Berlin Marathon

The birthday of the Berlin Marathon is considered to be November 8, 1964 , when for the first time a “ cross on the Devil's Mountain ” took place in West Berlin , in which more than 700 people took part. The organizers were Horst Milde associates, inspired by the race in the French city of Le Mans . In the following years, the SCC-Cross sports club took an important position in the sports life of the city.

After 10 years, in 1974, the first official Berlin Marathon was held. In 1977, the marathon was combined with competitions held in the framework of the German Championship in running. During the race, the German athlete Christa Valenzik set an unofficial record of 2: 34: 47.5.

After the occupation of the first 25 km de Berlin run by the French sector in May 1981, Horst Milde decided to move the marathon, previously held in the Grunewald forest area, also into the city. After resolving bureaucratic and political problems, the lawn in front of the Reichstag building became a new start of the marathon, the distance was past the Checkpoint Charlie , and the runners finished at Kurfürstendamm . This year, 3486 people took part in the marathon, in addition to this, thanks to a new distance with asphalt roads, it became possible to participate in a race for wheelchair sportsmen. Due to the increased number of participants, the start was postponed in 1987 to 17 June street . In the same year, more than 30 musical groups were involved for the first time throughout the distance.

In 1989, the innovation was a mini-marathon for children: each team of 10 schoolchildren ran the last 4.2195 km, which in total amounts to the official marathon distance.

September 30, 1990, three days before the unification of Germany , the distance for the first time passed through the Brandenburg Gate . The flow of people wishing to participate in the race was so great that the organizers had to reject the application, because the limit of participants was exceeded. At the same time, the marathon was first shown live on German and Japanese television.

Since 1994, time is measured using the ChampionChip electronic transponder . In the same year, in the framework of the marathon, the World Wheelchair Wheelchair Championship was held, where Heinz Fry set the world record at 1:22:12 h. In 1997, the first marathon on roller skates was held.

In 2003, runners start and finish at the Brandenburg Gate .

In 2004, Mark Milde replaced his father as the organizer of the Berlin Marathon. From the same year, a competition of athletes moving on hand bikes is held within the framework of the marathon.

In 2006, the prestigious World Marathon Majors series was founded, which includes the six “Main Marathons of the World”: the London , New York , Chicago , Boston , Tokyo and Berlin marathons. Of these, only the Berlin and Boston marathons retained membership in the AIMS. ^[one]

Distance Records

• Men: 2:01:39 h, Eliud Kipchoge ( Kenya ), 2018 ( World Record )
• Women: 2:19:12 h, Mizuki Noguchi ( Japan ), 2005 (Asian Record; fastest woman in distance)

2009 Participants

• Main discipline: 40,923 applications for participation from 122 countries ^[6] , 34,994 of them finished (27,934 men, 7060 women)
• 9342 participants of the children's mini-marathon ^[7]
• 7612 participants on roller skates ^[8]
• About 1 million viewers

Winners

ARRS data:

• Berlin Half Marathon

• The official website of the Berlin Marathon (German) (English) (Jap.)