BRICS Marathon League 2026: Complete Guide to All Three Races

The name tells you everything and almost nothing at once. The BRICS Marathon League sounds like a diplomatic handshake dressed in running shoes, and in a sense it is exactly that. Launched as a formal series in 2023, it links three of Russia’s largest city marathons: Kazan in May, St. Petersburg’s legendary White Nights in July and Moscow in September. Finish any two and you earn a commemorative badge handed to you at the second finish line. Finish all three and you collect a special league medal and your name on the Wall of BRICS Marathon Runners. The stated ambition, not yet scheduled but officially announced, is to one day extend the series to marathons in Brazil, India, China, South Africa and beyond — which would make it one of the most geographically extraordinary race series ever assembled.

For now, in its current form, the league gives you three very different experiences across three very different Russian cities between May and September. Kazan is the flat Tatar showcase: a UNESCO World Heritage city built around a Kremlin that looks nothing like the famous one, with a certified PR course through minarets and riverside embankments. Saint Petersburg is something else entirely — a point-to-point 42 km that starts at 10 PM in July, runs through an imperial city under a sky that never quite goes dark and finishes in front of the Winter Palace. Moscow is the climax: Russia’s largest marathon with 29,000 runners, a new point-to-point format from Stalin’s great university to Luzhniki under Kremlin walls and one of the most famous urban skylines on earth passing by the finish line.

There is context that any international runner considering this series needs to understand plainly. Russia is not a frictionless destination right now. Flight routes and connection options have changed since 2022, banking and payment logistics require advance planning and visa timelines vary significantly by passport. None of this is insurmountable — runners from India, China, South Africa and many other countries have participated regularly and the three race organizations are professionally run — but it is different from booking a bib in Berlin or Chicago. This guide covers the logistics honestly and practically so you can decide with full information rather than find surprises after registration.

If you can make it work, the BRICS Marathon League offers something genuinely hard to replicate anywhere else: three fast AIMS-certified courses through three of the most architecturally spectacular cities in the world, a season-long points system that rewards showing up more than once and a competition structure still young enough to feel like something worth being part of early. The Moscow Marathon on September 27, 2026 is the live upcoming race for this season and the one this guide focuses on most heavily. The 2027 season dates will follow a similar May-July-September calendar.

BRICS Marathon League 2026 — Series at a Glance

What Is the BRICS Marathon League?

A Running Passport Across Russia

The BRICS Marathon League is managed by UNISTAR SPORT AND MEDIA LLC and operates as a unified season-long competition across three separately organized marathons. Each race maintains its own registration, course and prize fund, but your results feed into a shared league ranking that runs from January to December. Elite athletes earn points by finishing position plus time-based bonuses. Amateur runners are ranked by the combined finish times of their two best league races within the season. The concept is simple: show up to more than one race and you become a league competitor, not just a finisher.

Who Should Run the BRICS Marathon League

This series suits runners who like a reason to race more than once in a season and who find a single destination marathon less motivating than a multi-city adventure. The three-race arc from May to September works well for runners in Russia and neighboring countries but also for international runners willing to plan a dedicated Russia trip — or multiple short trips — across the season. The flat courses at all three races make the league particularly good for runners chasing a specific finish time. None of the three courses has significant climbing. All three are AIMS certified.

The league also has a genuine elite dimension. The points system is structured around World Athletics ranking principles and the organizers actively recruit international elite athletes, with pacemakers provided at each race.

What You Earn for Finishing Two or Three Races

The awards are straightforward. Complete two different league marathons in full (42.2 km) within the 2025–2026 season and you receive a commemorative badge at the finish line of your second race. Complete all three and you receive a special commemorative medal at the finish of your third race plus a permanent listing on the Wall of BRICS Marathon Runners. If you are disqualified at any league race, that race does not count toward your award total.

The Three BRICS League Races

SberPrime Kazan Marathon — Tatarstan’s Flat PR Machine

Kazan is one of those cities that surprises runners who arrive without much context. The capital of Tatarstan is a majority-Muslim city with a Tatar cultural identity distinct from Russian urban aesthetics, and that difference shows on the course. The route passes the white-walled Kazan Kremlin — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — with the blue-tiled domes of the Qolşärif Mosque rising inside it, runs along the Kazanka River, swings past Lake Kaban through the historic Old Tatar Settlement and comes back across the Millennium Bridge. On a flat May morning when conditions are cool and the city is fully blocked for runners, it is legitimately beautiful and legitimately fast.

