By Sabine Klier
The Berlin Marathon celebrates its 50th anniversary on Sunday. What started as a small running event with 286 runners in Grunewald has now become one of the most popular marathons in the world. And these are the reasons:
The climatic conditions at the end of September are ideal. Mostly dry, never too hot and never too cold. Ideal for achieving top performance on the 42.195 kilometer long marathon route. It’s supposed to be 15 degrees on Sunday.
The route around the Tiergarten Photo: SCC Events GmbH/Open Street Map
The route has little elevation gain as the city is flat and the asphalt is mostly in good condition.
Already 13 world records at the Berlin Marathon
13 world records were broken in Berlin. Most recently last year by the Ethiopian Tigst Assefa (30) with the fabulous world record of a sensational 2:11:53 hours. In the men’s race, Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge (39) set the world record of 2:01:09 in 2023.
Marathon icon Eliud Kipchoge ran a world record in Berlin Photo: RC
Berlin was Europe’s first city to introduce the chip on the shoe for individual time recording.
For the first time, participants ran 1981 through downtown west. 3,486 runners from 30 nations met in front of the Reichstag. The route partly ran along the wall. The target was at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
Berlin has an extremely fast route Photo: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PR
1990a few days before reunification, 25,000 marathoners ran through the Brandenburg Gate for the first time.
1997 The inline skaters started the Berlin Marathon for the first time. The race quickly became the world’s largest inline marathon. In 2003, 9,612 athletes rolled through the city.
Since 2006 The Berlin Marathon is part of the association of the six largest marathons in the world: These include Tokyo, London, Boston, Chicago and New York.
2011 The marathon was fully booked in a record time of just under three hours. Since then there has been a lottery to meet the ever-increasing demand for starting numbers.
80 bands ensure fast rhythms. Plus lots of unregistered bands and DJs on the side of the road. A total of 5,800 volunteers help. And those who don’t run can cheer on: the enthusiastic Berlin audience is said to be particularly happy to cheer.
This year’s medal is gold. It has the anniversary logo on the front and shows Berlin landmarks on the back. This year it is also larger than usual: 8 centimeters in diameter and weighs 131 grams, two grams more.
The BMW BerlinMarathon is celebrating its 50th anniversary with its own comic and the whole of Duckburg is cheering: Donald Duck and Gustav Gans don’t want to miss the big run. Mickey Mouse and his friends experience 11 sporting adventures and present lots of valuable tips and information.
