Istambul Eurasia Marathon

2009 Istanbul Marathon.

Pros:

You get to run across the Bosporus Bridge.
You get to run along the Golden Horn, with nice views of the Sea of Marmara.
It is the world’s only trans-continental marathon, so there’s a quirkiness factor that some people might like.
The expo was nice.
It was run reasonably well and the people running it seemed to be dedicated. They were usually very helpful as well.
The city itself, if not the marathon course, is breath-taking and an absolute thrill to experience.
The finisher medals were big and nice.

Cons:

The expo was really hard to get to. There were supposed to be hourly buses there all day Saturday in front of the Aya Sophia, but they didn’t start to show up until around 3:00pm, and there was no easy mass transit way to get there. It was a good hour’s walk from Aya Sophia, which also complicated things and getting back was also rather complicated.
The starting are was not particularly nice, being placed on the highway that crosses the Bosporus Bride, just in front of the bridge.
The course itself was not very attractive in large stretches. We spent a lot of time running on freeways, and we spent most of the rest running along the Golden Horn, or along the Marmara coast. These last two were nice, but a bit excessive, as it would have been nice to go more through the city itself, instead of mostly around its edges.
Lack of kilometer signs. I didn’t see a kilometer sign at all until around the 10K mark, so it was difficult to set the pace I wanted early on. Eventually the kilometer signs started to appear every 2.5K.
There weren’t as many water stands as I thought there would be, maybe one every 5K throughout the race. It wasn’t a particularly warm day, yet I saw one runner picking up discarded water bottles from other runners to get to the water. That’s an extreme example.
There were absolutely no toilet facilities along the route. The map showed that there would be several, but I saw none at all.
Crowd support was very minimal.
This is not a real ‘con’, but watch out for the two rather big hill climbs inside the first 7 or so kilometers.

Overall:
Knowing what I know about it now, I would not go out of my way to participate in it, because the course is not very interesting (lovely in a static way in many parts, though). The weather seems to be pretty unreliable that time of year in Istanbul and the pre-race logistics are more complex than they perhaps could be, with the only major take away being that you can say you ran a marathon that started in Asia and ended in Europe. I wouldn’t shy away from it, if it’s an easy trip, but there are many more interesting options around Europe.

Cem Ozenc

about 1 year ago

Please check where is Istanbul? If you consider it Asia…then have some geography and history classes!
Regards,
Cem
admin

about 1 year ago

You’re absolutely right Cem.
aziz charef

about 1 year ago

salut les organisateures de ce marathon istanbul.vraimen mon reve participer dans cette marathon et pk pas fait la victoire mes performances 2h21m 2008 in marathon marrakech le maroc.le probleme j’ai pas master card ouvisa card pour payer les frais inscription la question comment obtenir invitation et merci pour vos effortes
jlafayet1

9 months ago
Rating of the race :
2009 Istanbul Marathon.

Pros:
- You get to run across the Bosporus Bridge.
- You get to run along the Golden Horn, with nice views of the Sea of Marmara.
- It is the world’s only trans-continental marathon, so there’s a quirkiness factor that some people might like.
- The expo was nice.
- It was run reasonably well and the people running it seemed to be dedicated. They were usually very helpful as well.
- The city itself, if not the marathon course, is breath-taking and an absolute thrill to experience.
- The finisher medals were big and nice.
Cons:
- The expo was really hard to get to. There were supposed to be hourly buses there all day Saturday in front of the Aya Sophia, but they didn’t start to show up until around 3:00pm, and there was no easy mass transit way to get there. It was a good hour’s walk from Aya Sophia, which also complicated things and getting back was also rather complicated.
- The starting are was not particularly nice, being placed on the highway that crosses the Bosporus Bride, just in front of the bridge.
- The course itself was not very attractive in large stretches. We spent a lot of time running on freeways, and we spent most of the rest running along the Golden Horn, or along the Marmara coast. These last two were nice, but a bit excessive, as it would have been nice to go more through the city itself, instead of mostly around its edges.
- Lack of kilometer signs. I didn’t see a kilometer sign at all until around the 10K mark, so it was difficult to set the pace I wanted early on. Eventually the kilometer signs started to appear every 2.5K.
- There weren’t as many water stands as I thought there would be, maybe one every 5K throughout the race. It wasn’t a particularly warm day, yet I saw one runner picking up discarded water bottles from other runners to get to the water. That’s an extreme example.
- There were absolutely no toilet facilities along the route. The map showed that there would be several, but I saw none at all.
- Crowd support was very minimal.
- This is not a real ‘con’, but watch out for the two rather big hill climbs inside the first 7 or so kilometers.
Overall:
Knowing what I know about it now, I would not go out of my way to participate in it, because the course is not very interesting (lovely in a static way in many parts, though). The weather seems to be pretty unreliable that time of year in Istanbul and the pre-race logistics are more complex than they perhaps could be, with the only major take away being that you can say you ran a marathon that started in Asia and ended in Europe. I wouldn’t shy away from it, if it’s an easy trip, but there are many more interesting options around Europe.

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