Ash Hills Marathon Hike 2026 – A Day of Adventure with Several Options

Ash Hills Marathon Hike 2026 is an adventurous day exploring Ida-Virumaa’s unique man-made hills. Four activities take place at the same time: a guided quarter-marathon hike, a guided half-marathon hike, an individual orienteering competition on foot, and an individual orienteering competition by bicycle. You can choose the option that suits you best when buying your ticket.

For the fourth edition of Ash Hills Marathon Hike, the event area has moved farther west than in previous years, bringing new and unexplored trails.

HIKES

These special guided hikes take you to neglected hills and hollows that even locals rarely visit. With local guides, we’ll discover traces of industrial landscapes from different eras and explore whether—and how—nature or human activity has returned to these wastelands. Oil shale mining began in Kohtla-Nõmme nearly a hundred years ago, so there’s plenty to explore!

The quarter-marathon hike is 12–14 kilometres long. It is shorter, more relaxed and more informative, and lasts approximately four hours. The 21-kilometre half-marathon hike is longer, faster-paced and more demanding. Its 5.5-hour duration suggests there’ll be time to admire the sunset from the top of a hill.

The hikes start at 11:00.

ORIENTEERING COMPETITIONS

The adventurous score orienteering event lets participants discover the man-made hills left by Ida-Virumaa’s oil shale industry, along with other notable features of the landscape. The aim is to collect as many points as possible within the six-hour time limit. Checkpoints have different values, and participants may visit them in any order. Participants receive a paper map showing the checkpoints, but record their visits using the Nutilogi app on their own phones.

Results are calculated individually, with separate competitions for men and women in two categories:
- Orienteering on foot
- Orienteering by bicycle

Please note: electric-assist bicycles may be used, but their riders will not be included in the competition results.

Although results are calculated individually, travelling in pairs or groups is permitted—and even recommended—for safety and because of the terrain.

After the competition, participants can enjoy soup, a drink and a sweet snack. A café will be open. Sauna, washing facilities and changing facilities are available.

SCHEDULE

09:15 – Competition centre opens (registration at the main building of Eesti Kaevandusmuuseum). Briefing, map distribution and Nutilogi app testing.
10:00–10:30 – Start window
16:00–16:30 – End of the time limit (six hours after the start)
From 16:00 – Washing facilities and refreshments
Around 16:45 – Winners announced and event closing

Link to the competition rules (some details are still being updated).

Registration is open until 12:00 noon on 28 October.

A mine tour also takes place at 15:30. Those who return early from orienteering, or take part in the shorter hike, can attend. The tour lasts one hour. Underground, you can ride a mine train, see operating machinery and hear fascinating stories about miners’ lives and work. The tour will go ahead once the minimum group of 10 people is reached. If the group does not fill, the tour fee will be refunded.

Ash Hills Marathon Hike 2026 is organised by Alutaguse Matkaklubi.

More information: Leho Lahtvee, 555 988 37, leho@matkaklubi.ee