The Brussels Marathon is an annual AIMS-certified

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , 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 are also wheelchair div ...

held in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, 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 The ING Group ( nl, ING Groep) is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale bankin ...

and the

Royal Belgian Athletics League The Royal Belgian Athletics League (Dutch language, Dutch: Koninklijke Belgische Atletiekbond, French language, French: ''Ligue Royale Belge d'Athlétisme'') is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Belgium. It consists of the Flemish ...

. 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 2021.10.03 due to the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...

, 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 (french: Ville de Bruxelles or alternatively ''Bruxelles-Ville'' ; nl, Stad Brussel or ''Brussel-Stad'') is the largest municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well a ...

, in the proximity of

Brussels Park Brussels Park (french: Parc de Bruxelles, ; nl, Warandepark) is the largest urban public park in central Brussels, Belgium. Formerly known and still sometimes colloquially referred to as the Royal Park (french: Parc royal, nl, Koninklijk Park ...

. Initially the runners head eastwards, to

Tervuren Tervuren () is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Duisburg, Tervuren, Vossem and Moorsel. On January 1, 2006, Tervuren had a total population of 20,636. The total a ...

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

Cinquantenaire The Parc du Cinquantenaire (French language, French for "Park of the Fiftieth Anniversary", pronounced ) or Jubelpark (Flemish language, Dutch for "Jubilee Park", pronounced ) is a large public, urban park of in the easternmost part of the Br ...

Park, the

Woluwe The Woluwe (; ) is a stream that goes through several municipalities in the southeast and east of Brussels and is a right tributary of the Senne/Zenne (in Vilvoorde). The Kleine Maalbeek is a tributary of the Woluwe (in Kraainem). Many ponds form ...

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

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

. 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 The 20 km of Brussels (french: 20 km de Bruxelles, nl, 20 km door Brussel) is a 20.1 km running race that has been held each year in Brussels since 1980, usually in May. It used to have a maximum number of 25,000 entries, which were normally sold o ...

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 events in Belgium