16th of May the 10th Great Wall Marathon was held. We ended up with 1500 runners from more than 40 countries.
The mens marathon was dominated by the Americans who took the first 4 places and won by Justin Walker in 3:40:54.
In the womens marathon the New Zealanders dominated with 3 runners in top 4 and Joanna Goose could celebrate her victory by winning in 04:03:23
Winners in The Great Wall Halfmarathon was Daniel Phillips, 1:41:24 and Heather Lea Danks 1:51:12 both from Australia.
Also it?s worth mention that ?The Great Dane? Henrik Brandt completed his 10th Great Wall Marathon.
Great Wall Marathon 2010 will be held 15th of May but you don?t have to wait that long for a new running adventure. The Big Five Marathon will take place 20th of June in South Africa, The Great Tibetan Marathon 18th of July, the brand new Petra Marathon 26th of September and finally The Polar Circle Marathon will finish of the Adventure Marathon calendar this year 24th of October.

This year The Great Wall Marathon will be held for the 10th time.
Approximately 1450 runners from almost 40 different countries will come and celebrate the anniversary at The Great Wall.
Mr. Henrik Brandt from Denmark will run his 10th Great Wall Marathon. He is the only one who have completed the marathon distance each year.
The 2010 race date is 15. May. If you can?t wait that long we still have a few start numbers left for The Big Five Marathon held in South Africa 20. June.

We are proud to announce the brand new Great Wall Marathon website on:
http://www.great-wall-marathon.com/
Watch the new videos from last years run or follow the route in 3D on Google Earth.
If you experience any problems with download speed, broken images or links - do not hesitate to contact us.
First of all, we hope you don't have a problem with, well, the colour red :-)

We still have numbers available for this years marathon. For more information on registration, go to the website and find a list of all of our local partners.
Comments are welcome, naturally.
Jesper

Runners all over the world are crazy about The Polar Circle Marathon. Registrations are ticking in, and bib numbers are running out.
Even though it is huge, the ice sheet of Greenland only has room for a limited number of runners. We therefore advise you to sign up soon, if you want a guarantied entry for this year's event.
At www.polar-circle-marathon.com you can find the sales agent in your country. If your country is not listed, please sign up at info@adventure-marathon.com
"The Coolest Marathon on Earth" will take place 24 October 2009 in Greenland's ice, snow and exceptional, deserted landscapes.

The dust from the old road between Hemis and Spituk monasteries was whirled up on July 19th as 108 runners set out for The Great Tibetan Marathon 2008. 46 runners signed up for the full marathon, while the remaining was spread out on the half marathon, 10km & 5km distances.
After a ceremonial blessing at Hemis monastery performed by the lama monks, the race started.
The first 5km of steep down hill running saw Maricruz Lopez from Mexico taking the lead of the full marathon group, but as the route flattened out Trausti Valdimarsson from Iceland took the lead. From then on he never let anyone get close enough to pass him and after 3 hours and 44 minutes Trausti crossed the finish line at Spituk as winner of The Great Tibetan Marathon 2008. Behzad Rajabian from the USA and Petur Helgason also from Iceland came in as 2nd and 3rd.
In the womens competition Maricruz Lopez was unbeatable and crossed the finishing line in 4 hours and 27 minutes. She was followed by Australias Julia Hutchinson and Kristin Magnussen from Norway.
As if running in an altitude of 3500 meters (11500 feet) wasn't hard enough the temperatures reached 35 degrees celsius (95 degrees F), but still no runners gave up or got pulled out by the medical team.
For a full result list please go to www.great-tibetan-marathon.com
Next year The Great Tibetan Marathon will take place July 18th. We hope to see you there!

It is Sunday morning here in Beijing, and both runners and organisers in The Great Wall Marathon have benefitted from a good night's sleep.

As mentioned, the marathon was a great succes with more runners than we have ever seen before - 1608 runners from 38 countries ran over the start line in the marathon, halfmarathon, 10K or 5K.

The weather forecasts had predicted heavy rains, so everybody was a little nervous thinking about how some of the trails would inevitably turn into sticky mud. But luckily it kept dry all day and a thick layer of clouds covered the blazing sun and kept the temperatures at around 18 degrees C - in other words perfect running weather.

We even saw a new marathon course record set by Romualdo Sanchez Garita from Mexico who finished in an astonishing 3:18:47. The first female marathoner to cross the finish line was Leanne Juul from South Africa with a time of 4:09:07. Winners in The Great Wall Halfmarathon was Andrew Dorobek, USA, 1:34:44 and Helene Rao, France, 1:55:51.

All reults in The Great Wall Marathon 2008 are available at www.ultimate.dk

Now, we are just waiting for the big gala dinner tonight, and then we can start looking forward to the Great Wall Marathon 2009. This will be the 10th race, and a few special treats for the anniversary are already in the making...

