The Brussels Marathon is an annual AIMS-certified

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

held in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, first held in 1984, and usually held in the autumn. Races of shorter distances are also held on the same day.

History

The full race was first held in 1984. The race was not held from 1995 to 2003. In 2004, the race was restarted as part of the ING Running Tour, organized by ING Belgium and the Royal Belgian Athletics League. Public controversy arose in social networks in 2017, where podium awards appeared and differed significantly between females and males. Following a change of sponsorship by Brussels Airport in 2018, the organisers (Golazo Sports) announced that awards would be aligned equally for both sexes. In 2018, the organisers defended the non-publication of full race results including category positions on the grounds of recent changes in European privacy laws, although inconsistent with standard practice as well as the publication of other race results by the same organiser. The 2020 edition of the race was postponed to 3 October 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium The COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Belgium on 4 February 2020, when one of a group of nine Belgians repatriated from Wuhan to Brussels was repor ...

, with all entries automatically remaining valid for 2021.

Course

The marathon makes a loop, starting and ending in the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels is the largest List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the ...

, in the proximity of

Brussels Park Brussels Park ( ; or ) is the largest urban public park in central Brussels, Belgium. The park was formerly known and is still sometimes colloquially referred to as the Royal Park ( ; ). It was the city's first public park, being originally ...

. Initially the runners head eastwards, to

Tervuren Tervuren (; ) is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish region of Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Duisburg, Tervuren proper, Vossem and Moorsel. On 1 January 2006, Tervuren had a total population o ...

. Alongside the track, the participants pass several green areas: the

Cinquantenaire The Parc du Cinquantenaire (; ) or Jubelpark (; ) is a large public, urban park of in the easternmost part of the Brussels and the European Union, European Quarter in Brussels, Belgium. Most buildings of the U-shaped complex that dominate th ...

Park, the

Woluwe The Woluwe (; ) is a stream that flows through several municipalities in the south-east and east of Brussels, Belgium, and is a right tributary of the Senne in Vilvoorde. The Kleine (little) Maalbeek is a tributary of the Woluwe in Kraainem. M ...

Park, the Capuchin Forest, the Royal Belgian Golf Club and the

Bois de la Cambre The ( French, ) or ( Dutch, ) is an urban public park in Brussels, Belgium. It lies in the south of the Brussels-Capital Region, in the City of Brussels, and covers an area of , forming a natural offshoot of the Sonian Forest, which penetrate ...

. Since 2017, the course has started and finished in the Cinquantenaire Park, initially heading west anti-clockwise around the city, with the full marathon deviating out-and-back to

. Since 2018, the start and finish has coincided with the more renowned 20 km of Brussels held in May.

Additional distances

A half marathon, a Mini Marathon (6.5 km) and a Kids Run (1 km) are also held.

Qualification

The full Brussels Marathon is open to runners 18 or older from any nation. Competitors for the half marathon have to be at least 16 years of age.

Attendance

More people participate in the half marathon than in the full marathon. As of 2014, the half marathon had its largest attendance in 2012 with 8006 participants, and the full Brussels Marathon had its largest attendance in 2010 with 2546 runners.

Environmental impact

In response to increasing public concerns on the amount of unnecessary waste at such public sports events, the organisers are aiming at a plastic-free event from 2019 onwards, with drinking water served in cardboard cups, no goody bags and avoiding the need for aluminium foil protection after the race by ensuring participants' sports bags are readily accessible.

Winners

Source: Key: Course record (in bold)

Marathon

Initial era

Current era

Half marathon

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links

Brussels Airport Brussels Marathon & Half Marathon
* Association of Road Racing Statisticians ARRS Recurring sporting events established in 1984 Annual events in Brussels 1984 establishments in Belgium Marathons in Belgium Annual sporting events in Belgium Tervuren Autumn in Belgium