58,212 runners at the start
Opening ceremony at Brandenburg Gate
Record number of 161 nation
Great demand for new 5-km run
The BMW BERLIN-MARATHON moves people - and has been doing so for 50 years! From a popular marathon in Grunewald with 286 participants, the race has developed into a major global event. This year, the event will get more participants moving than ever before! More than 80,000 runners, wheelchair athletes, handbikers and skaters from a total of 161 nations are expected to take part in the various disciplines - another record. The organisers of SCC EVENTS discussed all of these topics with invited guests at a round table today.
A lot has happened since the first edition in 1974 - when 286 runners took part. Jürgen Lock, Managing Director of SCC EVENTS, pointed out a few milestones: ‘The most important thing, of course, was that Horst Milde laid the foundation stone with the first race in 1974. Another milestone was the move from Grunewald to the city in 1981 - at that time still under the Allies. The 1990 reunification race, when the BERLIN MARATHON ran through the Brandenburg Gate for the first time, remains unforgotten. The international development of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON continued with the founding of the Abbott World Marathon Majors in 2006.’
One person who knows the changes of the last 50 years particularly well is Jutta von Haase, who won the first edition in 1974. ‘It was a different world, everything was different. We ran alone, there was hardly anyone there,’ says von Haase. As a running woman, she was ridiculed by many at the time. Snide comments were almost always part of her daily forest runs. Nowadays, the picture is different: this year, 34.6 per cent of participants are female - the proportion has been growing steadily for years.
With a total of 58,212 registered runners, this year's BMW BERLIN-MARATHON has already set a record before the start. ‘Our vision right from the start was to have 50,000 finishers for the anniversary,’ says Lock. Intensive data analysis and years of preparation made this increase possible. After all, the top priority is the quality of the event for the participants, for whom not only optimal medical care is guaranteed, but also no traffic jams should impair the running experience.
Organiser SCC EVENTS has been successfully implementing the high quality standards for years with a large number of reliable partners, above all the Berlin police, the Berlin fire brigade and Johanniter as well as more than 6,000 volunteers.
New features of the anniversary edition include the new course format for the skaters (see details here) and the GENERALI 5K as part of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. This new race will cover the final five kilometres of the marathon course on Saturday and is sold out with 10,000 starters.
Mark Milde, in his role as Race Director of the BMW BERLN-MARATHON, spoke about the broad top of the top athlete fields, which will be presented in their entirety during the upcoming press conferences (see below). Further information on the top athletes can be found here.
Since 17 September, the MOVE at the Brandenburg Gate has been offering great insights into the history of the race as well as a varied sports and cultural programme. You will find a link to the current MOVE programme below. The MARATHON EXPO will open on Thursday at 3 pm at the former Tempelhof Airport. The opening ceremony on Friday evening from 7.30 pm at the Brandenburg Gate will take you through five decades of the BERLIN MARATHON. The event is already fully booked with 14,000 visitors.
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