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May 7, 2024

Buenos Aires Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Buenos Aires Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 3.8

Organization 3.7

Spectators 2.9

Number of comments: 30 [displaying comments 11 to 21]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 > ]

D. L. from Bogota, Colombia (11/17/2008) "Well Organized" (about: 2008) 4-5 previous marathons \| 2 Buenos Aires Marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I ran this race in 2006 and you can notice the big improvements in organization. It rained every single minute of the 2008 race and even though there is not a lot of spectators out there, I got the impression fans were more cheerful this year (despite the rain). I still recommend it as a fun, well organized marathon...
E. N. from New Jersey, USA (11/8/2008) "Good marathon in a great city" (about: 2008) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Buenos Aires Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 Previous comments concerning the marathon on MarathonGuide.com were extremely helpful in navigating through the whole experience of the Buenos Aires Marathon. The website is basic with minimal information. Expo was basic, and even without knowing Spanish, you could navigate yourself through packet pickup. Definitely take a taxi to the start. The light rain had the runners clustering under any small tree they could find. The point-to-point course gives you an overview of the city, warts and all. A majority of the course is run through areas tourists do not see and, in some cases, should not go. The course for the majority of the first 9 miles was run on an elevated roadway. The section of the race that traveled through the center of the city hit some of the sites. The course then ran out toward the Boca neighborhood and back along the port to the Madero section. You definitely get to see the difference between rich and poor. The last eight miles were along the river behind the airport which was devoid of spectators. The course had plenty of water and Gatorade. There were also fruit stations. The misting station at around 30K was not really needed, since the rain was continuous throughout the run. After crossing the finish line, the post-race amenities were adequate. Baggage pick up was not an issue, although I avoided using the cardboard shopping bag they gave at the expo. Getting out of the park is still a tight squeeze. The finish line stands make it impossible to get out in the four-foot-wide space between the stands and the fence. The other way out has a footbridge that is too small to handle the runners exiting. After getting to the street, getting a taxi along with the rest of the runners is a little bit of a challenge. Buenos Aires is a great city. The marathon is just a good race.
Daniel Schweimler from Buenos Aires, Argentina (10/17/2008) "good race, not much atmosphere" (about: 2008) First Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 From previous comments, it sounds as though they ironed out some of the problems in the 2008. Again it was raining at the start and nowhere to hide. But plenty of drinks, Gatorade, gel and lots of fruit, which I really appreciated. The start is a long way from everywhere and the first 12K or so is along a rather dull (closed) main road. We also ran through a Brazilian truck drivers' parking area, which was surreal. I staggered home in over five hours, and while the stewards were understandably cold, wet and bored, they were still there at the end, doing their job. It's still difficult to get home from the finish area. Massage tent was a good touch and had no problem finding the bag with my gear in it. There is no tradition of spectators watching marathons in Buenos Aires... especially on a Sunday morning in the rain.
J. S. from Sao Paulo (4/7/2008) "Still a Nice Race" (about: 2007) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Buenos Aires Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 It is true that the expo was badly located and it is also true that getting your bag at the end of the race was somewhat problematic. Still, the 2007 edition was fairly well organized. There WERE water and Gatorade at the start, and the stops (every 5K) had plenty of water, fruit, gels and Gatorade for all participants. The course should be nicer (Buenos Aires has beautiful sites that are not on the course), but I believe that is a consequence of trying to avoid traffic problems. Unfortunately the city does not get into the marathon atmosphere. However, this is still the best marathon to run in any major Latin American city.
A. M. from NY (11/15/2007) "Still it was fun!" (about: 2007) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Buenos Aires Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 I would not claim that organization of the Buenos Aires Marathon was bad. There was NO organization. Back in the US all my e-mails to the organizers went unanswered. So I didn't even know how to get to the start. Or to the expo. Or how to get home from the finish. Eventually, it all worked out well. So here is my advice to the future runners. Take a taxi from the center to the start - it costs about $10. Let the driver worry where to go. At the start there is no water. Well, there is NOTHING there. Just the street. And this year (2007) it was very cold and windy early in the morning with no place to hide. Try to use your charm to get to the elite tent. I did, succeeded, and in that tent they sell water and even hot tea! And they have a toilet there, with hot water to warm up your frozen hands. Wow! I used a red bag for my clothes, screamed, "Bolsa roja" (supposedly it means red bag) in the baggage area and within 15 minutes I was out. Those runners who used the normal plastic bags given at the expo are probably still there. Bring some food to the start and check it with your baggage so that you can eat it after the finish. When I crossed the finish line, there was not a single piece of food there, and only a couple of drinks. If you can finish in 2 and a half hours, then don't worry - food probably will be still there - but not for the 4-hour runners like me. Then comes the biggest challenge of the marathon, which is to exit the finish area. It sounds surreal but the only way out is through a long and very narrow bridge, and the line to that bridge was probably half a mile long and not moving almost at all. I acted like a jerk, pretended to be a stupid foreigner not understanding what was going on, and jumped the line. That saved me at least an hour of standing in burning sun. But I am still embarrassed for what I did. Please don't do it. Try to go in the other direction, where the runners enter the park on the way to the finish line. There must be some other way to get out of this Haunted Park. Now that you are finally out of the park, there is only one challenge left, and if you survived all the other ones, this one is a piece of cake. You have to walk for 10-15 minutes to the main road and try to catch a taxi back to the city. Yes, all those lucky runners who already got their bags and managed to cross the bridge will compete with you, but all you have to do is to out-walk them, or in other words, walk against the traffic for another 10-15 minutes and catch a free taxi BEFORE it reaches all those tired huddled masses yearning to come to their homes and hotel rooms as fast as possible. Finally, please don't be stopped by my comments and the comments of the others. Go to Buenos Aires, and run this marathon. The city is beautiful, there is a lot to see there. The marathon course is actually very interesting, covering all of the major sites. And after you do the marathon, award yourself with a plane ticket (about $110 one way) to Iguazu Falls, one of the most beautiful places you will ever see!
Omar Goyenechea from Lima, Peru (11/7/2007) "Grossly underutilized potential" (about: 2007) 3 previous marathons \| 1 Buenos Aires Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 Running a marathon is also about the whole environment surrounding the event. In this case, I believe that a huge opportunity is being wasted: 1) To start with, the Expo site is far from BA's many gorgeous neighborhoods, in a really ugly stadium, poorly signed, in an unsafe neighborhood, with no quality stands to attend to, etc. I spent more than US$25 in cab fares back and forth and spent less that 15 minutes at the Expo just because there was nothing interesting to see. A lot of money could have been made promoting high quality products, and much more even promoting the city by organizing the Expo at any of the several good-looking sites the city has to offer. Wasted opportunity. 2) The course has 2 big problems: (i) the first half is filled with rolling hills, which of course doesn't help at all; (ii) save for a few miles, the latter half passes by some pretty freaky sites. I was injured from mile 15 onwards but didn't dare to stop in several moments on fear of being attacked by any of the bystanders. The saddest aspect of the course though is that it almost completely avoids the city center, where all the gorgeous buildings, sites, and neighborhoods are. Wasted opportunity. I didn't like the fact that the city never became aware that an international event like this was taking place (although, to be fair, Soda Stereo was giving its reunion concert and the Creamfest event was also taking place). It didn't have a 'marathon environment' at all, which is a large disappointment. And then, of course, the bags pick up at the finish line was just unbelievable. Guys yelling numbers randomly and throwing the bags 6 meters across to the supposed owner, who probably stood there for a good hour, wet, hungry, and with sore legs. On the plus side, well, the city, BA is just one of the prettiest Latam cities, full of some of the best looking chicks ever. Although the race course was a large disappointment, the hydration stations were always filled with supplies (including bananas and oranges) and with very friendly staff giving support to the runners. All in all, to me, unfortunately, the BA Marathon is a 'no repeat show' for now. I coment harsh on my Argentine friends, reluctantly, because I love Argentina and its people. But they really have to take care of business. They have a potential gold mine in this event. As it stands though, it's a wasted opportunity.
P. D. from London England (11/6/2007) "Enjoyable Marathon but offcoarse organisation poor" (about: 2007) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Buenos Aires Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 Just a note about the organization. In the internet site instructions it told you that you had to pick up your number a day or two before the race at the Expo.A courtesy bus was meant to be laid on at the end of the tube line.Where´s the bus? Luckily a Brazilian chap and fellow runner points me in the right direction.We get to the Exhibition and queue however no indication to say it was the T shirt queue and that you had to get your number first.No bother though because we British love queuing. We get given a plastic bag where an official hand writes your number on it.This is for your clothing. The day of the race everyone puts the kit bag on the one truck. Come the end of the race the identical kit bags are in a heap cordoned off by a ring of steel fencing. Now this is the fun bit.Three or four officials would pick up a bag at random shout out the race number-of course in Spanish-if someone who happens to be there at the time hears their number being called he or she screams out for it and the bag is duly chucked at them.If no-one responds the bag is duly put down again. As you can imagine there is extreme frustration.I finished the race at 11:05 and got my bag at exactly 13:00. When I got my bag I explained how slick things were at The London Marathon and perhaps they ought to segregate the bags in some sort of order in the first place.He took my point. Having said all that the water and Gatorade stations on the course were well manned and spaced alternately at 2.5 k intervals. The course itself in the first half was a bit like running on the A3 so not exactly flat.Then we got to the more famous bit of BA.Then the last bit was running by the side of Rio de Plata hence the wind. If you don´t mind scrambled organization then it´s not a bad race. Regards Peter
C. E. from Lima, Peru (11/2/2006) "Ideal course for PB" (about: 2006) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Buenos Aires Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 If you are interested in a PB, think about this race. The course is almost flat and very panoramic. It has changed in 2006, so you won´t worry about the drivers anymore. Hydration was alright. An important number of spectators despite the rain. Finalist shirt and medal were nice. Things needing to improve: lockers and all the logistics after the race.
David Gonazalez from Madrid, Spain (8/11/2006) "I will return to Buenos Aires" (about: 2005) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Buenos Aires Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 It was very nice. The beginning is in the big avenues; you visit all the areas of the town, and looks like you have visited 5 continents. At the end near the Casa Rosada, people were encouraging - "Si se puede" ("It is possible"), and really gave me a boost. Drivers were complaining about the disruption, but the marshals were doing a good job.
José Szyman from Montevideo, Uruguay (7/11/2006) "My first marathon" (about: 2005) First Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Incredible experience, enjoyable race!!! All my life I've wondered what a man can feel crossing the end line, and there are no words to express it. If you want to know how it is, just train hard and go for it. After that I've ran Porto Alegre's Marathon and this year (2006) I'm going to give it a try again, searching for a better time in Buenos Aires.

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