On Sunday 8th April 2018 the city of Berlin will be literally overrun, in the true sense of the word. Even though the 21.0975-kilometre route reveals many notable Berlin attractions, this time it’s not only tourists armed with selfie-sticks and cameras that visit the city. Because on this particular Sunday more than 36,000 sportsmen from over 100 nations are expected to come together, not to get the best photos, but to achieve their best time and set new records. And every year more and more people take part in the Berlin Half Marathon. Most of them take part in the running discipline. But also in the disciplines inline skating, kids running, kids skating, handbike and wheelchair racing, many will be competing for first place.
The Half Marathon running route begins and ends at Alexanderplatz and leads past the Berlin Dom, through the Brandenburger Tor, around the Siegessäule and past Schloss Charlottenburg, before going on along the Kurfürstendamm past the Gedächtniskirche and the Potsdamer Platz back to the Fernsehturm. These well-known and famous Berlin sights and the over 100,000 visitors along the route, encourage the top athletes to high achievements. Last year the Kenyan Joan Melly ran a remarkable time of 1:08:43 and the Kenyan Gilbert Masai achieved a considerable 59:57. But the track records of 2006 and 2007, also set by a female and a male Kenyan, remain unbeaten. In 2006, out of the women, Edith Masai managed to break the previous record with a time of 1:07:18. In 2007, out of the men, Patrick Macau set the current record with the unbelievable time of 58:56.
Occurrences such as these, a constantly growing number of participants and visitors, as well as events around the running route, make the Berlin Half Marathon one of the most renowned races. But the history of the Half Marathon in Berlin had a split beginning. In 1981, in the east of the then divided city of Berlin, it was the Berlin Friedenslauf which took place first of all. Three years later, in 1984, the Half Marathon followed in West Berlin. In 1990, as East and West Germany and consequently East and West Berlin re-united, the Berlin Half Marathon and the Berlin Friedenslauf merged into the Berlin Half Marathon we know today. And today, as back then, Berlin lures thousands of sports fans into the city with this marathon and many other sporting events.
