Jens Stapelfeldt's Staging Area

Lisbon Half is a very popular flat and fast race. As part of the SuperHalf Series it‘s a must run race in Europe. The start is spectacular running over the beautiful bridge of 25th April reminding of Golden Gate Bridge. Weather was beautiful with fog clearing right before the start. After crossing the bridge the race becomes quite boring and no spectators along the course. The finish at the beautiful monetary of Belém is great! Water and iso drinks were offered every 2,5km. There were no start waves so the fast runners should be at the start early to line up in the front as slow runners will also do so!

What a lovely race! Start is in Arona. There is a good hotel right at the start where man runners stayed at. It was a sunny but very chilly morning at the Lago Maggiore – perfect conditions for a good race. The half marathon takes runners the first 5k in a loop aeound Arona and then straight all the way at the lake to Stresa where the finish is. The full marathon runners continue to Verbana. The medal was made out of wood – very beautiful! After the race all runners got on a boat for a beauty ride across the lake to Verbana and then back to Arona – perfect!!!! I loved it!

Cardiff Half Marathon is one of 5 races of the new Super Half Series, which also includes the half marathons of Prague, Lisbon, Valencia and Copenhagen. The course is flat, the atmosphere is great and weather conditions couldn’t have been better!

Cuxhaven Marathon usually takes part at the beginning of April. This year it has been postponed twice due to Covid-19. It finally took part on October 18th and the pandemic concept of the production wich made it possible to get the authorisation was impressive. Marathon and half marathon wich normally start together in the morning were separated into 2 different events which both were limited up to 400 participants. Marathon start was at 9 am and half marathon at 1.30pm. Start was in downtown Cuxhaven (small city of 50.000 people) and the participants were divided into 4 groups of hundred runners each. Every runner had it´s marked point in the starting area with 1,50 meters distance to each other. Every line of 3 runners got its own release! Of course masks had to be worn all time while starting and after finishing. Even the portable toilets were disinfected after every user. The course was a beautiful 2 laps course (half marathon) wich lead runners from downtown to the beautiful seaside and back. Water and other drinks like cola were offered very frequently along the course and in the finish area alcohol free beer was offered. Every finisher got a medal included in a finisher bag with drinks and fruits. T-shirts could be purchased with registration and as the T-Shirts are really beautiful I did so! :-)))

First of all: I haven’t heard of Usti nad Labem before. It’s a smaller Czech city close to the German border not far from the city of Dresden which made it easy for me to get there. The city does not have anything to offer for tourists but a perfectly organised half marathon in times of COVID-19!!! The race is organised by RunCzech which are always perfectly organised races. The expo took place outdoor, only the hand out of the race numbers and T-Shirts took place indoor. All runners got a free Adidas T-Shirt as it was the 10th edition of the race. Official race T-Shirts and Singlets could be purchased with the registration. Normally I never choose the option to by a shirt, but as this one was really beautiful I got the singlet which is also by Adidas as Adidas is the official sponsor. The race started at 3pm. As it was a sunny and very warm September day I would have appreciated an earlier start-time. The course is mostly flat with some slight uphill parts and a few bridges to cross. The atmosphere in the city was super, but of course there were also some quite industrial areas to run through. Drinks (water and Gatorade) were offered very frequently (like every 3k). In the finish every runner got a medal and some foods and drinks. Special COVID-19 measures were: all Runners had to wear a mask in the start and finish area, the temperature of all runners entering the start corrals were measured, desinfection gel could be found all over! I really felt safe at all times! Thanks to RunCzech for a perfect race!!!