How to get into the Copenhagen Half

Copenhagen Half Marathon lottery

From 2027 the race is lottery only. The 2027 lottery ran September 16 to 30, 2026. Entering was free and non-binding, and each person could enter once, either alone or in one group of up to three. Only the group leader registers the group, and a group is drawn together or not at all.

Drawn runners got an email between October 5 and 9, 2026 and had 48 hours from its arrival to pay DKK 795 plus a 5% administration fee. Each group member gets a separate email and pays separately, and if one declines the others can still take their places.

Runners who are not drawn stay in the lottery until the organizer emails them otherwise, so places left unpaid after 48 hours go back into the draw. There is no waitlist or resale pool beyond that.

Copenhagen Half Marathon lottery odds

The 2027 lottery drew 188,522 entries for 45,000 places on the start line, about 1 in 4. The Danish version of the announcement says just over 180,000. Tour operator and corporate places are not reported separately, so the share open to the draw may be smaller.

The 2025 race, the last one sold first come, first served, had 31,743 starters and sold out in about 2.5 hours. In 2026 the half was the mass race of the World Athletics Road Running Championships on September 20, filled by a lottery held in 2025. The 2027 field of 45,000 is the largest the race has staged.

Copenhagen Half entry fee, refunds and deferral

An entry costs DKK 795 plus a 5% administration fee, about DKK 835, for 2027, paid only by runners who are drawn. Registration is binding: there is no right of withdrawal and no refund, including when the race is cancelled for force majeure, though a surplus left after cancellation costs may be partly refunded. Refund Protect from Refundable.me can be bought only at the moment of registration.

Entries are personal. They cannot be transferred, sold or given to another runner or moved to another year, and there is no resale platform. The one exception is pregnancy: a registered runner can defer to one of the next three editions by emailing cphhalf@sparta.dk before race day, with a medical certificate if asked.

The time limit is 3 hours net. Runners under 18 need parental consent. Elite A runners are invited, and the Elite B and C standards for 2027 will be announced later. For the 2026 championship edition, Elite B needed 66:00 for men or 76:00 for women, and Elite C, for Danish runners, 72:00 or 84:00.

Copenhagen and the SuperHalfs

Copenhagen is one of the six SuperHalfs ORIGINALS, with Lisbon, Prague, Berlin, Cardiff and Valencia. Signing up at superhalfs.com is free and gives a 36-character SuperPassport number. Enter it when you register for each race, or claim the result afterwards with your bib number and chip time, and a stamp is added a few days after the race. Every Copenhagen edition from 2022 counts, including the 2026 championship race.

Finish all six, in any order and with no time limit, and the SuperMedal is handed out free at the finish line of your sixth race, with a place in the Hall of Fame. Only an official finish time counts: a DNS, DNF or disqualification cannot be stamped.

The passport gives no guaranteed entry, and SuperHalfs does not handle registrations, so passport holders enter the Copenhagen lottery like everyone else. SuperHalfs EUROPA, announced on November 6, 2026, is a second six-race series (Napoli, Warsaw, Belgrade, Vienna, Riga and Stockholm) with its own SuperMedal, counted from 2027 on the same account.

SuperHalfs Back on Track codes and SuperVouchers

Back on Track sends an entry code for a missing race to runners who have finished at least two races in a series and none in that series for two years or more. Selection is automatic, longest wait first, and requests are not accepted. The profile must be complete and the runner subscribed to SuperHalfs emails. Help comes once per level, the code is valid for a limited time, and the runner still pays the race fee.

The SuperVoucher was a single purchase sold only in 2023, with one code for free entry to Lisbon, Prague, Copenhagen, Cardiff and Valencia (not Berlin). Codes are valid for 36 months from the first race completed with them and cannot be transferred. SuperHalfs says Copenhagen 2027 instructions for voucher holders will be published close to the end of 2026.

Copenhagen Half charity places

The race runs no charity entry program of its own. Charity places come through realbuzz, the SuperHalfs charity partner. For 2027 its Copenhagen page lists UK and Irish charities including The Salvation Army, Living Life Counselling, Pernicious Anaemia Society, Heart Heroes, Street Child UK and Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Applying to a charity team is free. The charity reviews the application, and if it accepts you, you commit to its fundraising target. Places go first come, first served, and if one charity says no you can apply to another. Targets vary by charity: Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity asked a £50 registration fee and £450 raised for Copenhagen 2027, and its team is full. Questions go to runner@realbuzz.com.

Copenhagen Half tour operators

The official site lists 13 tour operators that sell packages which may include flights, hotel and a guaranteed entry. Each sets its own packages, prices and terms. The race's terms forbid using entries in packages without the organizer's permission, so a package bib from anyone else is not valid. Marathon Tours & Travel, an official SuperHalfs travel partner, also sells 2027 packages.

Packages bundle the bib with hotel nights. Marathon Tours & Travel will not sell the entry without its 3-night package (September 17 to 20, 2027, Scandic Spectrum), which includes breakfasts, a shake-out run, an expo trip, a pasta dinner and a post-race drink. The entry is $270 or £195 on top and is not refundable; a deposit is taken at booking and the rest is charged automatically. Six Journeys, in Indonesia, sells 3-night packages with guaranteed entry from IDR 12,800,000 per runner sharing, paid in three stages, and listed Copenhagen 2027 as sold out in November 2026.

No operator lists a charity-plus-travel package for Copenhagen.