Berlin Marathon - expo question

jrar

Hi, looking for advice from those of you who have done the Berlin marathon in the recent past.

I registered this morning wth some friends, but as things stand due to work and family situation, I do not think I'll be able to fly to Berlin until the Sat. (day before race).

Only Aer Lingus have a direct flight to Berlin that day but it's not scheduled to reach Berlin until 15:45 local time (assuming no delays etc.) - is this cutting it too fine to get to the expo and collect my race number / chip before the expo closing time at 18:00 ??

hunnymonster

This came up last year, I'll see if I can dig out the thread.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055382953&highlight=Berlin

Woddle

Way to fine for my liking, by the time you get out of the airport, through traffic and thats providing you land on time, also the expo will be packed. You would be adding to your stress levels aswell, not the best preperation before a marathon. If thats the only flight you can get, I would map out a direct route from the airport to the expo using the u or s ban

Peckham

+1 to what Woddle says.

You'd also miss the Boards AC beers session the night before the race!

aburke

WAY too tight...

shels4ever

jrar wrote: »

Hi, looking for advice from those of you who have done the Berlin marathon in the recent past.

I registered this morning wth some friends, but as things stand due to work and family situation, I do not think I'll be able to fly to Berlin until the Sat. (day before race).

Only Aer Lingus have a direct flight to Berlin that day but it's not scheduled to reach Berlin until 15:45 local time (assuming no delays etc.) - is this cutting it too fine to get to the expo and collect my race number / chip before the expo closing time at 18:00 ??

Your prob putting 4 + months into prep for the marathon if you can try to make an extra few house pre reace to reduce stress.

Racing Flat

If you have no other option flight wise, take the flight, but arrange for someone else to collect your number if possible and just meet them later on, or on the morning of the race.

Having done it last year and arriving on the Friday, but going to the expo on Sat, if I was to do it again, I'd go to the expo Friday. It was busy, there were some delays, there was a lot of walking from the tube to the expo, and no good food on offer - or food that you didn't have to queue for ages for. So ages on our feet, nowhere to go to the toilet, not eating between breakfast and 5.00pm was all a bit of a disaster.

Moral of the story - go Friday, or get a taxi straight there Saturday, go early.

Euchrid

Hey,

I was in same boat last year. Took a chance and booked the flight, arranged to meet another runner from boards who was on the flight and we shared a taxi to the expo. I was nervous but in the end we had well over an hour to spare. In fact it worked out well in one sense - anyone I met who was there in the morning or early afternoon spent hours on their feet queueing through a packed expo. We were through it and out the far side in 15 minutes.

I met one or two that relied on the underground/trains and they cut it tighter than us, but still made it with time to spare and considerably cheaper then our 60 euro taxi. So, while I'd advise a Friday flight if you can, I wouldn't pull out over havin to fly Saturday.

Of course something could go wrong though...

Racing Flat

Euchrid wrote: »

Of course something could go wrong though...

Delayed flight = GAME OVER

Euchrid

Racing Flat wrote: »

Delayed flight = GAME OVER

You could be delayed 20 mins... :-)

I certainly wouldn't recommend it, but if you have no choice, theres every chance it will work out.

If you read last years thread though, I think I remember mentioning that the same flight was delayed by between 20 and 60 mins on the Wed, Thur and Fri that week...

jrar

Racing Flat wrote: »

If you have no other option flight wise, take the flight, but arrange for someone else to collect your number if possible and just meet them later on, or on the morning of the race.

Thanks Racing Flat - is it possible for someone to collect your number/chip on your behalf ? I thought you had to register in person, sign indemity form, etc. etc ??

Our plan is for the 3 of us to jump a joe and hightail it over to the expo direct from the airport - will only have hand-luggage so hopeful of minimal delays. I'm going to check the distance between the airport and the expo to see if it's feasible etc.