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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 71 to 81]
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M. K. from Washington, DC, USA
(10/9/2007)
"Organization could have been better" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 Expo: Have never seen number and chip distribution at the back of an Expo before. Had to weave through 4 large, crowded halls to get to these things. Took forever, and was very frustrating. Course: Great sightseeing, big crowds but they weren't cheering half the time (unless you were from Denmark), course kept going from 3-4 lanes down to one, slowing everything down every couple of kms. Good number/placement of hydration points. Finish: Had to walk almost a km to get to water! Next time, water first, medals and blankets after. Stumbled upon the little chip return table by accident. No clear signs. Overall, fun, but not nearly as well-organized as I would have expected. | |
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J. L. from New York, NY, USA
(10/9/2007)
"Loved the bands" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Expo- Maybe it's my luck, but we (and other foreign marathoners) had trouble getting to the expo! It would be more helpful if there were signs leading us to the expo from the u-bahn/s-bahn station. Starting Line - It's just like the starting line of NYC marathon - packed! I didn't mind this and I found the pace groups quite helpful! Course itself- There was a lot of construction in Berlin and therefore in some of the roads, all the runners were squeezed togethre to one side of the road (the start and finish was quite spacious, but there were points in the race where it was tight.) Support- I loved hearing the brass bands! I never hear or see that in the US. Drinks/Support- They ran out of cups in around the 35KM mark (and I saw the volunteers reusing used/soiled cups.. ick!) Fans - Just plain awesome! :o) | |
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R. P. from Moscow, Russia
(10/6/2007)
"Great marathon, but one concern" (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I was happy with my Berlin Marathon experience. Lots of crowd support and although it was very crowded, as one would expect for 40,000 people, I didn't think it was too bad. However, when my family and I left the family reuniting area and tried to cross the in front of the Brandenburg Gate, we got into an extremely uncontrolled and dangerous crowd. The crowd in the back started pushing and we were pulled apart and pressed against one another. This could have easily resulted in people being trampled. There should have been better control at the back of the crowd, but there was just two security guards at the front letting groups go across. This was an extremely unsafe situation. Suggest that if you finish late in the pack (as I did), you find another way out. | |
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Niels Taatgen from Pittsburgh, PA
(10/5/2007)
"Great race, perfect organization, world record!" (about: 2007)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon, and I absolutely loved it (well... that is, except the last four miles which were gruelling, but that is part of the deal). Most of the other reviewers agree how great it is, but let me just point out that some of the commentaries listed below led to improvements. - The walk after the finish has been shortened (although it still seems long if you stumble forwards like an old man) - Everyone gets a bag with food after the finish, so no problems with running out of food for the latecomers - Drinking posts were at both sides of the street up to 15 kilometers, afterwards the field had thinned enough so that one side was enough. - The different starting areas were guarded closely, so there was no opportunity to sneak into the A block to pose with the elites Apart from that the weather was abolutely great (after days of rain), and this pushed me to a finishing time of 3:20:57, just enough for Boston. | |
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Eugene. Nyunt. from London, England.
(10/3/2007)
"Berlin - probably the best marathon in the world." (about: 2007)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Berlin is a flat course they say, and it's 100% true - my four hours here passed by in a flash with all the fantastic crowd support and bands (jazz, easy listening etc.). The high fives by the locals were great too. What 'inclines' there are won't force you to change your stride pattern at all. It's a hugely popular race, so at each refreshment point the road was inevitably littered with remnants of plastic and paper cups, and discarded gel sachets. I didn't even mind that sweet blonde mama who decided she had to push her buggy across a section of the course. At the finish though - what with the finishing horde - it was a little tricky to see where the biscuits and bananas were being doled out. This isn't a complaint, just an observation; I'm already checking Air Berlin's web pages for next year. | |
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J. S. from Ramstein, Germany
(10/2/2007)
"Almost perfect" (about: 2007)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 Almost everything about this race was perfect, except one huge issue for me. As disciplined and organized as Germans normally are, they totally failed to keep the slow people (the F,G,H runners) out of the A-E start blocks. Yes, there were slowpokes running shoulder-to -shoulder, with no civilized way to get around them almost everywhere the first 8-10 KM. Yes, I wanted to start slow, but not 30-40 seconds slower than my expected finish pace. What it came down to for me is that I missed a BQ by 2 minutes and 55 seconds, and I blame this result on 5-6 minutes lost in the first 8-10 KM traffic jam. Outside of that, this race was phenomenal and I had a wonderful time. | |
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G. M. from Edinburgh
(6/22/2007)
"The best marathon in Europe" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Berlin is simply the best marathon in Europe; the course, crowd support, and organization are first class. If you're ever going to run only one marathon in your life, go to Berlin. | |
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G. C. from Germany
(12/24/2006)
"Awesome experience - phenomenal fan support!" (about: 2006)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 It was an awesome experience to participate in one of the largest marathons in the world. It was an extremely well organized event and with over 1 million spectators, the support was phenomenal! Not to mention it was an absolutely beautiful weekend in Berlin, with temperature at 60 degrees for the start, and 80 by the time I finished... and not a cloud in the sky. The only downside of the race was that there were almost too many runners. It was so congested at the start, that I couldn't get into my normal running stride until about the 4KM mark. The huge number of runners also made for a crowd at the fueling stations. Nevertheless, the course was great... no hills and over 25 bands set up throughout the course. This race was lots of fun and I would definitely recommend it. | |
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H. H. from Amsterdam
(10/6/2006)
"1 Million Spectators.... Wow!" (about: 2006)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Berlin Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Really well organized race. The course is a bit overcrowded (31K runners started this year). Just note that if you stay in the eastern part of town you have to spend a lot of time getting to and from the expo for your bib. The sites are magnificient along the course. I quite enjoyed the free beer after the finish! | |
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E. B. from England
(10/5/2006)
"Excellent, but maybe too huge for this lovely city" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 Berlin Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The race was amazing! Fantastic weather for the spectators (30C at noon), although way too hot running. Crowds were absolutely brilliant - thank you Berliners and visitors. Got a great boost from cheering along the way. One of the drum bands under a railway bridge made an unforgettable impression. Loads of other bands along the way too. The city itself has a huge amount to offer. Billions and billions well spent since the reunification. On a negative side, would agree with the comment below about the fences. It also affected the spectators - not easy for your support team to get around. Altogether, it is an absolutely enormous event with some negative consequences because of its size. Particularly important to get into the right starting zone, as the course for 315 to 415 runners is very crowded all the way around. So, if you start behind your natural pace group, you will have a very hard time overtaking slower runners. |
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