Riga is often described as the pearl of the Baltics, and as soon as you approach the city you can see its beauty where it sits right on the Daugava River. Riga also boasts one of Europe's finest marathon races, every year attracting elite runners and athletes from all over the world. A normal year the race has up to 40,000 participants ranging from children's races to marathon distances. This year, however, there would be a specially adapted version under Corona-safe conditions for primarily domestic runners.

The organisers, together with the authorities, had drawn up a detailed plan to minimise the spread of infection and to hold the event in a safe environment. Nevertheless, there was some nervousness among the mika:timing team ahead of the race. On the one hand, we've become a bit cautious after all the cancelled races. But in Riga we were actually on site last autumn only to see the race being cancelled 12 hours before the start.

This year, however, the situation was different. Above all, vaccination has started in full scale, which means that there are completely different possibilities for organising races.

Before the race, each participant had to sign for a wristband to be worn throughout the weekend. A green wristband meant that you were fully vaccinated and therefore had access to the green mass start, only for fully vaccinated people.

For those who were not yet fully vaccinated, a yellow wristband could be obtained against a negative covid test. With the yellow bracelet, you could instead take your place in the wave start where you kept distance to the other participants and where the runners were let off at intervals of about 30 seconds.

It proved to be a well-functioning system and there was a scattered starting field making its way through the streets of central Riga. From the start at the Freedom Monument up to the beautiful Meza Park and finally crossing the Daugava River twice before the finish line at 11th November Embankment.

Around 10,000 participants had registered for the race. All participants had the opportunity to choose to run the race virtually. However, almost half of the participants chose to run the race in person and experience the late summer weekend in Riga. From the chips in the bib, we were able to deliver both split times and official results live to all participants. And there were many happy faces running their first real race in a long time. The feeling of finally experiencing something we previously took for granted was strong.

mika:timing summed up a successful weekend and the Riga Marathon was a good example of how an organiser can perform a safe event.

We are already looking forward to next time and hopefully a full field of runners from all over the world!