Polar Circle marathon 2010

The Polar Circle marathon - dubbed 'the coolest marathon on earth' - involves a section on Greenland's spectacular permanent ice-cap Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros/PR Sixty runners started the marathon this year. Unusually warm weather (it was -10C at the start) meant much of the race was run on gravel rather than snow Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros/PR The race leaders tackle the ice-cap Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros/PR The lack of snow cover made the going tougher, as the bare ice offered little grip, even with spikes Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros/PR A competitor struggles to stay upright on the ice Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros/PR Dutch twins Catherina Eva (left) and Maria Schilder finished second and third in the women's full marathon - both in 4:13:41 Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros/PR Nick Mead (right) and Paolo Barghini of Italy (who came second in 3:20:15) tackle an uphill section Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros/PR After the ice-cap, the marathon route passes the edge of the Russell Glacier Photograph: Nick Mead/Guardian Recent ice fall at the Russell glacier Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros/PR A competitor gets close up to the glacier during a stop-off on the pre-race route inspection Photograph: Nick Mead/Guardian The rest of the undulating route (the track to the left of the lake) seen from the top of Sugar Loaf mountain Photograph: Nick Mead/Guardian Although the Polar Circle marathon involves a net height loss of around 500m, there are still a lot of hills to climb (around 500m up and 1,000m down) Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros/PR The final few miles of the route (track on the right) into Kangerlussuaq - home of Greenland's main airport and base for the Polar Circle marathon Photograph: Nick Mead/Guardian Winners Maja Boe (3:52:59) and Jesper Rygaard Hansen (3:17:35), both from Denmark Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros Photograph: Lars Fyhr/Albatros/PR