Route & Elevation

The Iceland Volcano Marathon has a few stretches on paved roads, but is mainly run on gravel roads, lava rock trails, and wheel tracks through volcano sand.

The Route

The marathon and half marathon both start at the foot of the mighty Hverfjall volcano crater. The route leads runners west across a road composed of volcanic sand and gravel and onto the main road that encircles Lake Mývatn. 

The next 2.5km are run on asphalt and lead to the unique lava field of Dimmuborgir, which means “Black Fortress.” An eruption roughly 2300 years ago created this vast expanse of black lava stacks and caves – folklore surrounding the region often associates it with the gates of hell. In Dimmuborgir, the route follows narrow trails in a counterclockwise circle and then runs under the Gatklettur Arch (pictured).

From there, the trail narrows to a single track for the following 1.1 km. The flora here is extremely fragile and it is very, very important that all runners exercise extra caution and stay on the trail. Do not pass each other if it means stepping off the trail and do make room for each other!

As the trail widens up again, the mighty Hverfjall crater is now front and center. Running clockwise around it, we’ll pass the start line just before heading up the crater slope itself. Rising more than 100 meters, the view from the top offers a 360-degree view of the North Volcanic Zone. The route follows the rim of the crater all the way around – a 3 km circuit – and back down the same trail we came up.

Continuing north, the route comes very close to the Jardbödin Nature Baths and, although the baths can’t be seen from the route, the volcanic activity below the surface can be seen in the steam rising from the ground.
 

Marathon

The marathon runners will now split away from the half-marathon runners as they turn right and run along the east side of the Hverfjall crater. The surface changes to pitch black volcanic sand and lava rock in a landscape that looks more like the moon than the earth.

Shortly after passing the halfway mark, the marathon route changes back to a gray-green landscape consisting of lava rock and shrubbery and leads runners to the bottom of the Lúdent crater. Here the route climbs up the Lúdent crater slope. Although only about half the height of Hverfjall, the climb up is no less difficult, as this crater is only visited by the occasional local hiker, so there's no solid path, just the soft volcano sand. The Lúdent crater edge is not accessible all the way around, so the course follows the western edge from north to south before descending again.
At the 26km mark, runners start an out-and-back stretch of approximately 2 km, running along a line of smaller craters that popped up more than 2000 years ago as the volcanic activities moved south.

There is a 5-hour 15-minutes cut-off point at 32 km, meaning that runners who have not reached 32 km after 5 hours and 15 minutes from the start will be removed from the race and driven back to the finish line. After the cut-off point, runners will find themselves on another tough, shorter hill leading back onto the black volcanic sand, and then following the same path back towards the Jardbödin Nature Baths and merging again with the half marathon runners. 
 

Marathon & Half Marathon

The final 4 km begin with about 1.5 km on asphalt, taking us past the Grjótagá cave, which was made famous in Game of Thrones (although the cave cannot be seen from the route).

The last 2.5 km stretch is run on a gravel road will lead runners to the finish line at the Vogar Ferdathjonusta.

Quarter Marathon

Quarter marathon runners start in the opposite direction and run directly up on the Hverfjall crater. After the loop on the crater they descend and now follow the last 6.5 km of the half marathon route to the finish line.

Notes:

When passing places of public interest it is important to keep in mind that this race doesn't have exclusivity in the area and all roads and sights are open to regular visitors and locals too. With the early start, however, most of the route will be fairly empty.

Do not forget that this is first and foremost an adventure. We are far away from comforts of home and this makes it impossible to offer services at the same level usually provided in city marathons.