This year, on the 6th and 7th of April, the traditional annual Vienna City Marathon will be held.
The first such marathon took place back in 1984, when 794 participants competed, last year – this figure exceeded 39,000 runners from more than 120 countries of the world. At present Marathon has become an important social event in the city life
Program of 36th Vienna City Marathon 2019
On the 5th of April the program of events will be opened with the exhibition Vienna Sports World dedicated to sport, tourism and healthy lifestyle. Here participants will be able to get their numbers.
On Saturday, the program will continue with the Pasta Party festival at the Town Hall, where all participants can enjoy live classical music, traditional Austrian cuisine and just chat. On the same day, there will be five races: the Coca-Cola Inclusion Run 2019, a kilometer long; the VCM youth race, designed for young people born in 2002–2009 and five kilometers long, the VCM KIDS RACE, for the youngest participants – 2004 – 2013 year of birth and two kilometers long; Home Run 2019 – with a distance of five kilometers and Vienna 10k with a route of ten kilometers.
Key Events
The key runs will take place on Sunday: Vienna City Marathon, Half Marathon and Relay Marathon. The length of the first is 42.195 kilometres, the second is 21.0975 kilometres, the third is also 42.195 kilometers, teams of four people will take part in the marathon. From the very morning of Sunday, tents with food and drinks for every taste will be opened in front of the Rathaus. So what attracts so many people in this event? First of all – the beauty of the city. On Sunday, participants of all marathons will begin their race at the United Nations building, run across the imperial bridge, through the Prater park, near the Opera, Schönbrunn, the Houses of Parliament and the Rathaus. In addition to these attractions, visitors of the city will have the opportunity to see Vienna in all its diversity. All of these races end at Burgtheater.
The second important aspect of these activities is charity and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Funds collected from Home Run are sent to help homeless people, children’s races are designed to inculcate in young people an interest in running and healthy living. The Sunday runners have possibility to choose where to put their participation fee. Last year, more than 163 thousand euros were collected, which went to various charitable organizations.
It is important to note that marathons will cause the changes in city public transport and auto routes because many streets will be blocked for autos in the city.
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