ING AMSTERDAM MARATHON

Amsterdam, 21 March 2005 – Sunday 16 October the ING Amsterdam Marathon will celebrate his 30th edition. With this celebration Amsterdam is the oldest marathon in The Netherlands after the 36 years old ING 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 leading marathons worldwide and that’s an achievement where even the most optimists would not dare dreaming about 30 years ago.

Organisation expects 20,000 participants!
In the meanwhile there’s more to do than dreaming 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 speaking 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 ranking 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 2005 program
Online registration for the ING Amsterdam Marathon is already possible on www.ingamsterdammarathon.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 trying 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 ING presenting 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 ING Amsterdam Marathon the atmosphere it deserves and that will push runners to perform like never before.

International Pasta Party
An international Pasta Party serving pasta meals will be organised on Friday, Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening in Sporthallen Zuid to prepare for Sunday’s (half) marathon. Upon registration, participants can only on Saturday choose from an afternoon or an evening session. There are 250 tickets for each session, and tickets costs € 12,50 per person. To pre-register, complete the pre-registration on www.ingamsterdammarathon.nl.

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 Meeting point provided by Sport café Zuid. The sponsors and suppliers of ING Amsterdam Marathon will also be present.

The sponsors of the ING Amsterdam Marathon 2005:

ING (main sponsor) - City of Amsterdam - Topsport Amsterdam - Mizuno De Echo - De Telegraaf - Europcar - Dutch Royal Army - Radio 538 - Tulip Inn Amsterdam Art - Gatorade - JC Decaux - Le Champion