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real,- Berlin Marathon 2008/2009
The real,- Berlin Marathon started in 1974, and has appeared annually ever since.
The very first person to win the Berlin Marathon, Günter Hallas, still runs the marathon
today and was also there on September 28, when the 2008 version of the race took place.
And our guess is that there is a good chance og seeing him running the streets of Berlin on September 20, 2009, too.
The Berlin Marathon is part of the marathon series,
World Marathon Majors, together
with four other large and tradition bound races: Boston, Chicago, London and New
York marathons. In the 2008 version of the real,- Berlin Marathon, 35,000 runners
was cheered on by more than 1 million spectators.
In the early years of the Berlin
Marathon it was set in Grunewald – a large forest in West Berlin. Seven years later,
the race was moved to the city centre of West Berlin, and finally in 1990 – almost
one year after the Berlin Wall collapsed – the course was led through both parts
of the German capital. Running through the famous Berlin icon, Brandenburg Gate,
was a symbolic action that brought out tears in the eyes of many participants in
1990. The course of the real,- Berlin Marathon is well-known for its flatness, which
makes the race great for first-timers and for experienced marathoners looking to
beat their personal best, as well as for its sightseeing potential. The course takes
runners past several of Berlin’s historic landmarks, such as the Reichstag, Potsdamer
Platz, Berliner Dom, and of course the Brandenburg Gate just before the finish line.
Running the real,- Berlin Marathon can feel like taking part in a modern history
lesson, only with a million exhilarated fans in stead of text books, and ancient
buildings mixed between modern hi-tech shops in stead of a teacher.
More than one
world record has been set on the flat, low-altitude course of the real,- Berlin
Marathon. The two latest versions (2007 and 2008) of Berlin Marathon both featured new world records
- even by the same man. In 2007 Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie took 29 seconds off the former record and
finished by 2:04:26. And then in 2008 he improved his own breathtaking accomplishment by another 27 seconds and finished by 2:03:59.
Registration procedures and various information regarding the full and 1/2 (half) marathon in Berlin, Germany, can be found at the official Berlin Marathon website
here.
real,- Berlin Marathon 2009 Course
Please click
here to examine the course of the real,- Berlin Marathon.
Results and other information on the next page:
Berlin Marathon Results and Information