Below my race report from the Standard Chartered Jersey Marathon 2019, which turned out to be a very well organized marathon around this tiny country of Jersey, one of the British canal islands (near the cost of France, actually). You will find my impressions of the event and a few tourist snaps in the report, but let me give my recommondations for the Standard Chartered Jersey Marathon right away!
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See or relive Standard Chartered Jersey Marathon 2019 here:
Below my race report from my 6th Berlin Marathon. This event was my second World Marathon Major this year (London in May) and my overall 16th apperance at a World Marathon Major. And yes, I am a 6 Star holder.
The day turned out to be quite wet as the rain started pouring early in the race and the atmosphere in Berlin was hence a bit off it’s usual enthusiasm both among the runners and the spectators. But I guess it’s always a special thing when you run through the Brandenburger Tor.
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See or relive Berlin Marathon 2019 here:
Saturday September 7th 2019 I completed the awesome Petra Desert Marathon 2019 in Jordan. Find below my full race coverage plus a few tourist impressions from this adventure organized by Albratos Travels.
Petra and the Dead Sea
So, I was on the “deluxe” tour including a day (actually, only half a day due to my own poor research) at the Dead Sea on the Jordan side. There is something magical to be at the lowest point of the surface of the planet and to float around in that soo salty water!
And Petra ? Oh, man! It is difficult to find the words here, I’d rather have the pictures speak for themselves. I can only say that I feel very privileged to have experienced Petra and to furthermore have it in physical context of a marathon, that is pretty mindblowing. More about that below.
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Petra Desert Marathon 2019
Petra Desert Marathon 2019 was a very well organized event featuring a half marathon and a full marathon. The route for the marathon was VERY HILLY and was comprised by a desert loop (the absolutely best and most funny part of the race), an out-back loop on road (nice, scenic at places, dead tough in the end) and the just-last 11 kilometers including the mountain climb that also the half marathoneers had to conquer. My Garmin said +1100 heightmeters up, +1000 heightmeters down and with temperatures reaching 27 C in the shadows – which we did NOT have the luxery of – and the highest altitude approx. 1400 meters above sea level, I was very happy to finish in 5.56. In conclusion, Petra Desert Marathon was an experience for a lifetime! If you’re a runner: get this in!
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See or relive Petra Desert Marathon 2019 here (and in arabic, greek, hebrew and turkish):
Albatros Event Video recap
Though I will be happy for your interest in my race report above, I will also draw your attention to the official video from Albatros Travel. You’ll even find me in there for some 10 elusive seconds (at about 2.50 and onwards).
Sunday June 30th 2019 I completed the White Nights Marathon 2019 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Find below my full race coverage plus quite a few tourist impressions from the amazing and incredibly beautiful city of St. Petersburg.
Saint Petersburg City and the Winter Palace
Saint Petersburg may well be the most surprising, beautiful and captivating big city I ever visited. It sports incredible attractions like the Winter Palace (including The State Hermitage Museum and The General Staff Building) , stunning churches like the Savior on the Spilled Blood and The Museum Complex The State Museum St. Isaac’s Cathedral, The Naval Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Kronstadt and landmarks like the Nevsky Prospekt, the Neva Embankments and lots and lots more. Just walking around amongst the beautiful buildings of St. Petersburg is an amazing experience and really, life in Russia seems to be quite the same as in the rest of Europe.
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White Nights Marathon 2019
White Nights Marathon 2019 was a very well organized event featuring the full marathon distance plus a 10K event as well. The route for the marathon was quite flat (take away a few easy bridges) and was very representative of the city and it’s many landmarks and attractions, most notably the start and finish at the square of the Winter Palace! I’d say without hesitation that this event is one of the best and most important ones of all my marathons and I give it the very, very best of my recommendations. Just allow much more time in St. Petersburg than the sparse 54 hours I had in toto.
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See or relive White Nights Marathon 2019 here (and in russian):
Sunday April 28th 2019 I completed the fabulous Virgin Money London Marathon.
Find below my full race coverage plus a few tourist impressions from the beautiful city of London.
London City
I had only Saturday to make a few tourist impressions, but this was ok as I have been many times in London previously. Of course I needed to visit Covent Garden and the flagship store of Paul Smith and that was pretty much it, well, Picadilly Cirkus, Regent Street, Oxford Street and New Bond Street and Old Bond Street also came in handy. London is simply a very nice methropole to visit.
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Virgin Money London Marathon 2019
Virgin Money London Marathon is one of the six World Marathon Majors and as such one of the most prestigeous and famous marathons in the world. This year was actually my fourth show at this event but this year still very special as I ran the whole race together with my wife-to-be, Maria. And you will find more interesting details in the race report about that too. So about the race itself: just awesome! So many people out there in the streets supporting and cheering and the finish at The Mall is incredible each time!
Virgin London Marathon – selected pictures
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Virgin London Marathon by the Miles
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See or relive Skopje Marathon 2019 here :
