Rotterdam Marathon - 7th April 2019

Cartman78

Registration opened for this yesterday - it doesn't seem to sell out until February/March usually so plenty of time to decide.


Would be interested to hear some travel & accommodation tips from anyone who's done it before.


I haven't done a marathon since 2012; starting to slowly build a base now so if everything goes to plan I should be in good shape by the spring :pac:




Website



2018 Thread


2017 Thread

RayCun

Travel was no problem - flight to Amsterdam
train to Rotterdam from the airport took about an hour
maybe 20 minute walk from train station to expo

Accommodation I used AirBnB
Public transport around the city is very good, so you don't need to stay near the start/finish area

OOnegative

https://www.citizenm.com/destinations/rotterdam/rotterdam-hotel

Stayed here in 2016 when ran it, about 1km from start line. We flew Friday, back Monday flights were very reasonable, can’t remember exact figure we paid. Great marathon on pancake flat route with super support. Plenty of Irish always run it.

martyboy48

It's a good one. As previously posted, fly into Amsterdam and get the train to rotterdam from there. Public transport is excellent so you have plenty of options accommodation wise as you can stay a bit away from start area if you wish. I stayed in a hotel for my trip and it wasn't expensive, I paid €300 for four nights. I forgot how much the flights were though....

I'm starting to see Facebook posts about it now that registration has opened and I'm doing my best to resist!!!! I'll probably be going back to limerick I think, as I'm trying gather some money for my new car fund..... Trying to resist!!!!!

Edited to add I stayed in the Art Hotel. Metro stop right outside. Start area about 7-8 stops away.... Grand.....

RayCun

The race itself is very good - what I saw of it anyway :pac:

One corner in the first km that was a bit cramped (not stop in your tracks cramped, but slow you down a bit), but lots of wide roads in the early miles. Big water stations, giving out both water and sponges. Water in cups, but with the sponge in them to make them easy to drink from. Lots of support on the way. Very flat.

Cartman78

Limerick would be the logical choice for me too as I live about 15 mins drive from the start line :-)

Hoping to be in shape for a sub-3 hour effort....a long long way to go but happy with where I'm at right now. Avoiding illness will be the key....the last couple of winters have been disastrous on that front.

Slow_Runner

Great race, only congestion I recall was the 1st water stop (i just went around thw crowd and picked up water at the end table ) and the stretch along the canal can be tight but nothing major, heat can be a big factor and was in the 20s when I ran it.
As others have said public transport is excellent, we stayed in Delpht which is about 20 minutes away on the train - beautiful town which I'd describe as the romantic vision we all have of Amsterdam with quite canals.
Will definitely come back to this one.

Dub13

Thinking of doing this myself as looking for a spring marathon.

Cartman78

Well I haven't signed up yet but I've just bought a gel belt online so edging ever closer to committing to actually doing it


Training going pretty ok at the moment - still slowly building a base and mainly trying to avoid injury and illness.


I've got a half-marathon coming up on December 2nd in Corbally (Limerick) - I've never really targeted a half properly and never ran well in one so hoping to set a PB (<1:34) and get down as near as possible to 1:30.

Unthought Known

Edging towards this myself rather than Manchester. Booked the Art hotel last night for a couple of nights and flights look really cheap. Am I reading the FAQ's correctly? Do I need to book the bag drop for €1.50 or is that charge just for changing rooms?
Pasta party sounds interesting.

More important, looks like I'll be travelling alone so do people generally hang around in Rotterdam for a few pints on the Sunday?

OOnegative

Unthought Known wrote: »

More important, looks like I'll be travelling alone so do people generally hang around in Rotterdam for a few pints on the Sunday?

http://www.paddymurphys.nl/

Spot of choice most years for Boardsies/Irish.

RayCun

Unthought Known wrote: »

Am I reading the FAQ's correctly? Do I need to book the bag drop for €1.50 or is that charge just for changing rooms?

The FAQ is not clear, but last year the extra charge was for the changing rooms only.

The bag drop was the only poor element of the race last year. They had a series of bays for bags 1-500, 501-1000 etc, same as Dublin, but they only went up to 10,000 while the race numbers went up to 15,000, so loads of bags were thrown into the last bay, weren't sorted, and it took ages to find them afterwards.

