Welcome to
the Danish Marathon
Championships
Copenhagen Marathon will host the Danish Marathon Championships 2026. Competitions will take place in the senior category and masters (30+) – both individually and in teams.
All you need to know
The Danish Marathon Championships are like a race within the race – and they always make the cheers from the spectators a little louder in the streets.
On this page, you can read everything about the requirements you need to meet if you want to take part in the Danish Championships at Copenhagen Marathon – either as a seeded or non-seeded runner.
Senior, Masters and teams
Senior
When you register for the Danish Championships, you automatically take part in the individual senior competition, which is for participants born in 2006 or earlier.
Masters
Masters is for participants born in 1996 or earlier. Here, runners compete in age categories of 30–34, 35–39, 40–44, and so on.
Danish Championships – Teams
A team consists of three runners from the same club and is defined by the results list. Separate competitions are held for men and women. The three fastest runners from your club make up the first team (as long as they meet the requirements to compete in the Danish Championships), and so on. You do not need to register separately for the team competition, as it happens automatically. For Masters, all team members must be within the same 5-year age category to form a team.
Requirements for participating in the Danish Championships
Club membership
You must be a registered member of a club under Danish Athletics (Dansk Atletik, DAF) to participate in the Danish Marathon Championships. Participation in DM Marathon is included in the annual license fee via your club. DM bib numbers are personal and may not be resold.
Additionally, you must first be registered for Copenhagen Marathon before you can register for the Danish Championships.
Not yet registered for Copenhagen Marathon?
Copenhagen Marathon is known to sell out quickly. If you haven’t already signed up, you can request a bib through your club. Danish Athletics holds a number of bibs, and once your club knows how many of its members wish to compete in DM at Copenhagen Marathon, it can request that number of bibs from DAF.
When you are registered for Copenhagen Marathon, log in to your registration profile and indicate that you wish to sign up for DM.
Important: Your club may have additional requirements for registering for DM. Your club will inform you about registration, registration requirements, and any further conditions. Contact your club if you have questions about the rules.
Age requirements
You must be at least 20 years old in 2026 to participate in DM at Copenhagen Marathon 2026.
This means you must be born in 2006 or earlier. Participants born in 1996 or earlier are automatically included in their respective masters categories.
Qualification times
The times required to be seeded for DM at Copenhagen Marathon 2026 are as follows:
Marathon distance:
- Men: 2 hours 50 minutes
- Women: 3 hours 15 minutes
Half marathon distance:
- Men: 1 hour 12 minutes
- Women: 1 hour 22 minutes
Your qualifying time must be achieved between 1 January 2025 – 19 April 2026 at a valid race. For Danish races, the event must be registered with Dansk Atletik, and for foreign races, with an equivalent organization.
Citizenship
To participate in DM Marathon, you must be a Danish citizen or, if you are a foreigner, have had permanent residence in Denmark for at least six months prior to DM.
Additional rules:
- DM Senior: To win a medal in the senior category, you must be a Danish citizen.
- Masters competition: To win a medal in the Masters competition, you must be a Danish citizen or have had permanent residence in Denmark for at least six months prior to DM.
- Teams: Your placement counts for your team even if you are not a Danish citizen, as long as you have had permanent residence in Denmark for at least six months prior to DM. However, a DM team may include only one runner without Danish citizenship.
Registration deadlines
If you receive your bib as a voucher code through your club and Danish Athletics, the deadline to use it is Saturday, 14 March. You can still register for Copenhagen Marathon if you purchase a bib via the resale portal or similar channels.
The final registration deadline for DM Marathon is Sunday, 19 April – three weeks before Race Day.
Seeded or non-seeded?
At the Danish Marathon Championships, a distinction is made between seeded and non-seeded DM runners.
Seeded
If you meet the qualifying times, you can become a seeded DM runner and start the race in the Elite C field – just behind Elite A and Elite B. If you qualify for the Elite A or B fields, you can of course also participate in DM Marathon. Regardless of your start group, you must actively register for DM Marathon in your Copenhagen Marathon profile.
You can see the qualifying times to be seeded for Elite C at Copenhagen Marathon 2026 further up on this page.
Important: As a DM runner in the Elite A, B, or C field, you will only receive a gun time when you cross the finish line. This is because you are competing under elite conditions. You can read more about gun times and chip times on this page.
Non-seeded
You can also participate in DM even if you do not meet the qualifying times. In this case, you become a non-seeded DM runner. Non-seeded DM runners must start the race in their respective start groups according to their expected finishing time.
Gun time vs chip time
Gun time
DM Senior is decided based on gun time, also called “gross time.” This is the time measured from the moment the starting gun goes off (for all runners) until you cross the finish line. Your gun time therefore includes any time you may have spent standing still before you can actually start running, for example if you start further back in the field.
Chip time
DM Masters and team competitions (both senior and masters) are decided based on the runners’ chip time, which is their actual running time. It is measured from the moment you physically cross the start line until you cross the finish line.
Konkurrencevilkår
All participants in the Danish Championships must comply with World Athletics’ shoe rules. You can view the list of approved shoes via the link here.
There is prize money for the three fastest men and women in the individual competition at the Danish Marathon Championships.
We would like to see that all championship runners wear a championship back label. The back label can be picked up at the Help Desk at the Copenhagen Marathon Expo.