The Riga City Council plans to significantly increase support for the Riga Marathon, as indicated by the prepared draft resolution.
On February 28 of last year, the Riga City Council decided to increase funding for the marathon in the capital from €81,060 to €191,060.
Now, the council plans to increase support for the marathon by more than half and allocate €300,000 for this purpose.
The money will go to the event organizer, Nords Event Communications LLC. They are reluctant to share the tragic statistics of the marathon. However, as the archive bb.lv indicates, over the past ten years, at least two tragic cases with fatalities have been officially recorded. Both deceased were young men aged 25:
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May 17, 2015: During the 25th Riga Marathon (then Lattelecom), a 25-year-old participant from Latvia died. He felt unwell on the 10 km course and lost consciousness on Kalku Street, near the finish line. Despite medical assistance, he could not be saved.
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May 18, 2025: The second tragic case occurred at the 35th marathon (Rimi Riga Marathon). A 25-year-old participant from Estonia named Roland Linar lost consciousness on the course between the 15th and 20th kilometers. He was taken to the hospital in serious condition, where he died a few days later.
In hot years, the number of medical calls on the course can reach 150–200 people. The average number of hospitalizations ranges from 10 to 25 people over the entire marathon weekend.
One of the most well-known cases occurred in 2011 when Riga Mayor Nils Ušakovs fell into a coma due to heat stroke and exhaustion on the course, after which he underwent prolonged treatment in Germany.
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