Vienna Marathon 2013

I've just enetered my first marathon in Vienna for April 2013. Has anyone run it previously or planning on running next year?

It's a flat course so I'm hoping to get a decent time for my first attempt. There's also a half marathon, relay marathon and kids races taking place alongside so I hope I don't get confused with all of the different signage!

http://www.vienna-marathon.com/?lang=en

Comments

  • Hi KatyLo - looks like it's just you and me then image

    Hope the training is going ok.  Bit of a slow start for me, but starting to get into it

    6 of us travelling over, but i'm the only one running. The rest will be focusing on the Austrian cakes and beer!!

     

  • Hello, I was beginning to think I was the only one!!

    I’m into my fourth week of official marathon training and so far so good but looking at my plan some serious long runs are on the horizon :-/ The furthest I’ve run before is half marathon distance so things are starting to get a bit tasty!

    Well done in being the only one from your group running. You have quite a team of supporters with you so hopefully they’ll be able to scream and shout you over the finish line. Have you run a marathon before? Good luck with the training!

  • it's my 3rd marathon, having run Paris and London previously...but plenty of other distances under my belt. Glad the training looks to be going well.....when i did my first half a few years back, I really couldn't imagine doubling the distance....but just increase the mileage gradually and you'll be fine - if i can do it, then anyone can! good luck!

  • would be great to hear from anyone else running in Vienna this year!

    hope everyone is enjoying the cold weather training  - could be useful prep for the unpredictable Austrian Spring weather!!!

    Was entered into the St;Abans 10 mile today, but not unexpectedly cancelled so will probably go for Watford half in a couple of weeks

  • Haile Gebrselassie has just been confirmed to run in the half!
  • he must have found out we were running the full and didn't fancy the competition image

  • Hey, I'm running! Little surprised that there seems to be so few people from the forums! None of my running friends have done it before either. Strange as it’s a nice city in spring and the course is meant to be relatively flat. Perhaps because it coincides with Paris and VLM?

    Anybody 100 per cent. clear on what the set up is regarding timing chips? Have only seen mention of renting them and picking them up at the expo (or whatever they call it in Vienna), but that was in a guide on the website from last year’s event! Previously have rented them before the event and they’ve already been registered to my number and included in the race pack with the bib. Wonder if I'm missing something because my Deutsche is nicht good and half the web pages have no/poor translations.

    Also, how’s training going?

  • I'm another one running it. Myself and 4 other woken from my club are heading over. Three of us are doing the full thing, and 2 for the half marathon. I'd love to hear from someone has done it before.

    As you say bigdipz, I'm not left feeling very at ease with the organisation. And having to buy a race tshirt! I thought that was a bit scandalous.

    On a positive, the training is going well, so fingers crossed for no injuries between now and then. Its my 3rd marathon, but the others (London and Dublin) have been blighted with lower leg injuries.
  • I'm in too, it will be my 11th marathon, had mixed results in the others, usual things like going off to quickly and blowing up, struggling through lack of training and sometimes doing better than expected when it all comes together on the day !

    Not done Vienna before but have visited twice and love the city.

    What sort of finish times is everyone hoping for ? 

  • Hi Bigdipz - found this in the information pack on the website....they're so generous!!  Will probably need to pay for the medal as well

    Timing will be done by means of a computer chip. In case you do not possess your own computer chip you will have to rent a WHITE DAY-chip at an accordingly marked counter AFTER COLLECTING YOUR RACE DOCUMENTS.Deposit and rental fee: € 10,-. The deposit fee of € 7,- will be refunded to you when handing back the chip in the finish area on Heldenplatz until 3.30 p.m.. Please note that the white chip can only be used for the events of the Vienna City Marathon!

     

     

     

  • Jeez they're mean. I hope they're not as mean with their water stations and porta loos.
  • Glad to see that there are more runners from the UK joining in. It’s my first marathon so I was a bit peeved that I’d have to buy the t-shirt on top of the entry fee. I’m still having a dilemma about my target marathon time. I ran a half marathon PB on Sunday of 1:46 and the RW race calculator predicts a 3:41 marathon …a little ambitious for my first attempt so I’ll be looking for a 4:15 finish although I’ll just be happy to finish!

  • That's a very sensible and achievable target time, after all for your first marathon your main aim should be to try and enjoy the experience, a half marathon pb shows the training is going well.  I would like to get close to my pb of 3:21 but will be happy with anything under 3:30.