Labels: 2008, china, great, marathon, results, wall

It's almost midnight here in Beijing and it's been a long day, but also an amazing and wonderful day!
Details about The Great Wall Marathon 2008 will follow tomorrow after a good and much needed sleep. The Great Wall Marathon 2008 went very well and 2 records were set:
1: Most runers ever to participate with more than 1700 from 49 different countries.
2: A new time record was set this year in the mens Full marathon with an astonishing time of 3hrs:18min.

As mentioned more details tomorrow, now it's time for bed!

In 8 hours (7.30AM GMT+7) the start of The Great Wall Marathon 2008 will be shot off. The runners have been preparing themselves mentally as well as physically during the day and in the evening most of them went to the big Pasta Party to ensure that they got a healthy and useful meal before the demanding race tomorrow.
Hopefully the runners are all sleeping now as they have to get up early in the morning for departure to the wall. It takes about 2-2½ hours to get there from Beijing, which may seem weird to spend that much time in a bus before such a tough event. But I assure you, it is well worth the drive!
Everything is ready for the race except the weather... The forecast says rain...!? I really hope they are wrong, but kindly ask everyone of you to send positive and sunny thoughts to Huangyaguan, Tianjin Province, China! Thank you :-)
With hopes of a sunny, joyful and successful race tomorrow, it's time to say good night.

The whole Adventure Marathon team and all the runners here in Beijing are counting the hours till Saturday 8 a.m. - the start of The Great Wall Marathon. Today was Route Inspection Day, many runners' first meeting with the wall's 5164 steps.

In blazing sunshine all runners and spectators met at the yin-yang square right below the steps of the Wall for a quick peptalk. Then everybody was taken by bus along a short section of the marathon route - a 5 km long hill winding all the way up to where the really funny business begins. The first steps on The Great Wall were taken, while cries of admiration over the spectacular views were let out and cameras were clicking away. The pulse went up as the world's toughest runners encountered just a hint of what awaits them on Saturday.

After a couple of hours of climbing the steep and rugged steps, the runners were - if possible - even more excited than before hitting the Wall. Some people even decided to upgrade from the half to the full marathon, and a lot of spectators decided to run too. So now the field of runners consists of more than 1700 excited and courageous runners.

Noe we are just waiting for that start gun to go off.

When you are not flying Business Class on a 9 hour night flight is not giving you the best of rests... But we arrived on time at the impressive Beijing Int. Airport, they are definitely ready to receive the masses of the Olympic Games in August. Perfect sign guiding, spacious terminals, effective passport control and fast bagage delivery helped us get through the vast airport in just 30 minutes. All good except for one little hurdle... Customs!
Arriving with several huge boxes including radios, time keeping equipment, medical equipment and other nescessities for a marathon of course wakes the attention of customs and although all the papers have been checked and confirmed a thousand times from home it still isn't always enough... So the 30 minutes suddenly grew till 4½ hours before we could leave the airport, still leaving a few things behind waiting for final clearance...

The Danish Athletic Federation Team and Officials went directly to Huangyagun to start setting up the route and preparing for Inspection Day tomorrow (Thursday). They will be joined by the Medical Team later today as well as the Photo Team. The bulletins from the Wall states that everything is under control. I will go tomorrow and check it out for myself along with all the runners who are going for the inspection of the route.

Today the remaining runners will arrive while those on the longer itineraries are on sightseeing in Beijing. Here they can see that the city is getting ready for the Olympics although there is still a lot of construction going on, but compared to last year they have come a long way.

As mentioned a couple of times, tomorrow is Inspection Day and this is when the runners start realising what they have actually got themselves in to...

Little more than a week and the start for The Great Wall Marathon will go off for the 9th time.
Runners will start arriving in Beijing this weekend where they will be up for city sightseeing and jet lag adjustment before the challenging and astonishing race next Saturday, May 17th.
During the past couple of weeks the Great Wall Marathon staff has been working full time to get everything set and ready for the big event. It has been another great experience this year to get everything ready in time as the Great Wall Marathon once again breaks the record of participants; 1664 runners (1197 particiapted last year) will go for the challenge of either Full- or Half Marathon or 10 or 5 KM. 135 family members and friends has taken the trip as well to cheer along the route and give moral support to their loved ones. Also along the route runners will be praised and supported by the local population of Huangyaguan who are proud and honoured that this big event takes place in their district.
It is going to be a festive event, which we all look forward to!

You can follow the events before, during and after the marathon on this blog starting from Tuesday when the International Staff & Officials arrive in China.
We will keep you updated!

