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May 6, 2024

Cracovia Marathon Runner Comments

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Course 3.9

Organization 4.4

Spectators 3.8

Number of comments: 18 [displaying comments 11 to 18]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 > ]

Andy Walker from Guernsey (5/29/2007) "Historic city: nice, low-key run" (about: 2007) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Cracovia Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 Well organized, low-key, small marathon. Easy to enter - no queues to pick up your number or at the tented pasta party. No true expo. Very well marshaled by police and volunteers. Rained heavily this year; that type of thing is in the lap of the gods, but it did keep spectators thin on ground. Free beer and soup after the run made for a very nice touch. Course could be so much better, though. Changed this year, and for the worse I think. The roads can be a bit rutted, so take care, but if only they used the historic part of city more and didn`t drag you out and back to boring eastern part of Cracow. The city is fantastic to visit with so many lovely churches and so much history - and it's still very cheap - so this run is on my recommended list.
Miro Rubis from Toronto, Canada (5/16/2007) "It really is a perfectly executed race" (about: 2007) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Cracovia Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 The Cracovia Marathon is a perfectly executed race for runners, by runners and Olympic Gold Medal walker. The organizers, the volunteers, and the local communities all pour themselves into the event and it's moving and wonderful to be the beneficiary of their efforts. Organization/spectators - The organizers had everything covered perfectly, making it as user-friendly a running experience as I can imagine. Pre-race was perfect; during a pouring rain you're in a warm tent with ample facilities and loads of incredibly caring, attentive volunteers, so you're made to feel special and your needs are met with no stresses. You saunter out to the start at the last minute and you're off. The organization remains great throughout - aid stations well placed and well done, highly visible volunteers on course controlling all intersections and marking turns, bike volunteers, EMTs, Special Forces (?) and med aid tents keeping an eye out for runners in trouble, and a fairly smooth finish area with reasonable food, first aid available, easy bag retrieval, available showers, and a nice area to mill about and exult and recover. (They could spread out the after-finish stuff more - there was a slight jam-up getting food and the chip removers weren't obvious; a friendly and very visible volunteer steered me to them.) Also the course itself is great, though to my mind not perfect (I agree with some of my fellow runners that it needs serious modifications in future). However, I voted five stars because there is no perfection, and because it is very good both for beauty/interest and for quality of running it permits. It's an engaging mix of the old-town cobblestones, and charming little trails along Vistula River with good spectator views and a great support and overwhelming volunteer presence. There are cars on the opposite lane in a couple of stretches, which isn't ideal but seems unavoidable given the course to Nova Huta. My bottom line: this is a truly great international marat(h)on, beautiful, runner-friendly event and you'll be happy if you do it.
Barry Spence from Northern Ireland (5/11/2007) "Brilliant city, poor support and poor course!!" (about: 2007) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Cracovia Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 This is the 4th marathon I have run and it's almost the worst. The course was changed this year, so rather than take in the lovely city (which we only ran through for about 4KM), we ran all the way to Nowa Huta, which is virtually a town filled with high-rise flats. The weather wasn't great. And the organized support said nothing; they just stood there, and that was particularly disappointing!!! We decided to do this marathon in the first place becasue the reports were that the support was brilliant and the course was interesting, we had no eveidence of this!!! Very disappointing...
A. M. from Hartlepool, England (5/21/2006) "If you fancy a European marathon, try this one." (about: 2006) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Cracovia Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Beuatiful, interesting and vibrant city to visit, can build a nice weekend away around your marathon (hard staying off the vodka whilst in Poland though, be careful:)!). The course is flat and fast, very pleasant along riverside and into the old town, where the 1000s of tourists/spectators will give you plenty of encouragement just when you need it! Well stocked drink stations every 5k, you had a choice of water, powerade, fruit and a sponge at each, brilliant! Thoroughly reccomend it, thats all I can say! My first marathon but am an expierienced 10k 1/2marathon runner so know what a good race should be like and this 1 has it all.
B. C. from Sweden, close to Gothenburg (5/10/2006) "It was a great race" (about: 2006) 11-50 previous marathons \| 4-5 Cracovia Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I participated in the marathon and was very pleased with everything. Fantastic organization, friendly and warm. The course was good and there was nice wather. Stayed in the Hotel Cracowia close to the start point. I would like to come back.
R. M. from Hong Kong (5/8/2006) "Worth the trip" (about: 2006) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Cracovia Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 The center of Krakow is very pretty and being further renovated so it's worth the trip just for that. The marathon is well organized, plenty of drinks, fruit and sponges as you go, except for the 2nd and 3rd stations which ran out before I got there. (I was doing 10K per hour). However, things improved after that and apart from a dull middle section the route by the river and town center is very pretty. Stay at the Ostoya Palace Hotel - it's within walking distance to the start - and celebrate at the Hotel Copernicus afterwards, which is expensive but fabulous.
A. B. from Montgomery, Alabama (12/6/2005) "Fantastic" (about: 2004) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Cracovia Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Ran this marathon with some buddies and had a blast. Great course, challenging but not overwhelming. Great race support and beautiful location. Hoping I get to do it again someday .
P. L. from Krakow, Poland (10/4/2004) "A great race" (about: 2004) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Cracovia Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 It was my first marathon, but now I have another event to compare with (highly praised UK marathon - not nearly as good as this one) - and certainly there will be more. I decided to participate few days before the race, with little preparation, and finished in pain in just over 4 hours - but I enjoyed it thoroughly. The track consisted of two loops (one for half-marathon) starting on a historic Market Square in medieval town centre, and went mostly along Wisla River (rare opportunity of watching race leaders finishing - on the opposite shore!). It was really scenic - and finishing round along the Market Square, with all the cheering crowd, was impressive. Also, organization was great: no cars anywhere on the route, drink/water points regularly, nice medals, car draw for participants... I will certainly be back.

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