#restartrunning: The GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON is the first really big running event in Germany after the long Corona break. More than 25,000 participants are expected to run the 21.0975 kilometres on August 22, 2021. Because all of them will either have been vaccinated against Covid19, have recovered from the disease or have demonstrated through PCR tests not to be currently infected, the run will also be a safe affair. You can expect a super-fast loop course that takes you past all the major sights - with the start and finish in the immediate vicinity of the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column. In this digital magazine, you'll find all the important information about the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON 2021, when the race celebrates its 40th birthday.
The history of the
The history of the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON begins in 1981 with a running competition in the East Berlin district of Lichtenberg with almost 1000 participants. One year later, 20,000 people ran the Peace Run through the capital of the GDR. After Reunification, the BERLIN HALF MARATHON developed out of this race, with the start and finish remaining in the eastern part of the long after the German capital was unified, until 2018. A look back at the past — especially at the prehistory of the 40th GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON. Text: Wolfgang Weising | Photos: LAUFZEIT archive, SCC EVENTS
The internationally flourishing running movement in the 1970s also created its own scene in East Germany. For a long time, sports enthusiasts in the eastern part of Berlin wished for a race through the city, as was the case in other large cities. In West Berlin, the “25 km de Berlin” and the BERLIN-MARA- THON were already being held. But all efforts to tie in with earlier traditions of the undivided city of the 1950s, such as “Potsdam-Berlin“ or “Quer durch Berlin“ (Across Berlin), failed due to bureaucratic hurdles in the East. The second biggest running event in the GDR Impulses from the running community produced little effect at that time. In 1981, a marathon through the side streets of the Lichtenberg district was the first attempt, as a forerunner of the Berlin Peace Run — which is now considered to be the inaugural event leading up to the 40th run in 2021. 358 marathon runners and 600 participants in the 8.3-km race competed in a race with the start and finish in the Zachert Stadium in Lichtenberg. By then, all respectable capital cities hosted city races, and with them, international headlines. So in 1982, the Red City Hall of East Berlin and the DTSB (German Gymnastics and Sports Association) gave the green light for a big race through the city. Of course, in the rhetoric of the day, this race was to serve peace and was named the Berliner Friedenslauf (Berlin Peace Run). 20,000 participants were counted at the event with start and finish at Leninplatz (now United Nations Square). The number of runners without official times must have been estimated a bit high, as there were only 368 results recorded for the marathon and 752 for the 20-km race. Like - 30 -
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