Berlin Marathon


The Berlin Marathon is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Initiated in 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of 42.195 kilometers, including elite level road running competitions for men and women, a mass race for the general public, an in-line skating race, a wheelchair race and a handcycle race.,
Events are split over two days, with skaters competing oin the marathon course on Saturday before the running events. Power walkers, hand-bikers, wheelchair riders, and a children's marathon are also part of the marathon weekend, which is organised by SCC EVENTS. The elite running and wheelchair races are part of the World Marathon Majors, an annual series of top level races offering a $1 million prize purse. BMW is the current title sponsor for the race.
The city's flat course regularly produces fast performances and the marathon world record has been broken in Berlin on 11 occasions. The most recent was at the 2018 edition, where Eliud Kipchoge won the men's race in 2:01:39. Gladys Cherono set a new women's course record that same year with 2:18:11.
The event was held in mid-September in 2000, because of a conflict with the Women's Olympic Marathon, and in 2018, due to Day of German Unity preparations. The 2020 edition of the event was prohibited from being held on its originally scheduled dates due to the coronavirus pandemic, and was eventually cancelled once it was clear that it would not be possible to hold it at a later date in 2020. All registrants were given the option of either transferring their entry to 2021 or obtaining a refund.

Course

The course within the metropolis starts and finishes near the Brandenburg Gate. Because of the division of the city, the marathon events before 1990 were limited to the area of West Berlin. Only on 30 September 1990, were athletes able to run through the Brandenburg Gate and the unified city saw its first race running through both halves. It was reported that a great many of the runners had tears in their eyes as they ran through the gate.
Nowadays, after leaving Brandenburg Gate, the course passes Charlottenburg, around Tiergarten, along Moabit and Mitte, and then south to Friedrichshain. After that, it winds west between Kreuzberg and Neukölln, through Schöneberg, over to Friedenau and Zehlendorf, before turning north back toward the city's center. Looping above Schöneberg, the course comes full circle as it finishes through the Gate.
On different routes there have been two major international marathons at the 1936 Olympic Games and 2009 IAAF World Championships. Also Ulrich Hutmacher won a marathon in Berlin on 14 Oct 1973 with a time of 2:19:32 but that race is not considered part of this series.

History

The Berlin Marathon was established in 1974 by Horst Milde, a baker and running enthusiast in the city. The race had 244 finishers; 234 men and 10 women, and was won by Günter Hallas and Jutta von Haase in times of 2:44:53 and 3:22:01 respectively. In 1977, Christa Vahlensieck established a new women's world record at the Berlin Marathon, running 2:34:47. Four years later, the race started outside the Reichstag for the first time, by which time it had grown to 2,583 finishers, making it the largest city road race in Germany. The following year, before German unification, some East Germans secretly ran the race, registering under false names to avoid recriminations from the East German secret service. In 1989, a children's race was added to the event, and eight years later an inline skating marathon was contested.
In 1998, Ronaldo da Costa set a new men's world record, the only South American to hold a marathon world record. Two years later, one of the race's pacemakers, Simon Biwott won the race, after one of the favourites had pulled out in the second half of the race. In 2001, Naoko Takahashi became the first woman to run a sub-2:20 marathon, completing the Berlin Marathon in 2:19:46. The race had continued to be the venue of world records; between 2003 and 2018, seven men's records were set at the race; the most recent remains as the current world record time; Eliud Kipchoge's 2:01:39.

Sponsors

There have been several title sponsors in the race's history. From 1974 until 1989 it was just the Berlin Marathon. In 1990 it was the Yanase Berlin Marathon. In 1991 and 1992 it was the Canon Berlin Marathon. It reverted to simply the Berlin Marathon from 1993 until 1997. It then became the Alberto Berlin Marathon in 1998 and 1999. A new title sponsor changed the name to real,- Berlin Marathon from 2000–2010. Finally this has been the BMW Berlin Marathon since 2011.

Finishers

In terms of finishing athletes Berlin is one of four world-wide marathons with more than 40,000 finishers, along with the New York City Marathon, Chicago Marathon, and Paris Marathon.

Elite race

World records

YearAthleteCountryRecordSex
2018Eliud Kipchoge2:01:39Men
2014Dennis Kipruto Kimetto2:02:57Men
2013Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich2:03:23Men
2011Patrick Makau Musyoki2:03:38Men
2008Haile Gebrselassie2:03:59Men
2007Haile Gebrselassie2:04:26Men
2003Paul Tergat2:04:55Men
2001Naoko Takahashi2:19:46Women
1999Tegla Loroupe2:20:43Women
1998Ronaldo da Costa2:06:05Men
1977Christa Vahlensieck2:34:48Women

Winners

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In-line skating race

An in-line skating section was added to the marathon event in 1997. A total of 5081 people took part in this section in the 2019 race. It is considered the largest inline skater marathon in the world and is the final venue of the World Inline Cup. The men's and women's race records are held by Bart Swings and Maira Yaqueline Arias.

Handcycle race

A handcycle race was first held at the race in 2004. In 2008, 166 handcyclists participated in the Berlin Marathon. The men's and women's race records are held by Jetze Plat and Christiane Reppe.
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Wheelchair race

A wheelchair section was first officially held at the Berlin Marathon in 1981. Only men competed that year. The wheelchair race typically starts earlier in the day before the runners and power walkers.
Heinz Frei is the most successful athlete with twenty wins in the men's race. The next most successful athlete is Manuela Schär, who has won the women's race six times. Both these athletes also hold the records for time, with Frei setting the men's race record of 1:21:39 in 1997 and Schär setting the women's race record of 1:36:53 in 2018.
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