The marathon in Murmansk has been part of the Polar Olympics since 1974. For a long time it was the only cross-country marathon in the USSR. More than 600 athletes took part in the first event, for many of them it was already a victory. Well-known cross-country skiers and Olympic champions such as Nikolay Zimyatov, Alexander Zavyalov, Vecheslav Vedenin, Sergey Saveliev, Vladimir Smirnov, Nikolay Bazhukov, Vasiliy Rochev, Evgeniy Belyaev, Alexey Prokurorov, Elena Vyalbe, Julia Chepalova, Svetlana Nageykina, Anna Bogaliy, Alexey Petukhov and many others took part and won the competitions.

Today the PRAZDNIK SEVERA, the Murmansk Skimarathon, is a Euroloppet Champion Race and belongs to the big international Skimarathon events.
The marathon program is constantly supplemented by new, shorter distances for cross-country skiers of all ability levels, and thus many amateur athletes take part in it in addition to the top athletes.