"Berlin Marathon" Top 5 Page for this destination Marathon Tip by alancollins

The Berlin Marathon takes place towards the end of September every year and this year was on 29/30th. This year the conditions were perfect as it was dry, cool and Berlin is flat as a pancake making for fast times and 1 million people were out on the streets to watch. I had no idea it was taking place until I had a letter from the hotel about possible traffic disruption in the area. On the day I went around the corner from the hotel and obtained the various times from one of the officials and a good vantage point. There were a number of participants in wheelchairs that went past first. Gradually the crowd grew and a drumming band turned up. As the participants went past there was cheering, whistles and rattles as well as clapping and cheering. The first runner Haile Gebrselassie went past and I had no idea at the time that history was being made. I stood there at somewhere around the 38k marker and waited a good 5 minutes before the next runner appeared. It was only later that I discovered that the world record for the marathon had been broken by Haile Gebrselassie setting a time of 2:04:26 and cutting the previous record by phenomenal 29 seconds. I slowly walked around to one of the drinks station and by now the bulk of the 40,000 runners were now going past in a continue flow. It was also another good spot with another drumming band encouraging the runners on. So if you like audience participation this is a good event to watch.

Directions: Berlin City Centre
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