3-Laender-Marathon Runner Comments

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Course 4.6

Organization 4.6

Spectators 4.1

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Number of comments: 12 [displaying comments 11 to 11]

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Steve Brown from Santa Rosa, CA (10/5/2004)

"Beautiful Scenery and Enjoyable Experience" (about: 2004)

3 previous marathons | 1 3-Laender-Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4

The 2004 3-Lander Marathon is the 4th marathon that I've run in the past three years. And it was certainly in the most beautiful location. The course runs along the gorgeous Bodensee starting in Lindau, Germany, and running back through Brengez, Austria, then briefly through Switzerland, and then finishing in a stadium back in Bregenz.

You can get by with speaking English, but it certainly helps to know some German. I knew enough German that it allowed me to start up conversations with people and then switch back and forth between the two languages as needed.

Although the area is surrounded by high mountains, the course itself is almost completely flat, staying along the Bodensee and in the valley areas. The only 'hills' are where you have to go up and over rivers or roads on bridges. Most of the path is asphalt, but some is cobblestone, and some is dirt/gravel as it follows along the lake, over small rivers, and through the towns. Some of the path is open, but other portions are lined with beautiful trees and therefore well shaded.

Since the weather was perfect this year, there were actually quite a few spectators along the way, standing their backyards along narrow cobblestone streets, yelling (I think) 'Ab, Ab' and 'Super' as you run by. Last year (2003) apparently it was about 40 degrees and pouring down rain ... so weather can be an issue.

It should be possible to run a personal best on this course, but you'll need to watch out because several areas are pretty narrow. There were around 5,000 people running this year (1/2 and full), so the start is pretty crowded.

Although the first two water stations were at 5K and 10K, after that there were water/juice stations about every 2K. Be warned however, that you might end up with warm tea if you're not careful! They also provided bananas at several of the later stops.

The nudel party (pasta party) was pretty low key, but I did meet and talk (combination of German and English) to many people. The exibition was almost nonexistent, but that's not why I went.

The finisher medal was large, and rather average in appearance, but it is one I will treasure since it is my first 'international' marathon. Although the website indicated there was supposed to be a finisher T-Shirt, I did not receive one when I crossed the line. This was possibly a language problem on my end, but I'm following up to see if I can still get it.

I stayed at the Mercure hotel/casino in Bregenz which was only a 5 minute walk from the finishing line, so I had no problems going back to my hotel to shower and change. There were also showers and change facilities available at the finish area. The hotel area was very noisy at night on Friday and Saturday due to the Casino next door, so if you have trouble sleeping you might want to try a different location.

If my business travel plans allow, I'd certainly run this one again!

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