The race is run on small, 4.22 km (2.62 mi) loop about 10 times over hard snow or the frozen ice of the Arctic Ocean.

[2] The first unofficial North Pole Marathon was a 'solo' run by Richard Donovan on April 5, 2002, in a time of 3:48:12.

The first official exploratory competitive race held on April 17, 2003, and was operated jointly by several entities with 10 competitors.

The winner was Martin Tighe (GBR) with a time of 5:02:10 in temperatures of −29 °C (−20 °F) and difficult snow conditions throughout much of the course.

In 2005, the North Pole Marathon was cancelled due to a dispute between French and Russian logistics operators.

Vemma Europe (Grabowski, Maier, Reilly) 24.15.59 Women's Half Marathon 1.

Team EEK (Dorran, Hunt, Kemp) 25:25:44 Men's Half Marathon 1.

Yusuke Mamada (JPN) 4:29:10 Women's Half Marathon 1.

Green Monday / Convoy Hong Kong Team 21:20:57 Men's Half Marathon 1.

Dennis Andrade (USA) 4:17:26 Women's Half Marathon 1.

Elaine Barrett (IRL) 4:54:16 North Pole Ski Marathon 1.

Team Centrepoint (Great Britain) - Carnie, Boyne, Bolton The men's record of 3:36:10 was set by Thomas Maguire (IRL) in 2007.

Two guided blind athletes, Mark Pollock and Jamie Cuthbertson, completed the race in 2004 and 2010, respectively.

In 2007, William Tan - a wheelchair competitor - completed a marathon distance on the aircraft runway.