This page may contain affiliate links from our advertising partners for which we many receive compensation. This may impact how and where products appear on this site. This site does not review or include all companies or all available products. We are thankful when you support this site by using our links.
photo: http://www.thelocal.se
The Sweden edition of the online magazine, The Local, reports that Sweden is hosting the world’s first underground race this September.
The 400 entrants will run on a 2.5 kilometer track inside a mine that is 40 meters below ground in Sickla, Sweden. I am not certain if the run is only one time around this track, or if it’s multiple rounds.
Oh, and hold onto your hats – the runners will likely be wearing hard hats!
Here’s more of what The Local reported:
The mines are usually used for test-drilling and product development.The race will be held on September 21st, the same day as the traditional (and above ground) Sicklaloppet will be held.There will be 400 places available for the run, but be quick, places go on sale on June 18th at 9am sharp. The money will be used to fund the company’s charity project “Water For Everyone”.Stockholm-based Atlas Copco, which manufactures products ranging from mining drills to air compressors, has nearly 40,000 employees world-wide and an estimated market value of 217 billion kronor ($33 billion), according to the Bloomberg news agency.
Is this something that would interest you or scare the daylight (literally) out of you? I wonder how the air quality is? There’s more information on the event – in Swedish – here.
UPDATE: many of my runner friends have informed me that there are other underground races, including a marathon in a salt mine in Soundershausen, Germany.
I would like to thank Rene from Delta Points for sharing this story with me.
photo: http://www.sicklaloppet.se/sickla-gruvlopp/
Editorial Note: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned, and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author's alone.
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
I completed this a few days ago. Not an internationally friendly race as they had all the race day instructions in Swedish. Seemed to be 95% locals too (which is fine for me)…. and the race starts in a shopping mall (which threw me off).
The race itself was interesting, very steep inclines where I had difficulty running (especially downwards). You get to see interesting parts of the mine though … they even have a museum down there which we ran through. One thing that I didn’t think of is that I should also have bought a second pair of shoes / socks cause my feet got drenched. I ran the 10km race afterwards and that was a nice run/tour of Sickla.
Thank you so much for your response and for sharing your experience running this race. Did they have good support? Did they give out tshirts or other swag? I love doing local offbeat type of races. Where do you live? If you ever want to guest post about a race or travels, write me at willrunformiles@gmail.com.