Now you can sign up for the Polar Circle Marathon 2008. This amazing race that takes place just north of the Polar Circle in Greenland, gives the participants a unique running experience.
Astonishing glaciers, vast tundra, reindeer and musk oxen and of course the Ice Cap itself is some of the amazing sights waiting for the runners.
The route itself will be a good challenge as well as the cold and dry air will contribute to the "adventure" feeling. It is, however, a marathon that can be completed in a fair time although one shouldn?t expect to set a personal record.
The race takes place October 18th and we have put together a Basic Package and an Optional Package for those who wish to explore more of beautiful Greenland.
For all details, please go to our website: www.polar-circle-marathon.com

Yesterday, January 14, Adventure Marathon Manager Rune Nortoft paid a visit to the head office of Danish Red Cross. Here he met with Robert Kwesiga, Head of Region for Red Cross in Southern Africa, who was visiting from Zimbabwe.
On behalf of Adventure Marathon and Albatros Travel, Mr. Nortoft handed over the profit from The Red Cross Big Five Marathon 2007 - a cheque of 100.000 Danish kroner (corresponding to approx. USD 20,000).
The money will be used to build up the South African Red Cross Society (SARCS) creating a solid base for future support and promotion of the society. The Red Cross in South Africa works on very small means and needs more attention in order to help improving health, preventing disease and mitigate suffering in South Africa.
The South African Red Cross Society will also receive the profit of The Red Cross Big Five Marathon in 2008 - the more runners in the marathon, the more funds the South Africans receive.

Labels: africa, big, charity, five, marathon, south

The Great Tibetan Marathon, half marathon, 10 km and 5 km will in 2008 take place 19th of July. All packages and prices are ready. Please have a look at www.great-tibetan-marathon.com where all details are to find. Again in 2008 the marathon will start in an altitude of 3800 meters in the monastery of Hemis. 42,195 km later you will cross the finish line in an altitude of 3400 meters in the courtyard of the Spituk Monastery. A breathtakingly beautiful route in the Indus Valley past ancient monasteries, small Tibetan villages and majestic snow covered mountains.

The Big Five Marathon ! The wildest of them all !
Its a pleasure to announce that all packages and prices for The Red Cross Big Five Marathon 2008 are ready. on www.big-five-marathon.com you can find all details needed to participate in the marathon or half marathon.
28th of June the marathon will start at 8 o?clock. We guarantee you an adventure and a marathon you will never forget. Running among the wildlife on the African savannah, is indeed something to remember.
We have a maximum of 500 runners in this event. If you like to run on 28th of June we advise you to sign up soon to make sure that you will get a start number.Again in 2008 The South African Red Cross Society will get all the money earned on The Red Cross Big Five Marathon. We are happy to continue the cooperation with them.

Returned from Berlin Marathon Expo a few days ago. It was great talking to all of you who came to our booth to talk about our marathons and it was also great to hear about your running experiences from around the world. Hope you all had a good marathon. I didn?t run this year but was one of the many spectators along the route. It was a big experience to watch all you runners and even though not running, being a part of the event was a big experience. Due to the big success this year, we will be back again next year for the expo in Berlin.

The Adventure Marathons are increasing in popularity meaning more runners each year.
At Albatros we rate our marathons very high and wish to improve them in every way we can.
With The Great Wall Marathon setting new records for number of participants, The Polar Circle Marathon back in schedule and the introduction of The Taj Mahal Marathon in 2008 we are looking forward to a busy but exciting season. Therefore it was decided to add an extra "runner" to the team and this is where I come into the picture.
I will be working closely together with Rune in setting up our 5 Adventure Marathons and hopefully develop new ones. My first task will be The Great Tibetan Marathon in July and I am, needless to say, very excited!
I still have not run a marathon, or even half a marathon, and to be honest, it has been 4 years since I put on my sneakers and tested myself on "the open road"... Instead the gym has kept me safe from the wind and rain. I feel confident, however, that I will be able to give you perfect settings for the race.
I am looking forward to getting to know all of you and see you sweat your guts out trying to reach the finish line :-)

This Saturday, June 30, at 8 o'clock a selection of some of the toughest runners in the world will start out for 42.195 km of exhausting but absolutely rewarding running. The Big Five Marathon is a safari, an exploration of magnificent nature and a marathon all connected into one event.
The course winds up and down two plateaus with altitude levels of 1100 and 1600 m and the route foundation is challenging, to say the least. But in return finishers are rewarded with lions, giraffes and antelopes as spectators, a scenery beyond comparison and, not least, the opportunity to earn unmatchable bragging rights.
Due to safety requirements and out of consideration for the animals only 500 runners are allowed in the marathon and half marathon. So the field of runners is truly a selected club, but if you hurry up you might just be in time for one of the last bibs.

In the media gallery on the Great Wall website, you will find all the Great Wall Marathon 2007 photos and videos. We will be uploading more material regularly.
Send us your photos and movies, and we will publish them here for the benefit of other runners.

Now, you can also download the full 8 minute video in the iPod mp4 format. So go ahead and dwell upon your special Great Wall moments when you commute to work, relax on the porch of your friend's house, etc.

Here you go; an 8 minute summary of this year's run :-)