis Girgensons	Latvia	1:07:24	Jeļena Prokopčuka	Latvia	1:14:39
2014	Ibrahim Mukunga	Kenya	1:05:56	Jeļena Prokopčuka	Latvia	1:14:52
2015	Jānis Girgensons	Latvia	1:06:20	Jeļena Prokopčuka	Latvia	1:13:24
2016	Ibrahim Mukunga	Kenya	1:05:26	Jeļena Prokopčuka	Latvia	1:16:06
2017	Robert Kimaru Magut	Kenya	1:05:04	Inga Zālīte	Latvia	1:23:45
2018	Aleksandr Matviychuk	Ukraine	1:05:14	Milda Vilčinskaite	Lithuania	1:14:38
2019	Jānis Višķers	Latvia	1:05:59	Beatie Deutsch	Israel	1:17:34
2020	cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic						[3]

By country

Note: Marathon and Half Marathon statistics only

Country	Total	Marathon (men's)	Marathon (women's)	Half Marathon (men's)	Half Marathon (women's)
Latvia	32	10	7	6	9
Kenya	14	7	1	4	1
Ethiopia	10	3	7	0	0
Lithuania	8	3	3	1	1
Belarus	6	2	4	0	0
Russia	5	1	2	1	1
Estonia	4	0	4	1	0
Morocco	1	1	0	0	0
Kazakhstan	1	1	0	0	0
Japan	1	1	0	0	0
Moldova	1	0	1	0	0
Ukraine	1	0	0	1	0
United Kingdom	1	0	0	0	1
Israel	1	0	0	0	1

Multiple wins

Note: Marathon and Half Marathon statistics only

Athlete	Country	Wins	Years	Distance
Jeļena Prokopčuka	Latvia	5	2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016	Half Marathon
Laila Ceika	Latvia	4	1994, 1998, 1999, 2001	Marathon
Ziedonis Zaļkalns	Latvia	4	1995, 1998, 2000, 2001	Marathon
Arūnas Balčunas	Lithuania	3	1999, 2000, 2003	Marathon
Aleksandrs Prokopčuks	Latvia	2	1993, 1996	Marathon
Aušra Kavalauskiene	Lithuania	2	2000, 2003	Marathon
Valērijs Žolnerovičs	Latvia	2	2010, 2012	Half Marathon
Jānis Girgensons	Latvia	2	2013, 2015	Half Marathon

• Riga Marathon
• Riga Marathon Photos 2014