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☰
Berlin Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Berlin Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.7 
Organization 4.2 
Spectators 4.6
Number of comments: 120 [displaying comments 11 to 21]
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S. B. from Los Angeles, CA
(2/22/2016)
"Aweseome Event" (about: 2015)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 I decided to do the 2015 Berlin Marathon with a tour operator - Marathon Adventures. This was a great way to do a big city event and one of the World Marathon Majors. Marathon Adventures did a great job and I would highly recommend them over the other tour provider in the U.S. (I have also toured with them and do not recommend them at all). The event itself was awesome! The spectators are very supportive and line the entire course. The course is super fast. And finishing just past the Brandenburg gate is epic! The only downside is that they charge for a t-shirt. You would think they would follow suit with the other majors and provide a shirt with the entry. Other than that, excellent event and hope to do again! | |
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R. S. from Hong Kong
(10/26/2015)
"One of the best" (about: 2015)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Berlin Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Second time I have done this race, the first was way back in 2002. Pros: - Fast flat course. No wonder world records are set here, definitely a race to achieve a good time. - Well stocked aid stations - Great spectator support - Generally good organisation - Great weather this time of year - Friendly 9am start time - Start/finish in same central location, easily accessible via public transport - Quirky expo location at Templehoff Airport - Efficient luggage storage - Well supported event with a great vibe - Berlin is a great city to spend a few days Cons: - Crowded expo, not really enough room, too many chokepoints - Wristband that you get at the expo and have to wear until race day. Why? - Some random seeding at start - start corrals not as good as Chicago, very slow runners in front corrals - Start area and access to start corrals a little confusing, lack of signage | |
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J. M. from Houston, TX, USA
(10/6/2015)
"Great organization results in a great race!" (about: 2015)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 The BMW Berlin Marathon meets every sense of the word 'major marathon'. The organization was top notch and the course was nice and flat. The weather also cooperated and led to an overall great experience for all involved. The only negative I can think of is the use of plastic cups at the water stops. Dodging a million slippery plastic cups on the floor is not ideal, however, I survived so not a huge deal. I also wish shirts were included, but that is just nitpicking. Overall, I recommend this race to all! | |
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K. M. from USA
(10/3/2015)
"Interesting course. Great fans and bands" (about: 2015)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 Don't like when I am forced to fight thru giant expos to get my bib. If I can take care of the essentials with no fuss I am a lot more relaxed about spending time and money with the vendors. Getting to the corrals is either easy or hard depending on which side of the park your hotel or transportation station is located. Started race in the last corral of wave 1 and passed people continuously from start to finish. Not a problem except where the course gets tight and you are stuck behind a pack of people with fictitious seed times or some guy with 30 gels on his belt walking on the racing line. Good number of water stops. Did not have a problem slipping on plastic cups. Lots of fan support and excellent music. Course not absolutely flat but there are no hills. Layout allows family and friends with modest walking capabilities to see their runner more than just the start and finish. City is well capable of handling events of this size. Food and other activities for all interests. Perfect weather. | |
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J. M. from Ireland
(10/1/2015)
"Great course and great crowds" (about: 2015)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Race day organization was excellent, easy to leave in bags and room on either side of corals to warm up. great course loads of great things to see and the crowd never thin out and are so supportive. The expo for me was way too big with very narrow walk ways, which meant I missed many stands. Nobody really wants to do that much walking a day or two before a marathon. | |
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M. R. from Illinois
(9/29/2015)
"Great Race - still room to improve" (about: 2015)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 2015 race: you hear flat when people say Berlin, the course is not hilly but not table-top flat like Chicago. The course wheels thru Berlin centered on the Brandenburg gate. the course is crowded despite the corral starts. not so crowded that it bottlenecks but you do have many instances when you have to weave around other runners. weather was perfect Pros Good crowd support, plenty of water stops, music along the course, expo was nice. 9:00 start time works well Cons Stupid wrist band for access to the start area - nobody else does this, why here? Pre-order finisher shirt? why - just include it in the price. Plastic cups - at the water stops, creates a slip/slide wonderland - use paper. Port-a-lets - not enough, but plenty of trees at the start. Start area - confusing, not enough info people to ask questions, hard to find your gear check tents. Directions to start corrals and access to start chute was pretty random. | |
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J. L. from Lubbock, Texas
(1/7/2015)
"Good but not great" (about: 2014)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 This was my first international race and I think races here in the US have me spoiled. There are lots of good things about this race, but it also lacked in some areas. The good: The course is fast and the weather was good in 2014. Slightly warm towards the finish, but nothing too terrible. The crowds are good and it was fun to see racers from so many countries. There are also a lot of hotels near the start/finish, so logistics on race morning are pretty easy. Getting to the expo via cab or public transportation is pretty easy, just go on Thursday if you can. We went on Thursday and were able to get our bibs pretty quickly, but you could see the setup for the long lines that were to come. There's lots of free beer at the finish, but it's alcohol free. Might be a little bit of a bummer to some. The finisher's area is in front of the Reichstag, which is a cool area to lay around for a bit. Ok, now the bad: You have to pay for a participant shirt, finisher shirt, and to rent your chip. You also have to make sure to return your chip once you are done. The return stations for chips in the finisher area weren't marked well, so I wandered around for a while looking for one. There also aren't a ton of restrooms at the start, so I found myself going in the trees before getting into my corral. The water stops are also a mess. They are only lined up on one side of the street and are not very long. There also isn't one at every mile like other World Majors, so if you miss a stop you're hosed. The stops also weren't adequately manned a lot of times so I found myself grabbing water off the table vs. having it handed to me. Also, like others said Europeans will push and shove at water stops, so be ready to throw an elbow or two. I'll agree with others that the Erdinger sign was poorly placed. I knew we had to run through the Brandenburg gate to finish, but if you didn't know that it would look like the finish line. The bracelet was also very annoying and mine was pretty beat up by the time Sunday rolled around. Overall I enjoyed the race and set a new PR here. The course is not as flat as advertised, so do some slight hill training as there are some rolling portions of the course. The upside to this is that the slight hills are pretty forgiving and provide some variation on the course. | |