The race has grown substantially since its 2015 revival. About 28,000 participants across all distances now come to Kazan for race weekend, which includes a rare TIMERBABY crawl race for toddlers alongside the standard 3 km, 10 km, half marathon and full marathon options. The race also serves as a Russian Championship event at the elite level, which keeps the competitive field strong.

The danger on this course is pure pacing overconfidence. It is flat, the crowd support through the first 20 km near the Kremlin and the riverside is high and the May air is typically cool enough to make effort feel deceptively easy. Runners who go out 10 to 15 seconds per km too fast in that opening half find the back sections — from roughly KM 28 through KM 38, where the route moves through less iconic peripheral streets — much harder than expected. There are no hills to blame and no landmarks to distract. Just honest flatness and honest pace.

Spectator note: The Kremlin embankment and Millennium Bridge are natural spectator zones. Both appear in the early to mid sections of the race. The finish area is the best spot for atmosphere.

SberPrime White Nights Marathon — Running St. Petersburg at 10 PM

The White Nights Marathon is the single most unusual race in this series and one of the most unusual marathons anywhere. It has run since 1990 — conceived as a genuine night marathon in what was then Leningrad, with runners starting at 11 PM and finishing as the sun came back up. The current format starts the full marathon at 22:00 and the 10 km at 20:00, which puts the entire race inside the famous white nights window of late June and early July when the sky in St. Petersburg never fully darkens. You run 42.2 km through one of Europe’s most architecturally overwhelming cities under a permanent twilight. It is, by any measure, one of the strangest and most memorable things you can do as a runner.

The 2026 edition was the 35th running of this race and drew about 17,000 participants. The updated course starts from Gazprom Arena on Krestovsky Island and runs point-to-point to Palace Square — past the Peter and Paul Fortress, along the Neva embankments, by Kazan Cathedral and St. Isaac’s Cathedral, finishing in front of the Winter Palace (home of the Hermitage Museum) as the clock ticks past midnight in a sky that still looks like dusk.

The night air is the tactical problem on this course. Temperatures at 22:00 in early July in St. Petersburg sit around 16–20°C with low wind. That sounds ideal. But the cool air and the extraordinary scenery in the first 15 km combine to make effort feel much easier than it is. Runners who push hard through the Neva embankment section and the Peter and Paul Fortress area (KM 12–20) pay for it in the final 10 km back toward Palace Square, when night energy fades, legs are exhausted and the cobblestone sections near the Fortress have done quiet damage to quads that flat runners do not notice until it is too late.

Spectator note: The start area near Gazprom Arena is accessible via Zenit or Krestovsky Ostrov metro stations. The finish at Palace Square is reached via Admiralteyskaya station, then along Bolshaya Morskaya Street. The finish area in front of the Winter Palace at midnight-in-daylight is genuinely extraordinary.

SberPrime Moscow Marathon — The Climax Race (September 27, 2026)

Russia’s largest marathon by field size and the race that closes out the BRICS League season. The Moscow Marathon has grown from roughly 5,000 runners at its 2013 launch to over 29,000 today. The 2026 edition brings a significant structural change: the course switches from a loop format to a genuine point-to-point, starting on Kosygina Street in front of Lomonosov Moscow State University — the 36-story Stalin-era building with the 57-meter golden spire — and finishing at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex.

Between start and finish, you run through what might be the most famous urban marathon course outside the World Marathon Majors. The route goes along Moskva River embankments, crosses the Crimean Bridge, sweeps through the Garden Ring and Boulevard Ring, runs the length of Tverskaya Street and then passes literally beneath the walls of the Kremlin before arriving at Luzhniki. The organizers count over 30 world-famous landmarks along the route. Whether that turns out to be distracting or motivating will depend entirely on how your legs are doing by KM 30.

