History
See also: List of winners of the Amsterdam MarathonThe first marathon in Amsterdam was held on August 5, 1928, during the 1928 Summer Olympics. It was won by Boughera El Ouafi in 2:32:57.
After the Olympics there were no marathons in Amsterdam until 1975. Since that year the marathon was held annually, with the exception of 1978.
The 1980 course record of 2:09:01 ran by Dutchman Gerard Nijboer could be considered an unofficial world record as the generally recognized record at that time, 2:08:34 in Antwerp, had been run on a course that was 500 meters short.
In 2005, the former world record holder on the marathon, Haile Gebrselassie, earned his first win in the Amsterdam Marathon in the fastest marathon time in the world for the 2006 season (2:06.20).
In 2010, Getu Feleke finished in 2:05:44 and improved the course record from 2009 by 34 seconds.
In 2012, the Kenyan Wilson Chebet won the race by a time of 2:05:41 and broke the previous course record by 3 seconds. In the same year, Ethiopian Meseret Hailu broke the women's course record with a time of 2:21:09.
| Course record progression | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Athlete | Time |
| 5 August 1928 | Boughera El Ouafi | 2:32:57 |
| 3 May 1975 | Jørgen Jensen | 2:16:51 |
| 21 May 1977 | Bill Rodgers | 2:12:47 |
| 26 April 1980 | Gerard Nijboer | 2:09:01 WR |
| 2 November 1997 | Sammy Korir | 2:08:24 |
| 1 November 1998 | Sammy Korir | 2:08:13 |
| 17 October 1999 | Fred Kiprop | 2:06:47 |
| 19 October 2003 | William Kipsang | 2:06:39 |
| 17 October 2004 | Robert Cheboror | 2:06:22 |
| 16 October 2005 | Haile Gebrselassie | 2:06:20 |
| 18 October 2009 | Gilbert Yegon | 2:06:18 |
| 17 October 2010 | Getu Feleke | 2:05:44 |
| 21 October 2012 | Wilson Chebet | 2:05:41 |
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