Amsterdam Marathon - History

History

See also: List of winners of the Amsterdam Marathon

The 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