Published on: 2026-10-05
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Running in Moscow traditionally remains one of the most popular forms of mass sports, and the autumn races only confirm this. Since the beginning of the season, five major running events have taken place in the capital, attracting nearly 80,000 residents. The “Museum Mile” race, “Cross of the Nation”, “Moscow Marathon”, “My Capital” half marathon, and the fifth stage of the “Topski Family” series of races have become not just sporting competitions but true city celebrations.
On University Square on October 3 and 4, the ‘My Capital’ half marathon was held, with more than 17,000 participants.
The main event on Saturday was the five-kilometer race among professional athletes. For the first time in the festival’s history, they were held in a unique handicap format: women started one minute and 17 seconds earlier than men. This time interval was calculated by the organizers based on the average difference between the world and Russian records for men and women over the five-kilometer distance.
On the second day of the festival, October 4, the key races of 10 kilometers and a half marathon of 21.1 kilometers took place. A distinctive feature of the long-distance races was the course itself: along it, special signs were installed with the names of cities from the running series — Tutayev, Myshkin, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Kostroma, Uglich, Sergiev Posad, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, and Rostov Veliky. The participants were essentially running along the route of the “Golden Ring of Russia” within Moscow.
“The ‘My Capital’ half marathon officially closed the season of major running events in Moscow this year. To date, the capital has firmly established itself as the leader and main center of amateur running in Russia. The running culture is actively developing, uniting several generations of Muscovites, and running itself remains the most accessible and effective form of physical activity. At present, the running community of the capital exceeds one million people. Among the participants are not only Muscovites and guests from Russian regions, but also athletes from foreign countries. This season set new records: the number of registrations for the Moscow Marathon reached 60,000, and the Grand Running Festival gathered over a thousand residents and guests of the city at its venues,” said the Minister of the Moscow Government, head of the city’s Department of Sports Alexey Kondarantsev.
By the order of Sergey Sobyanin, conditions for the development of mass sports continue to be actively created in the capital, added Aleksey Kondarantsev. According to him, an important part of the running ecosystem is free city workouts. They allow residents to train regularly and prepare well for large-scale city races. Thus, from April to September, as part of the “My Sports District” project, almost one and a half thousand running workouts were held at 21 venues in 10 administrative districts of Moscow, attended by more than 15.5 thousand people.
On October 4, the final stage of the series of races for the prizes of Olympic silver medalist Alexander Panzhinsky was held in Victory Park. The series format was family-oriented: distances ranging from 500 meters for children to 10 kilometers for adults, separate family relays, a costume contest, and a start for Nordic walking enthusiasts. The event was attended by 1,200 people.
All five events share a family-oriented focus. For many, such occasions become a reason to spend a day off not in front of TV screens, but outdoors — together and productively.
Besides mass runs, the capital has many everyday activities. For example, the “My Sports District” project holds free group running workouts in different parts of the city — with coach support, pace selection, and help mastering technique. Regular running helps strengthen health, reduce stress levels, and simply feel more energetic. You can register for the workout on website project.
The event was organized by the Department of Sport of the City of Moscow. The project aligns with the objectives of the state programs of the Russian Federation “Development of Physical Culture and Sports” and “Sport of Russia”, as well as the information campaign “Motivation to Engage in Sports and Promotion of Sports Infrastructure.” One of them is to increase the share of citizens systematically engaged in physical culture and sports to 70 percent by 2030. The capital makes a determining contribution to solving this task. Special attention is paid to the close proximity of infrastructure, support for families with children, as well as the integration into the sports community of participants and veterans of the special military operation and their family members. More about Russia’s national projects and the capital’s contribution can be found at special page.
To find out how the capital has changed over the past years, what initiatives, aimed at making city life even more comfortable, are currently being implemented, and what awaits Moscow and its residents in the near future, you can in the large-scale special project on the portal mos.ru, dedicated to the development of key sectors of Moscow. These include transport, industry, healthcare, education, sports, and construction.
On the project page “Sport” Information is presented about the reconstruction of dozens of historic sports facilities, including the Olympic complex “Luzhniki”, the ski complex “Vorobyovy Gory”, and the equestrian complex “Bitza”, as well as about sports infrastructure available to every city resident.
Get the main news promptly on the official Moscow city channels in messengers “Max” and “Telegram”.
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the information source. It represents an accurate account of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.