AMSTERDAM MARATHON 2011

Sunday 16 October 2011 the Amsterdam Marathon will celebrate its 36th edition. With this celebration Amsterdam is the oldest marathon in The Netherlands after the couple of years older Bank Enschede Marathon. However more important than this milestone is the positive tendency of this event in the last years. Nowadays the marathon can be count as one of the lead marathons worldwide and that’s an achievement where even the most optimists would not dare dream about 30 years ago.

Organisation expects many thousands participants!
In the meanwhile there’s more to do than dream only. Records and ambitions belong to an international marathon. The last years records have been broken regularly in Amsterdam. The course record of Kenyan Robert Cheboror in 2004 (2:06.23), the record number of participants in 2004 (16,000), the Dutch record of Kamiel Maase in 2003 (2:08.31) and the record number of spectators in 2004 (185,000) are the most actual and speak examples of that fact. This year the organisation even expects a number of participants of 20,000, among whom some international top athletes, which will take the challenge to improve Amsterdam’s fourth place on the rank of average fastest marathon cities ever. The international character of the marathon will be evident again from the enormous number of foreigners. Not less than 4,620 foreigners from almost 60 countries took part in the edition of 2004. Great Britain was the absolute frontrunner with 1,356 registrations, followed by France (1,079), Germany (561), Denmark (297) and 223 participants from Belgium.

Registration and the 2011 program
Online registration for the Amsterdam Marathon is already possible on www.amsterdammarathon.nl. The start of the full marathon will be in the Olympic Stadium (11.00). The half marathon (14.30) and the Echo 10 km (11.25) both start on Stadium Square before the Olympic Stadium. All participants will finish at the Olympic Stadium, just before the seats of honour.

Course remains unchanged fast
The course of the marathon will lead the participants from the start in the Olympic Stadium through the Vondelpark, along the scenic river ‘Amstel’, Rembrandt square and the Rijksmuseum (home of The Nightwatch). Every participant will finish inside the Olympic Stadium Amsterdam, built for the Olympic Games of 1928. The organisation is try to improve the course to make it even faster as it already is. Details about this will be presented in next newsletters. Access to the Olympic Stadium is free with head sponsor present various spectacular acts. So cheer on the participants along the route and see them cross the finish line and enjoy the show programme! It’s the crowds that give the Amsterdam Marathon the atmosphere it deserves and that will push runners to perform like never before.

Marathon Market
An extensive, three-day Marathon Market will be organised at Sporthallen Zuid. The market will be arranged by Runnersworld Sportzaken (www.runnersworld.nl). The biggest names in the sportswear industry will present the latest in sports clothes, shoes and accessories at reduced prices. There will also be an attractive Meet point provided by Sport café Zuid. The sponsors and suppliers of Amsterdam Marathon will also be present.

The sponsors of the Amsterdam Marathon 2011
The official time sponsor is Timex.
Amsterdam.info is open for sponsorship proposals.