Riga – World Capital of Running 2023
15 September 2022With a campaign targeted at the most important Riga tourism markets and the slogan “Riga – World Capital of Running”, the organizers of the Rimi Riga Marathon intend to attract a record number of marathon tourists to the Latvian capital in 2023. A tour of European classic running events combined with an international campaign should attract at least 30,000 marathon-tourists to two major running events of Riga – Rimi Riga Marathon in May 2023 and the first World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga in October 2023.
Just like the Rimi Riga Marathon in May, the first World Athletics Road Running Championships, which will crown the world’s half-marathon, five-kilometre and road mile champions in October, will provide an opportunity for every running fan to be able to run alongside the world's elite runners. We will start the registration for the World Road Running Championships distances in two weeks, and I think that runners from all over the world will take advantage of the unique opportunity to take home unique World Championship medals. We start the international campaign of Riga’s 2023 events a year before the World Championships, because we want the name of Riga, the world's running capital, to be heard far and wide, and we want to see Riga overflooded with international runners again.
Aigars Nords
Race Director of the Rimi Riga Marathon and Head of the Local Organizing Committee of the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga
The first stop of the “Riga – World Capital of Running ” campaign this weekend is the Copenhagen Half-Marathon, which with 25,000 runners is one of the most popular running events not only in Northern Europe, but also in the world. From September 22 to 25, Riga will present itself in Berlin, where one of the world’s most important marathons will take place with almost forty thousand participants. The campaign will continue in the autumn of 2022 and in the spring and summer of 2023 with further promotion of “Riga – World Capital of Running” and the participation in important running events.
Dressed in Latvian national folk costumes, the organizers will present Riga with giant letters “RIGA 23” in both Copenhagen and Berlin. Mini-versions of the letters can be seen in a symbolic photo on Brīvības Street in Riga before leaving.
Registration for Rimi Riga Marathon and World Athletics Road Running Championships
The registration for the Rimi Riga Marathon, which will be held on 6-7 May, and include distances of marathon, half-marathon, 10 and 5 kilometres, and DPD Mile, is open on our website. Runners are welcome to register with early bird prices until the end of September! Registration for the short distances of the Rimi Riga Marathon Kids’ Day, as well as for the traditional Latvian School Cup, where kids will have the opportunity to apply for a symbolic participation fee, will be opened in the spring.
Registration for the World Athletics Road Running Championships for the distances – half marathon, 5 kilometres and road mile – will be opened on September 30 with exactly one year to go until the event.