The Vienna City Marathon is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of 42.195 km held in Vienna, Austria since 1984. The first edition was held on March 25, 1984 with a total of 794 competitors. It is Austria's largest road running event and the 2010 edition had record participation with 32,940 runners from 108 nations taking part in the day's races.
The route starts at the Vienna International Centre, traverses the Reichsbrücke and the traffic junction Praterstern on the left side of the Danube channel, then runs alongside the Ringstraße until reaching the Vienna State Opera. After crossing the left bank of the Wien river on Wienzeile to the Schönbrunn Palace, the route goes back to the Heldenplatz (via the Mariahilferstraße) where the half-marathon finishes. The full-marathon runners, however, are continuing past the Rathaus to the Alsergrund and to Friedensbrücke, crossing the Reichsbrücke once more to reach the Prater again. After having passed the Ernst-Happel-Stadion and the Lusthaus, the route leads over the Franzensbrücke to the Ringstraße where the runners reach the finish at the Heldenplatz.
The race day's events also include a marathon team relay event, a 4.2 km fun run and a half marathon. In 2011, Haile Gebrselassie ran the fastest ever time on Austrian soil for the distance. The 2012 edition saw Haile and Paula Radcliffe engage in a novel half marathon race, with Radcliffe receiving a head start 7:52 minutes (the difference between the two athletes personal bests). The Ethiopian easily won race.
Famous quotes containing the words vienna, city and/or marathon:
“Grusinskaya: I want to be alone.
Meierheim: Where have you been? I suppose I can cancel the Vienna contract.
Grusinskaya: I just want to be alone.
Meierheim: You’re going to be very much alone, my dear madam. This is the end.”
—William A. Drake (1900–1965)
“The city is recruited from the country. In the year 1805, it is said, every legitimate monarch in Europe was imbecile. The city would have died out, rotted, and exploded, long ago, but that it was reinforced from the fields. It is only country which came to town day before yesterday, that is city and court today.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The mountains look on Marathon—
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dreamed that Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians’ grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)