Riga Marathon

The first start shot of the Riga Marathon was fired at the Freedom Monument on July 27, 1991, shortly after the time of the barricades, when the capital city was shaken by OMON shots. Then this marathon was called the Riga International Marathon. The participants of this marathon were provided with both grand cash prizes (1000 German Marks for the first place winners), a pennant, and the then exotic fruit - banana - at the finish line.

The track was measured according to the international standards of the time, using a 50 m-long measuring tape and pegs. 735 participants took part in the first Riga Marathon, a third of which were local runners, around 30 representatives of Western countries, and the rest from the USSR.

However, in the next few years after the successful start, the number of participants in the Riga Marathon rapidly decreased. Runners from the Eastern Bloc were deterred from participating by the new visa regime, while Westerners might find the trip to Latvia too risky. Serious difficulties were caused by hyperinflation and repeated changes in the national currency. In 1993, it was possible to pay for participation in the marathon in three currencies - locals could pay both in Latvian rubles and newly issued lats, and foreigners - in Deutsche Marks.

The organizers lacked the sponsors and funds to be included in the AIMS international marathon calendar (at the time it would cost $1,000 per year) to attract western marathon tourists. During this time, local runners also became fewer and fewer, and the running culture and, consequently, the interest of sponsors gradually decreased, reaching the lowest point in 1999, when only 53 Latvian runners finished the 42 km distance.

In 2007, the track was officially certified and recognized for the first time according to the standards of the International Marathon Association (Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, AIMS).

To increase the number of participants, the Riga Marathon was moved to the spring, attracting school youth to the 5 km distance, however, there were still relatively few runners in the marathon distance and the results could not surpass the performance of the first year.

In 2007, the Riga Marathon got its second wind. After 16 years of work, the original organizer of the marathon, Jānis Karavačiks, entrusted the organization to Aigars Nords, who was full of ambition to turn Riga into a running megalopolis with an ambitious city marathon.

The Riga City Council has entrusted the organization of the marathon to NECom or Nords Event Communications, the new organizers already achieved ambitious growth of the event in the first year. With the help of the new title sponsor Nordea and the slogan "This time for real!" the track was officially certified for the first time following the standards of the International Marathon Association (AIMS). The marathon was included in the international calendar, the usual marathon and 5 km satellite distances were supplemented by a new half-marathon, and the Kenyan Johnston Changwoni broke the Riga Marathon record set in 1991.

Under the auspices of the new organizers, the marathon became one of the fastest-growing and most prestigious running festivals in Northern Europe - from 1300 participants in 2007 to Gold Label gold status and more than 38 thousand participants from 82 countries of the world in 2019.

The start of the first Riga International Marathon, on July 27, 1991, at 6:00 p.m., at the Freedom Monument

The long-term partner of the marathon, Rimi, took on the title sponsor duties in 2019, providing support to the Virtual Running Club established during the Covid-19 pandemic, which kept the audience of the event active during the pandemic.

In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers canceled the in-person competition the day before the marathon weekend and moved the marathon to a virtual mode.[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]

But the organizers reached a new peak after the end of the coronavirus pandemic, winning the right to hold the first World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga (World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23) on September 30 - October 1, 2023.

2023 Rimi Riga Marathon was a track rehearsal for the World Championships, allowing recreational runners to try out the World Championship courses.

Note: Marathon and Half Marathon statistics only

Latvian folk music choir singing for the marathons participants at Freedom monument, 2022.

Country	Total	Marathon (men's)	Marathon (women's)	Half Marathon (men's)	Half Marathon (women's)
Latvia	39	12	9	8	10
Kenya	15	7	1	4	2
Ethiopia	13	4	8	1	0
Lithuania	8	3	3	1	1
Belarus	6	2	4	0	0
Estonia	5	0	4	1	1
Russia	5	1	2	1	1
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

Five time Riga Half Maraton winner Jeļena Prokopčuka, running New York City Marathon, 2015.

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
Jānis Višķers	Latvia	2	2019, 2021	Half Marathon