News

One month remains until Jelgava’s largest sporting event of the year—on August 22, the Jelgava Night Half-Marathon will take place, which will simultaneously serve as the Latvian Championship. More than 500 Jelgava residents will have the opportunity to participate free of charge.

Registration for free participation in the Jelgava Night Half-Marathon has concluded. To promote the involvement of children and youth in sports activities, free participation in the half marathon in Jelgava has been primarily provided to this demographic for the third year in a row. This year, students from sports schools and sports clubs aged 7 to 19, as well as students from general education schools, were eligible to apply for free entry. 430 children and youth wish to take advantage of this opportunity. Additionally, free entry could be earned by participating in various city sports events, such as the “Pavasara vēstneši” (Harbingers of Spring) challenge, joint running workouts, and the “Mītavas apļi” (Rings of Mītava) running series.

Currently, around 1,900 participants have registered across all distances combined. However, registration for the half marathon is far from over—as organizers point out, the final month before the event is usually the most active period for applications. Furthermore, registration will even be possible on the day of the event at the race center on Pasta Island, though participants should keep in mind that the entry fee will be higher than it is currently.

Importantly, new courses have been created this year, and runners will not cross the Lielupe Bridge. Nevertheless, there will be significant traffic restrictions during the event, which residents are asked to treat with understanding. The traffic restriction map, as well as visualizations of the distance courses, will be available on the municipality website jelgava.lv – www.jelgava.lv/ssc/jelgavas-nakts-pusmaratons/.

Schedule

• 19:30 – Start for the Mile Run

• 20:15 – Start for the Children’s Runs

• 21:15 – Start for the Half-Marathon Distance (also the Latvian Championship)

• 22:40 – Start for the 5 km and 10 km Distances

A free bus to Rīga will be provided after the Jelgava Night Half-Marathon. Departure is planned as soon as traffic is restored (on August 23 at around 1:00 AM). Gathering location: the bus parking lot at Jāņa Čakstes Boulevard 1. Interested participants are invited to apply by August 21 via email at Agija.Polanska@sports.jelgava.lv, specifying their first and last name, phone number, and the distance they will be running.

The Jelgava Night Half-Marathon has been held since 2014, with a pause during the pandemic. Last year, it was attended by 4,027 participants.