Polar Night Marathon, live.

A winter marathon in Tromsø's blue midday light

The Polar Night Marathon is a January road race in Tromsø, run in the middle of the day before the sun returns to the city.

The 2027 edition is on 9 January. It is organised by the Midnight Sun Marathon foundation, the same team behind Tromsø's summer marathon, and in Norwegian it is also known as Mørketidsløpet.

There are four distances. The Ishavskraft Maraton is an AIMS certified 42.195 km. The Polar Night Halvmaraton is the half marathon, Mørketidsmila is 10 km and Mørketidstrimmen is 5 km. The organiser has not yet published start times for 2027, so check the programme before travelling.

The race is held around midday, when the polar night gives Tromsø a few hours of blue Arctic light, and spectators line the streets of the city. Winter conditions are part of the experience, so good grip on the shoes and warm layers matter more here than at most marathons.

The organiser calls it Norway's biggest winter race, and points out that the time around the race is also ideal for visiting Tromsø to see the northern lights dance across the dark sky.

On Livebib you can follow a participant who chooses to share their own live position from the phone they carry. This is not the organiser's timing, and the official results come from the Polar Night Marathon.