    How long is everyone going over for ?

  • Getting a Heathrow Flight at 9:15 on Friday morning and coming back Monday evening. Will probably get the registration sorted on Friday and then relax!

    Wll done KatyLo on the PB! Sounds like the training is going well. Was it Berkhamsted by any chance?

    I'm hoping to run under 4hrs - my only other 2 marathons have both been a couple of minutes over. My Half PB is 1:39 and generally run them in about 1:42, but can't seem to crack the 4:00 for the marathon!

  • I'm in.

    Seems like theres less than 300 of us Brits on the startline according to the starting list.

    Training hasn't gone according to plan, longest run so far has been 15 miles. Had some good advice from a pro athlete on twitter who reassured me that a marathon can be done with a longest run of 16 miles. Which thankfully this may well be the case.

    As the plan says, running 20 miles doesn't test how fit you are, just prepares you mentally. As long as you stick to a steady pace, it should be fine.

    Flying out from Heathrow on the Friday, but in the afternoon. Going home on the Tuesday.

    I'm more than happy to run round with any of you guys aiming for the 4hr to 4hr 15 mark to give each other moral support.

  • I'm running too ! It's going to be my first marathon this year and the training has not been as good as I had hoped, but I'm still thinking to break sub 3:30 for this one.

    Does anyone know if there will be any pacers on the day - would be great to tuck in behind a decent pace group for the first few miles.

    Start and finish in different places, I went for somewhere near the finish line, I've been assured it is within crawling distance image

  • Just saw this post and if it's not too late I can give you some details as I live in Vienna and will be running the marathon for the 6th time this year.

    The course is mostly flat with just one or two mild climbs. One of the steepest is the bridge just after the starting line so make sure to start off slow enough that you don't blow your energy within the first 500m (a common mistake!)

    The only possible place that you might get confused with all the different race routes is the half marathon finish. It's well signposted and there are plenty of stewards to point runners in the right direction if they're in danger of going wrong, but the general rule is halfmarathon runners keep right, all others keep left and don't look right towards the finish line (can cause envy if you still have 21km to run...).

    We have had a very hard winter here which has made training tough but the forecast for Sunday is looking ideal - 18 celsius, some clouds and maybe a bit of wind.

    I have always found the organisation to be nothing but good. The fair and start number collection is easy to reach by tube. The documentation is clear though it does sometimes suffer from the odd Austrian trait of cutting corners on a good translator. Getting to the start is easy, again with the tube, and the atmosphere gets me every time. They seem to put up more portable toilets every year but the queues never seem to get shorter. Men have the distinct advantage here as there are trees and bushes; some women use them too if they are not too fussed. I usually go to the McDonalds right at the far back end of the start area. Not too overrun and gives you a chance to warm up a bit getting there.

    As i know the city well I know what to expect from the course. There's usually plently to look at though there are some parts that are a bit non-descript. I always find that the long straight run in the Prater Hauptalle between km 31and 35 is one of the most difficult parts of the race. The road is dead straight in a wide tree-lined avenue and this is often the time when I start to hurt. However keep on going as it all passes by when you turn the corner and run the last 200m to the finish on Heldenplatz. I think that I could be more than half dead and the atmosphere at the finish would get me sprinting.

    There are plenty of water stations on the course. There is a list of them and what they offer on the website.

    All in all I think that Vienna is a good marathon venue. If you have time and energy, the city is great. I've lived here for 20 years and still love the place.

    I hope that anyone still reading this can get some useful information for their trip to Vienna. Good luck for the race and post if there are any more questions
  • Great info Danny - thanks for posting - good luck with the race. Hope everyone else is fit and ready to go. I picked up a cold on Monday, which it pretty annoying after 16 healthy weeks of training in sub-zero conditions. Now taking every remedy available to man, so hopefully better for Sunday!

  • Suffered today a bit in the heat and way off my PB, liked the course generally and tempted to do this one again next year if I don't get into London.



    How did everyone else get on?
  • It did get a bit warm towards the end, didn't it. Despite my own advice about not starting off too fast, I did exactly that (even if I didn't realise it at the time) and suffered a bit over the last 7km, causing me to miss out on my target time by a couple of minutes. But what the hell, I got through and enjoyed  it as I do every year.

    I'd be interested to hear what first-timers in Vienna thought of the event.

