Serpie Planner - event reports
Gothenburg Half Marathon (13 May 2006)
With mild conditions and low humidity, the conditions were perfect in Gothenburg. Unusually, the race is staggered so that groups start at different times, with the elites at 3pm going back to the last group around 4pm. Presumably this is because it\'s a small city and 36,000 people enter.
Apart from the winners, all times are based on chips. Therefore it is very difficult to know where you are even compared to the people you can see since some of them may be slow or fast runners from a different group. But this wasn\'t a problem and the atmosphere was great with everybody seeming to run or spectate.
The course undulates a bit but is relatively fast. Plus the surroundings are beautiful for a city race. Will make this a regular feature on my calendar from now on.
Report by Ian Sharman.
Gothenburg Half Marathon (17 May 2008)
A beautiful city to run round with a lot of waterfront scenery. Undulating course, including 2 notable bridges with significant climbs. Basically one lap of the city with great support along most of the route. Plus it's bigger than the London marathon (45,000 runners this year) and, I believe, the only half with more runners is the Great North Run. To avoid too much crowding, the start is staggered so only the top 1,000 runners start at 2pm and everyone else starts in cohorts every 3-6 minutes. This results in most of the faster runners finishing before some people have started.
Gothenburg Half Marathon (20 May 2017)
It was a great event: very well organized, live music, lots of spectators, a challenging course, and a great stadium finish.