Hamburg Marathon To Be Held With 10,000 Runners and Elites on September 13th
UPDATE: Well ok, the running world remained shut down for the rest of 2020. As I write this update to the post (Jan 9, 2021) the pandemic is still in full swing and races are still being either cancelled or not being scheduled in the first place.
Looking on the bright side, 2020 wasn’t completely devoid of running. October’s London Marathon and December’s Marathon Project made sure fans weren’t totally deprived of the professional side of the marathon. Us “mortal runners” were able to get by on random local, socially distanced events and virtual races.
I feel like there’s reason to be optimistic about 2021. With the vaccines being released from various sources it’s probably safe to hope that we still see a return to regular live races at some point in the year. If not in the spring, certainly by fall. …I hope. probably. maybe. 🤔 🥺 🙏
Original post:
After a few huge fall marathons had been cancelled, this is a very exciting piece of news. Hamburg Marathon 2020 is moving forward as planned. Via Let’s Run:
The event, which was originally scheduled for April 19, has been granted an exemption by German authorities –who had implemented a ban on all large events through October 24– because organizers have agreed to implement a rigorous anti-COVID hygiene plan. The event is a World Athletics Gold Label Road Race.
“We are optimistic that the Haspa Marathon Hamburg will be started on 13 September,” said chief organizer Frank Thaleiser through a statement. “We have the plans and the infrastructure required. We will now make detailed plans together with the city to realize the race.”
Organizers are expecting 10,000 runners for the marathon, plus an additional 4,000 in a companion half-marathon (last year’s marathon had 10,079 finishers).
Someone’s gotta go first
Boston and Berlin were two fall marathons cancelled due to the pandemic. What’s striking about this is that the Berlin Marathon was scheduled for Sept 27. Yet the Hamburg Marathon is continuing as planned on Sept 13.
UPDATE: Add New York Marathon to the list of major marathon cancellations. News of this broke just a few hours after I posted this. NYC wasn’t scheduled until Sept 1, so are we already seeing some winter marathons getting cancelled?
Whatever the thinking behind it, the amburg Marathon is a huge piece of good news for runners wanting a return to something resembling normality. Personally, I half expected all the major fall marathons were going to end up being cancelled; but let’s face it, someone’s gotta be the first big marathon to go ahead as planned.
This is especially great news for people registered for any local race. I would think if some of the big fall marathons go forward as planned, most local level events ought to be safe. Time will tell of course.
Photo by Mike Rasching on Unsplash