    Hope you make it back to Vienna some time. It's a great city!

     

  • I ran my first Vienna marathon yesterday and I thought it was poorly organised, especially considering the entry fee of 70 euro.



    The course was fantastic, as you would expect from such a beautiful city, and the crowds were great too.



    My main problems were the lack of toilets and the chaos at the water stations for the first 20k. When we arrived at the water stations there was no water ready and there was some pretty aggressive jostling as people tried to fill the plastic cups themselves.



    There were other things that might seem petty now but made a lot of difference on the day.



    I don't remember seeing one medic tent or a time check.



    I think it is a bad idea to run the half marathon and marathon together - as Danny says, it's a bit tough watching people celebrate as they finish when you are only halfway. There was also a relay marathon, so every 10km a load of people would start sprinting past you, which is even more demoralising.



    At the start there was a lot of confusion because people didn't know where their starting group was. There was no sign; you just had to figure it out yourself. We met quite a few people uncertain of what was going on.



    Definitely recommend Vienna for a city break; absolutely cracking place, vibrant, friendly, easy on the eye. The marathon organisers need to up their game.
  • Would be interested to know how others got on. Maybe I'm just fussy!
  • I've run a few marathons, low key but brilliant Duchy marathon (who can argue with a free pasty and a ??12 entry fee) and larger events like Amsterdam.



    Overall I have to say Vienna did pretty well, I went off at pace and realised I was sweating way too much and in the direct sunshine was going to get cooked - oh I would have loved a Hat !



    Water stops were probably enough for a normal day but it felt like arriving at an Oasis at each one. I stopped, walked, doused my head and drank a cup or two. After the first 6 miles it turned into a long slog. The last time I saw so many people dropping out to get medical attention (I saw quite a few ambulances) was Reading Half a few years ago.



    Good support through large sections of the course. I enjoyed the park sections and anywhere that had a bit of a breeze. Good to have music in different places along the route and of course the last mile of two was very well supported.



    After I realised my time had gone I just enjoyed it as much as possible, saw a few Serpies and was good to see so many runners from two different clubs in Bournemouth.



    I think the event format is good, Amsterdam have the half marathon in the afternoon by comparison when much of the support has gone. If you are going in a group or as a club having the different events starting at the same time is good.



    Picked up 3 bags, 2 from the expo and one after the race. The apple and banana were nice but not sure what I was supposed to do with fabric softener and cornflakes - so lost a few marks there.



    Great day for me despite the poor time, think I will do this in years to come. Vienna was great, nice transport system made it very easy,
  • Judging by the length of the queues I saw at the toilets, I think that the organizers could put out a few more in the start area. However, being a local I can get all that behind me before I leave home so I've never had to use them. It would be interesting to have the organizers point of view on the subject.

    Couldn't concur on the lack of water at the water stations. There was plenty at every station I passed an I guess that it can't be avoided that when so many people run that a bit of jostling will occur. Maybe it was different as the day got longer...

    Must say that I didn't see a medic tent but then again, I didn't look for them. However, they must have been there as I saw the Medics tending to some of the heat victims along the way.

    There are no time checks along the way. Unnecessary in my opinion as pretty well every runner has a watch on their wrist these days. Interestingly enough, this was the first Marathon that I've done where I didn't check my total time on the course, but just my Km splits. I had no idea what my end time was until after the race.

    To be fair to the organizers, the start blocks were very clearly illustrated in the race brochure, but some sort of sign  making the block entrance more visible would have been good to avoid confusion in the crowds.

    Maybe these points will get better next year. I'll definitely be there to find out

     

  • Slighly off topic, but wasn´t it some runners in the Vienna marathon who shortened their race with several km by taking the metro a couple of stations? Don´t remember the details but it was reported in the Swedish press. Must have been in the 1990´s.

     

     

  • Must have been in the days before Garmin connect image
  • Still hurting today - Finishing time was pretty poor but revised my target after illness last week, so can't really complain - last 5km very tough so just pleased to get over the line! On a bit of a downer after Boston news, but really enjoyed Vienna - great city, great weather and great post race celebration!

  • I see entries are open for next year, the dates work out so it is a week before London again and I must admit I am tempted,

    martv63 gone out for a recovery jog yet to get the stiffness out of the legs ? I did 4.09 miles in a race shirt this morning, felt I had to do something as a nod to Boston. The jog really helped get the legs working again.

Sign In or Register to comment.