The point-to-point format is worth noting tactically. On a loop course, there is an unconscious “getting back to where you started” orientation that helps runners in the final stages. A point-to-point removes that anchor. You must commit to forward momentum with no psychological shortcut. Runners new to this course often discover that Tverskaya Street (roughly KM 30 to 33) — a wide, long, open boulevard where crowd support thins slightly before the Kremlin stretch — is where their pace drops first if they have not managed the opening half carefully. The adrenaline of passing under the Kremlin walls at KM 35 to 37 carries many runners through that section, but by KM 38 to 41 the legs are on their own.

Wave starts are organized by ability. Elite entry requires sub-2:23 marathon or sub-1:07 half for men, sub-2:45 or sub-1:17 for women. Wave A is for runners with a sub-2:45 marathon or sub-1:18 half. Open waves follow. The Kids Run (ages 4–13, 400 m or 800 m) and 10 km race both run on September 26, making this a two-day race weekend.

Spectator note: The finish at Luzhniki is the main spectator zone. Live tracking is available at results.runc.run. A VIP spectator package for the finish area inside Luzhniki Grand Sports Arena is available through the race website.

How the BRICS Marathon League Works — Rankings and Qualification

The league runs two parallel competitions: one for elite athletes (professional and invited runners) and one for amateur runners. Both use results from the same three races within the calendar year.

Elite Athlete Points System

Elite runners earn points based on finishing position at each race. Your best two results from three races count toward your total. If you run all three, the worst result is dropped. Performance bonuses apply for fast finishes, regardless of placing.

Amateur Ranking

For amateur runners, the league winner is determined by the combined chip time of the two best marathon finishes within the season. Overall winners (1st through 3rd) are awarded separately for men and women, as are winners in each of the 14 age categories. If you run all three races, your best two times count. Disqualified results do not count.

Registration: How to Enter Each Race

The Moscow Marathon entry fee is extremely low by international standards — 3,250 rubles translates to roughly USD 35 at current exchange rates, making it one of the most affordable major city marathons in the world. A VIP package is available at additional cost and includes an official race t-shirt, personal race video and VIP access at the Luzhniki finish area.

Discounted rates for the Moscow Marathon are available for Russian citizens in specific categories: juniors under 21, men aged 60 and over, and women aged 55 and over.

Moscow Marathon Race Weekend Schedule — September 26–27, 2026

Weather Across the League Season

The three-race season arc from May to September is thoughtfully designed from a weather standpoint. Kazan’s early May timing avoids Russian summer heat. The White Nights Marathon’s evening format sidesteps the July daytime temperature in St. Petersburg. And Moscow’s late-September slot typically lands in Russia’s most pleasant running weather — the famous golden autumn that the city does better than almost anywhere else. The risk at Moscow is variance: some years are warm and golden, others are properly cold. Check the forecast that week and pack layers you can shed at the start.

Prize Money and Elite Runner Information

BRICS League Overall Prize Fund

Moscow Marathon Race Prize Fund (Approximate)

Moscow Marathon prize figures are approximate, sourced from race website reporting. Confirm exact amounts at moscowmarathon.runc.run before race weekend. All individual race prizes are determined by each race’s own regulations and are separate from the BRICS League overall prize fund.

2026 Results and League Rankings

Race Winners — 2026 Season (Kazan and White Nights Confirmed)

2026 Elite League Standings — After Two Races

With the Kazan and White Nights marathons completed, the following runners lead the 2026 BRICS League rankings heading into the Moscow finale. These standings reflect runners who have competed in both completed races and are therefore active in the two-race cumulative ranking.

Note: Vladimir Nikitin (35 points) leads the overall elite standings after winning Kazan with a 2:08:08 but has not yet run White Nights. Luiza Lega leads the women’s series with 65 points across both completed races.

Past BRICS League Overall Winners

Where to Stay for Each Race

All three cities are major Russian tourism destinations with extensive hotel inventory at a wide range of price points. Compared to equivalent accommodation in western European marathon cities, hotels in Russia are notably affordable for international visitors — especially when paying in a stronger foreign currency. Booking ahead is still advisable, particularly for St. Petersburg in July when White Nights festival tourism competes with race weekend for accommodation.

International Runners — Visas, Travel and the Russia Reality

This section matters more for the BRICS Marathon League than for almost any other series in the world. Running these three races requires navigating Russia’s current geopolitical situation practically and honestly.