AuldManKing

Unthought Known wrote: »

Edging towards this myself rather than Manchester. Booked the Art hotel last night for a couple of nights and flights look really cheap. Am I reading the FAQ's correctly? Do I need to book the bag drop for €1.50 or is that charge just for changing rooms?
Pasta party sounds interesting.

More important, looks like I'll be travelling alone so do people generally hang around in Rotterdam for a few pints on the Sunday?

Why R'dam & not M'Chester??

Unthought Known

AuldManKing wrote: »

Why R'dam & not M'Chester??

Only because I ran Manchester this year so thought I might try something different. I'm not 100% sure yet though, I did enjoy it and it's not every day you get to run through Karl Pilkington's home town!

AuldManKing

Just signed up for Rotterdam myself. Race, flights & hotel booked.

healy1835

RayCun wrote: »

The FAQ is not clear, but last year the extra charge was for the changing rooms only.

The bag drop was the only poor element of the race last year. They had a series of bays for bags 1-500, 501-1000 etc, same as Dublin, but they only went up to 10,000 while the race numbers went up to 15,000, so loads of bags were thrown into the last bay, weren't sorted, and it took ages to find them afterwards.

Yeah my mate got stung there. We never found out if we just couldn't find the bay in question or it just stopped at 10000! He just ended up asking to put his bag in with mine and they were ok with that.

healy1835

https://www.bilderberg.nl/en/rotterdam/parkhotel-rotterdam/

Stayed here, excellent hotel. Couldn't ask for a whole lot more, 1k from bag drop, great breakfast, close to supermarket and some nice bars

RayCun

healy1835 wrote: »

Yeah my mate got stung there. We never found out if we just couldn't find the bay in question or it just stopped at 10000! He just ended up asking to put his bag in with mine and they were ok with that.

It just stopped there, it was crazy.

I should have put my bag in one of the earlier bays, that last one was a mess at the end, I hate to think what it was like when the 4 hour gang came through

Derco

Thinking of giving this one a go this year although that bag drop does sound like a fiasco. Would it be worth just finding accomodation near the start area and just walk to and from?

Mr Jinx

Derco wrote: »

Thinking of giving this one a go this year although that bag drop does sound like a fiasco. Would it be worth just finding accomodation near the start area and just walk to and from?

Done Rotterdam twice, small enough city. most hotels within 10 mins walk of the start/finish

RayCun

Derco wrote: »

Thinking of giving this one a go this year although that bag drop does sound like a fiasco. Would it be worth just finding accomodation near the start area and just walk to and from?

The bag drop was the only thing about the event that didn't run like clockwork, so it will probably be better next year.

djemba djemba

Has anyone done the quarter marathon over there. A friend of mine is running the full. I will be over there for the weekend as support so would be nice to get some running in myself.

and still ricky villa

Sod it. I'm in. 3rd time lucky here.
If I die of something it may as well be optimism

AuldManKing

Bumping this up.

Who's doing Rotterdam this year?

Cartman78

Not me anyway :-)

The curse of the thread starter strikes yet again.

Haven't been able to get a consistent few weeks of training together so will have to give it a miss

and still ricky villa

Things are going pretty well.
I had a couple of monster weeks (for me) that set me back a bit cos I was doing more than my limit.
Back to reality now and not targeting a specific time, just want to have a decent race. The last two efforts were not happy experiences

dublin runner

I'm back in. Chasing fitness but currently on the upward curve, hoping to kick on from here on in. No races planned - every weekend very busy.

This build-up has been very different. Starting, tentatively, in looking forward to April. Always great to see how races and events should be organised, with a city given over to running for the weekend.

P.s The first person to mention we@ther is getting an old-fashioned blocking!

OOnegative

Perfect marathon running weather currently in Holland!!!

dublin runner

OOnegative wrote: »

Perfect marathon running weather currently in Holland!!!

......and blocked! Haha

Dub13

I am booked up and looking forward to it.

and still ricky villa

Less than a month to go,
How are we all feeling?

22 miles on Sunday for me and then it's taper hell