Copenhagen Marathon Reviews & Race Reports
12 reviews from runners who've completed this race
Reviews & Race Reports
Crowd Energy — The crowd support throughout the race is a standout feature. Many runners noted the contagious party vibe, especially around Dronning Louise's bridge at 27 km, where the atmosphere felt electric with live DJs and cheers.
Hydration Station Chaos — Expect some chaos at the hydration stations. Reports mention runners colliding and sprinting to stay with pacers, which can disrupt your rhythm. Stay alert and pace yourself through these sections.
Course Layout — The course is notably flat and urban, making it ideal for fast times. However, be prepared for busy early kilometers as runners jostle for position. This can lead to a slower start, but many found their groove after a few kilometers.
Pre-Race Logistics — Arrive early to navigate bag drop and warm-up effectively. Some runners faced issues with delayed starts due to barricades, so plan to position yourself wisely at the front to avoid getting stuck behind slower runners at the gun.
Fought through tunnel vision to achieve sub-3 goal
I get serious tunnel vision during a race - I'm pretty oblivious to my surroundings. But Copenhagen is a wonderfully flat course, so that was very much appreciated. Temperature was something like 12C, no noticeable wind, and the sky was mostly overcast - pretty ideal running conditions. Eventually it would rain, but only after I had finished running.
Overcame hydration station chaos to achieve a negative split
The crowds and atmosphere were amazing. At this point it felt like I was just ticking of the km's. It was hell when we got to the hydration stations, people were smashing into each other and then sprinting as fast as possible to be right behind the pacers. I tried to take it easy and slowly catch back up to the pack and this seemed to work well for me.
Chased elites after a delayed start, almost broke 2:30
Overcast, 12 degrees C and some wind. Almost perfect conditions. Arrived and hour early, dropped off my bag, ran a 2 km warm up and went to the very front. The organiser had put up a fence between us and the elites. When the gun went off at 09:30 they had still not moved the fence! This made everyone in the mass start push through the fence and it gave the elites a head start of 20 seconds.
Overcame knee injury to finish strong with a PR
The weather was ideal with an overcast sky and roughly 12 degrees of temperature. I lined up behind the 3:40 pace group and was ready to finish somewhere between there and 3:50 if I was able to finish. By km 15, I realized my knee was feeling good, and I decided to try speeding up a bit since my HR was comfortably in Zone 2. From 20-35 on I was feeling on Cloud 9, was making up ground, and even passed the 3:40 pace group.
Hit the wall hard after a strong start, but finished with a PB.
And we're off! First couple of km were super busy and I was feeling a little crappy thanks to lack of sleep and the cold, but then the legs started feeling lighter and I got into it. There were loads of people around my pace, so it was a lively atmosphere with plenty to take my mind off the running. I noticed that the pacers went out HOT though, as I was keeping them at around 50m but the first few km were way under 4:30.