Great Tibetan Marathon

The annually recurring Great Tibetan Marathon is a marathon takes place on the Tibetan Plateau in northern India - also known as little Tibet.

The Great Tibetan Marathon is unusual in that it happens in an altitude of 3,500 meters in spiritual Buddhist surroundings. The high altitude makes the oxygen level extremely low and the marathon equally more physically challenging. But the position in the Himalayan mountains also gives an unparalleled dimension of beauty to the marathon.

An extra feature is the atmosphere of the Tibetan Buddhism that rubs off on the whole adventure. The start of the marathon will be blown on long Buddhist horns, instead of the traditional shot by a starting pistol, and all runners are blessed by Buddhist monks, who also serve as helpers along the way.

The Great Tibetan Marathon 2007, runners paticipated from all over the world. The runners were competing in the distances: marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K. Rigzin Khandap was the first runner who finished the marathon race and was invited with the other runners for dinner at The Honorable minister of Ladakh, Mr. Jora Rigzin. In 2009, 74 runners from all over the world finished the three distances: marathon, half marathon and 10 km. The event does not took place in 2010.