Antarctic Polar Race, live.

A marathon on the Antarctic mainland

The Antarctic Polar Race is run on 8 December 2026 at Wolf's Fang, White Desert's base camp deep in the interior of mainland Antarctica. Runners choose the full marathon, the half marathon, a 10K or a single mile, and every finisher gets an official medal.

The trip starts in Cape Town. Runners arrive on 5 December, attend the pre race briefing on 6 December at the Winchester Hotel, the event base, and the Antarctic logistics briefing on 7 December. The flight from Cape Town to Wolf's Fang takes about five and a half hours, and the race is on 8 December. Everyone is back in Cape Town on 9 December, and on 10 December there is the optional Lion's Head Marathon on the Sea Point promenade, included in the entry.

In 2026 the marathon hosts the Antarctica Athletics Federation Championships, with continental titles for men and women. The organiser's race information describes the marathon as 8 loops of a 5.275 km course around Wolf's Fang, with the number of loops subject to change. The organiser expects a race temperature of about minus 8 C and asks runners to be ready for colder.

After the race there is time to see Wolf's Fang, including a glacial crevasse and the ice bar. Entries are handled by Ice Cap Adventures under licence from Richard Donovan and Polar Running Adventures.

On Livebib, family and friends can follow a runner's position on the loop, the distance covered and a finish estimate, and each distance has its own page below.