The organization of the ASML Marathon Eindhoven understands that many marathon runners are disappointed that they will no longer be about the Stratumseind. Last weekend it was announced that the organization has canceled this popular crossing for the runners of the entire marathon. This led to many indignant reactions, but director Wilbert Lek says that the organization could not do anything else. “For us, safety, walking experience and comfort are paramount.”
For many runners of the Eindhoven marathon, this year Sunday, October 12, it was one of the moments that they looked forward to: walking in the final phase over the well -attended Stratumseind and being strongly encouraged towards the finish on the Vestdijk.
For the runners of the Half Marathon and Kwart Marathon, the passage over the Eindhoven Stapstraat will be on the program, but the sports enthusiasts who make the 42 kilometers (about 6000 this year) have to miss the Stratumseind. The news caused a lot of indignation, but according to organizer Golazo it also led to positive reactions.
“Safety of the runners is the most important thing for us. That is why we decided a few years ago to start the entire and half marathon at the same time in the morning, so that the participants do not have to run at the heat of the day,” Wilbert Lek explains.
Because the organization always brought the runners of these two parts together before the Stratumseind, it became very busy at that location, among other things. Maybe too busy.
“This also led to complaints at runners,” says Lek. “They were sometimes stopped. The comfort to walk became less.” Another option was to pull the finish line in a different place in the center. “This has been seriously considered. A lot will be built in the center of Eindhoven in the coming years, but we will and will always finish in the center of Eindhoven. To shift the finish this year, that was a bridge too far for us.”
Now the participants of the entire (6000 runners) and the half marathon (14,000) come together 300 meters from the finish. Lek expects that despite this disappointment, the runners of the entire marathon will experience a very nice game.
“The runners who do go over the Stratumseind ensure that it also gets busy there, even at the hospitality industry.”
“We realize entertainment in about forty places along the course and it will also be a party on the Vestdijk,” explains Lek. “The runners who do go over the Stratumseind ensure that it also gets busy there, also at the hospitality industry. I am not worried about that.”
Does the new route ensure that the course record (2:04:52 of Kenneth Kipkemoi) from 2023 might be broken? “I don’t know if the new course is faster,” says Lek. “That is not the goal either. The real toppers always run on a free course anyway. We really did this for the masses.”
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