38 Runners Competed in a Marathon in - 62 Degree Weather
This Siberian Marathon Will Make You Feel Bad About Skipping a Winter Run
With many parts of the U.S. experiencing record-breaking low temperatures this week, you might have thought better about heading outside for a run—or at least dreaded those first few steps.
Luckily for us, conditions here at home are nothing like what several dozen runners braved this past Friday when they took part in a marathon in the Siberian settlement of Oymyakon—one of the coldest, if not the coldest, cities in the Northern Hemisphere. The temperature? That would be -62 degrees Fahrenheit.
All 38 runners for the event had to undergo a medical check before being cleared to run in the extreme race. Along the route, runners were provided broth, hot tea, and snacks to keep them moving. A half-marathon course was also available for those not brave enough to run the full marathon.
Runners were wrapped up from head to toe to help brave the elements, though this didn’t keep them from being completely covered in ice by the time they reached the finish line.
One of the runners, Alisa Matveeva of Moscow, who ran the half-marathon, described the race as “very scary” since the lowest temperature she had previously run in was -4 degrees Fahrenheit in Moscow.
“It was hard to run for the first 10k. Then it was easier because you already understand how to breathe. You remember that you need to remove the ice from your eyes, because your eyes get covered with it,” she told reporters after the race.
“I’m really glad that I wore a thermal mask and heated insoles, it really just saved me,” she said.
The winner of the marathon, Konstantin Dragunov, finished with a time of 3 : 07. “After the 33rd kilometer, I almost blacked out completely,” he told Yakutia 24 after the race, hopefully accompanied by another cup of hot tea.