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L. P. from New York, New York
(11/14/2014)
"Happy I Ran It, But..." (about: 2014)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 I'll start by saying that I made my BQ time in this race. That, combined with Berlin being my first non-US race make me thrilled that I ran it. In addition, the weather was great albeit somewhat warm for a marathon), the international vibe was fun, and the landmarks and abundant free beer at the finish were fabulous. Both the massage at the expo and after the race were lovely (although the lines after the race were long and there were a lot of people cutting!). However, I'll echo others by saying that there are things that could be improved: The expo was a challenge, both in terms of getting there and then wandering forever to wait in a long line to pick up my number. A woman handing out the pre-paid t-shirt was quite nasty to me (and to others in a similar boat) when I tried to exchange my small for an x-small (I swear you couldn't select the x-small online, but either way....). I did get a different person to exchange it at least. The baggage check area at the race was a mess. None of the volunteers seemed to know where to go for a particular number and men and women are separated (so my fiancé and I had baggage check as far away from each other as you could get, despite having the same proof of time figure). On the bright side (depending on your perspective), no one had any qualms about going to the bathroom out in the open, so losing time to porto potty lines wasnt an issue. There are a lot of bottlenecks on the course. Particularly if you are aiming for a faster time than the time you used for proof for the corralling, you are going to do a LOT of swerving around people. Anyone with a Garmin knows they ran WAY more than 26.2 miles. There are also a lot of turns and its hard to run toward the inside in the crowds. Despite the flatness of the course, I dont think its that fast if youre a non-elite who has more room to run. I echo the comments on the water stations being a total mess. Large plastic cups were used and no one threw them to the side or swept them, so each station was a slip-and-slide hazard. Theres a reason paper cups are used in every other race. Also, I run with a bottle of water, but there were a lot fewer water stations than in, for example, NYC (although I get that Americans have a water obsession). I also echo the issue on the strange false finishes. I thought the crowds were decent and enthusiastic, but compared with NYC and Chicago, they are a lot sparser and the course itself is pretty unscenic for the majority (the finish is fantastic though and the start in the park is also great). My bib was branded with an F. For Female. Really. It was also yellow, to further differentiate me from the men. While I appreciated that the female baggage check was closer to the start line than the mens baggage, it was pretty odd. The race seemed to skew more male than any other marathon Ive been in (and Berlin was my 7th). That doesnt bother me, but it was noticeable. | |
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G. G. from Mexico
(10/19/2014)
"Not a major" (about: 2014)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I agree with almost every comment made before mine. However, I should mention that in the US marathons, marks are only in miles(well, every 5 K are in KM). I also highly disagree that this is better than Chicago; I was there in 2013 and I have the sensation that in Berlín people are by far less commited with their marathon than in Chicago (not to mention Boston). You do not see adds in the streets or in the subway stations. Fans are not as great as in Boston or Chicago. Water supply during the marathon was a mess, as they were only on one side of the course, and Europeans push you, and do not care about the other runners while taking water. Start corrals are not respected at all, as I saw runners that were late climbing the fence without any problem, despite they were not assigned to my start corral. I also saw people crossing streets during the race without taking care of (or mind about)the runners. Berlin is a very nice city, but course do not take advantage of that; I think they could make it much nicer, although maybe that will not be as fast as the current. Seems to me that the only purpose is to have a WR, and the amateur runners do not matter as in US majors. Yellow plastic cover at the start was very good. I did not understand the paper wristband I got at the expo on Thursday to make sure it was me the one that was at the starting line. In a marathon, you compete with yourself. Seems to me that Roberto Madrazo was not the only one that had not followed the rules, and, as it (not following the rules) is very common in Berlin. I got the impression that many runners there had not behaved as a marathon runner; otherwise, why should we need to wear a wristband for 3 days before the start?. At the end, I would not give it a 'major' grade, and would not do it again. | |
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P. G. from New York
(10/7/2014)
"Fast, flat course but organization... meh" (about: 2014)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 Good points: it is flat and fast. The course is very easy on the knees and legs. I finished with a nice time despite not as much training as previous marathons. However, it's actually a little bland as big city courses go. Tons of people throughout (the crowd support was really wonderful; it's the highlight of the race) but lots of the city is just residential neighborhoods, not a ton to see. The 'false finishes' at the end were a little annoying. There was a huge advertisement about a half mile away that looked like the finish and then I thought the Gate itself was the finish. Not a huge deal, but it would be really annoying if you were a beginnner and thought you were done But, I felt the best that I've ever felt at the end of the race thanks to the good racing course and great weather. Thing that was really annoying was the expo and after the finish. The number pickup was too far into the expo (took forever to walk through the whole thing). Also, you had to wear this annoying bracelet that they made you put on at the number pickup until the race. So I picked up my number on Thursday and couldn't take the stupid bracelet off until after that. Also, apparently there was a finisher's t-shirt but there was no indication in the packets, expo, or even at the finish that it was there. I went out to the 'Family Reunion' area and apparently there was no finisher's t-shirts there. Pretty annoying. And finally, the water stations were a little congested. At a number of spots there was only water on one side (tea on the other) and it was too short a space to get to without needing to slow down. So it was a nice race. But I've run better big city ones and this was at the bottom end of them. |
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