After a yearlong break due to the Coronavirus, the race is now happily back in its traditional spot of the last weekend of September. The annual Berlin Marathon promises to be a fun-filled day of impressive physical endurance and city-wide celebrations. The marathon dominates the weekend in Berlin with a wide variety of races including specific races for men, women, youngsters and wheelchair marathon runners. The route is lined with musical acts to keep the momentum of the runners going, from the first kilometer to the last. Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge set a new world record of 2:18:11 at the 2018 event, continuing the Kenyan dominance of the race. Will a Kenyan runner take home the first place spot for the fifth year in a row, or will a new victor be crowned?

The marathon runs clockwise through the city, from Tiergarten park east through Mitte and Friedrichshain, across the Spree river into Kreuzberg and Schoeneberg and then via the southern suburbs back to Brandenburger Tor. The police have their own marathon to organise, blocking off dozens of streets as the participants come through; count on many blocked streets, and stick to the the U- and S-Bahn if you plan on getting anywhere fast on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning.