The story
White Nights Marathon in Saint Petersburg
The White Nights Marathon is Saint Petersburg's signature long-distance running event, held at night each summer to take advantage of the city's famous white nights, when the sky never fully darkens. Runners choose between a 10-kilometer race and a full 42.2-kilometer marathon, starting near Gazprom Arena and finishing on Palace Square after passing landmarks including Kazan Cathedral and the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Saint Petersburg sits at roughly 60 degrees north, a latitude high enough that for several weeks bracketing the summer solstice, the sun never sinks far enough below the horizon for true darkness to fall.