Discover one of the most impressive cultural marathon routes in the world. The Vienna City Marathon leads to the most impressive modern and historical sights of Vienna. You start on Wagramer Straße in modern Vienna, close to the “UNO-City”, the seat of the United Nations, and finishes in the city …
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Discover one of the most impressive cultural marathon routes in the world. The Vienna City Marathon leads to the most impressive modern and historical sights of Vienna. You start on Wagramer Straße in modern Vienna, close to the “UNO-City”, the seat of the United Nations, and finishes in the city centre in front of the Burgtheater.
Immediately after the start, the participants cross the river Danube on the 864-meter Reichsbrücke bridge towards the city center. You pass the huge Ferris wheel and run on the completely flat “Prater Hauptallee” (main avenue) through the large, green park area of the Prater. This is exactly where Eliud Kipchoge ran in 1:59:40.2 hours for the marathon distance on 12 October 2019. He became the first person to run a marathon under two hours. A quarter of the VCM course is on Kipchoge’s 1:59 course.
The race continues along the Danube Canal to the Vienna Ringstrasse, past the Vienna State Opera, the arts center Secession and the Naschmarkt, through the Wiental Valley to Schönbrunn Palace, Austria’s most visited tourist attraction. Still before the half marathon distance, you run through Vienna’s most famous shopping street, Mariahilfer Straße. You see many of the most impressive museums, the Parliament, the University of Vienna and the “Votivkirche” while running along one of the most impressive cultural marathon routes in the world. The magnificent Ringstraße boulevard is your home stretch. You will reach the finish line directly in front of the Burgtheater with a view of the City Hall. The finishing line in front of the Burgtheater is also the heart of all running events on Saturday.
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Beautiful, flat, big city race
Vienna is a great big city race. The course is flat, the scenery is great, and crowd support was awesome (only race I've done with better crowds is NYC, and … MORE
Vienna is a great big city race. The course is flat, the scenery is great, and crowd support was awesome (only race I’ve done with better crowds is NYC, and this includes Chicago and Marine Corps in DC). The second half was a little quieter with more time in the park, but still had lots of music stands along the way. The expo was huge and well run, and they sent a 1 min finisher video after the race which was a great touch.
I really liked the race overall but a few production points were annoying: the race shirt was not included and had to be bought separately, which is a bit insane. There weren’t many porta potties along the course (though plenty at start area). Most of the “water stations” were just a wall with several faucets, making them practically useless if you aren’t filling up your own bottle. It was super cold my day, but the lack of real water stops with cups and volunteers would’ve been really tough on a hot day.
Surprisingly hot
The half and full marathon are held the same day in Vienna and both races share the same route on the first 20km (about 12.5 miles) before the marathonis go … MORE
The half and full marathon are held the same day in Vienna and both races share the same route on the first 20km (about 12.5 miles) before the marathonis go for an altered second round. 2018 was unusually warm and more than 1000 runners used the option to drop from the full to the half distance.
The expo for more than 25, 000 runners all together is fairly big and all the big names or the sports gear industry are there. The bag drop off (small buses that transport the bags to the finish at the historic City Hall) was a bit chaotic/ too tight for me when I ran the half marathon two years ago. This year with way warmer temperatures I didnt bring extra clothes. Music bands and many spectators, a huge video screen and stage near the opera, cheer leaders- all that is Vienna. The medals (different sizes per race) are traditionally in the shape of stars. Snacks and free (alcohol-free) beer at the finish line.
Huge City Marathon
Vienna is an awesome city and the Vienna City Marathon is a nice event. Due to the huge number of runners they should definitively check who is starting out of … MORE
Vienna is an awesome city and the Vienna City Marathon is a nice event. Due to the huge number of runners they should definitively check who is starting out of which coral. Even though we started from coral 2 we had so many slow runners in front of us as there was no one controlling who was entering which coral. Apart from that the race was nice passing by some sights of the city.