A Short History of the BRICS Marathon League

Each of the three races in this series has its own substantial independent history. The White Nights Marathon was born in 1990 as a genuinely nocturnal event in what was then Leningrad, with runners starting at 11 PM in the spirit of the city’s famous summer white nights. It became one of Russia’s largest and most distinctive marathons over the following three decades, reaching 17,000 participants and earning AIMS certification in 2013. The Moscow Marathon launched in 2013 as a replacement for the Soviet-era Moscow International Peace Marathon, growing from 5,000 participants at its first edition to over 29,000 by its 10th anniversary in 2023. The Kazan Marathon was revived in 2015 and grew rapidly into one of Russia’s most significant athletics competitions, drawing 28,000 across all distances and serving as a Russian Championship venue at the elite level.

The BRICS Marathon League was created in 2023 as a unified competition framework linking these three established events. The acronym — drawn from the geopolitical grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — reflects an explicit ambition beyond Russia’s borders. The stated long-term goal is to include marathons from each of the BRICS nations in a genuinely international league, though no confirmed dates or host cities outside Russia have been announced as of mid-2026. The series is managed by UNISTAR SPORT AND MEDIA LLC, with TV BRICS as its international information partner. In its first full seasons — 2024 and 2025 — the league awarded its overall titles to Dmitry Nedelin (men, both years) and Luiza Lega/Dmitrieva (women, both years). The 2026 season remains open with Moscow still to run.

How the BRICS Marathon League Compares to Other Multi-Race Marathon Series

BRICS Marathon League — Frequently Asked Questions

What is the BRICS Marathon League?

The BRICS Marathon League is a multi-city marathon series run across three of Russia’s largest marathons: the SberPrime Kazan Marathon in May, the SberPrime White Nights Marathon in Saint Petersburg in July and the SberPrime Moscow Marathon in September. Runners who complete at least two of the three full marathon distances (42.2 km) within the same season qualify for league awards and rankings. The series is organized by UNISTAR SPORT AND MEDIA LLC and takes its name from the BRICS geopolitical grouping, with plans to eventually expand to marathons in Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

How do you qualify for the BRICS Marathon League and get the medal?

To become a BRICS Marathon League participant you need to finish the full 42.2 km marathon distance at any two of the three league races within the 2025–2026 season. You receive a commemorative badge at the finish line of your second qualifying race. Complete all three league marathons in the same season and you receive a special commemorative medal at the finish line of your third race. Disqualified results do not count. There is no separate registration for the league itself — your results from individual race registrations feed automatically into the league system through the runner portal at my.brics.run.

Can international runners participate in the BRICS Marathon League?

Yes — the league actively welcomes international runners and the elite fields at all three races include athletes from Kenya, Morocco, Ethiopia and several other countries. Runners from India, China and most other non-sanctioned countries can register and pay through the Running Community platform. Runners from the EU, UK, US and some other countries may face payment processing issues due to banking sanctions and should verify their card’s compatibility or contact the organizers at info@brics.run before registering. A Russian tourist visa is required for most nationalities and should be applied for well in advance, particularly for runners planning to attend multiple races across the season.

What is the night start at the White Nights Marathon and how does it work?

The SberPrime White Nights Marathon starts the full marathon at 22:00 and the 10 km race at 20:00. This evening format was conceived in 1990 and takes advantage of the famous white nights phenomenon in Saint Petersburg, where the sky in late June and early July never fully darkens — sunset and sunrise blur into a continuous twilight. Runners complete the entire 42.2 km course in this permanent dusk-like light. It is one of the most unusual marathon experiences in the world. The course is flat and AIMS certified, and the 2026 edition ran from Gazprom Arena to Palace Square in front of the Winter Palace. No special preparation is required for the night start, but running at that hour means your body clock needs adjustment in the days before the race — treat it like any other late-evening long effort and adjust your pre-race meals and sleep timing accordingly.

Is the Moscow Marathon 2026 still open for registration?

Yes. As of August 2026 the Moscow Marathon on September 27, 2026 is open for registration at moscowmarathon.runc.run. The current entry fee is 3,250 rubles (approximately USD 35) in the standard period running until August 18, 2026. Late registration at 3,750 rubles opens September 23 to 25, race week, though bibs in this period do not include the runner’s name. All registration fees are non-refundable. The 2026 course is a new point-to-point format starting at Moscow State University and finishing at Luzhniki Olympic Complex.