The Santiago Marathon, the most massive sporting event in Chile, will be a running party celebrating a healthy life that year after year has increased both its enrollment and the acceptance and support of the citizens of Santiago. Santiago becomes a celebration, being erected with certainty like the sporting event …
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The Santiago Marathon, the most massive sporting event in Chile, will be a running party celebrating a healthy life that year after year has increased both its enrollment and the acceptance and support of the citizens of Santiago.
Santiago becomes a celebration, being erected with certainty like the sporting event with greater call and one of the most important in Latin American level.
In 2007, the Marathon of Santiago, had its first version and convened 6,800 official members. Thanks to the work and perseverance of a team made up of highly trained professionals, Adidas as the main sponsor and Prokart in production, it was possible to include distances of 10, 21 and 42k, in addition to defining a circuit representative of the most important places of Santiago. To this was added the sponsorship of the National Institute of Sport and the collaboration of the Regional Government and the Metropolitan Intendance in matters of security thinking in the high call of participants.
The Citizen’s Marathon is one of the branches of the Social Marathon focused on giving back to the city in which the event takes place, and taking the maximum advantage of the more than 60 linear km that our runners will travel.
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A good, solid South America race
The Santiago Marathon was a good choice for a South America marathon - organization, course, run support, difficulty, other runners, safety - all measured up and made it a good … MORE
The Santiago Marathon was a good choice for a South America marathon – organization, course, run support, difficulty, other runners, safety – all measured up and made it a good experience. Knowing Santiago pretty well over the years, this took me to new areas of the city I’ve never seen before which was nice. Santiago is a very safe place to visit, especially relative to other major cities in South America, though the level of English was less developed than expected. One can get by with rudimentary spanish skills however, and the people are kind and patient, and proud of their country (and rightfully so).
Some specifics:
– course was not overly difficult despite Santiago sitting in the foothills of the Andes
– the course takes you through most major areas of the city and you get a good feel for the CBD, middle and lower class areas, high-end areas, residential and commercial – a good run through a beautiful city
– the pre-race expo was a little sparse on what is typically at expos, so don’t necessarily expect to find various gu’s, gels, beans, etc.
– subway to the race start was a last second great idea – tons of runners and lots of excitement
– on-course support was adequate
– fan support was a bit sparse in some areas from most runs, but those out there were cheering and supportive and friendly
– one section of the course had runners in a lane of traffic with traffic on both sides of you in a heavily commercial area and a traffic jam (b/c of the lane closures) – wasn’t a safety concern but those looking for less integration to the city were challenged
– last quarter of the race is downhill – perfect!
The reasons to do Santiago besides the race:
– restaurant scene is great – especially seafood
– the wine scene is outrageous – take a winery tour. take a winery tour. take a winery tour…..saying it three times isn’t enough but gives the idea – great wines and less than an hour from Santiago for Concha y Toro.
– lots of smaller wineries outside Santiago – visit them and do tastings – fun experience and meet great people
– hire a driver/tour guide for a day and go to Vina del Mar and Valparaiso – easy day trip down and back, wineries along the way, seafood overlooking the Pacific, magnificent views of the Pacific, historic area of Chile with great wineries…..all for less than $200!
A very nice race and a great trip! (take a winery tour!)