If your used to marathons in the USA, forget about all the great support we get. Bring a water bottle, lube, food, GU etc. Bring warm clothes to dump at the start and to change into at the finish. No blankets are provided. The only buzz kill of the marathon were the half marathoners. At about mile 20, out of nowhere, a pack of juiced-up runners were on my heels, bumping like they were going to win their race. After 20 miles you really don't feel like dealing with these guys. The finish area was packed with half marathoners and there was not much in the way of post-race refreshments. Course missed all the cool areas of Amsterdam. Come to see the town, party like it's 1999 and have a nice training run.

I enjoyed this marathon. The course was excellent, and the finish in the Olympic Stadium was great.

The negatives for me were:
1. The number of spectators was far smaller than I thought it would be, and many had left by the time we arrived back at the stadium. (I took 4 hours - not a week!!)
2. I think you should only get a t-shirt after finishing - and not the day before.
3. The baggage storage in the Sporthallen zuid was a disaster. Everybody seemed to be sticking one of their race numbers on the bag, then were told to take it off when they reached the top of the queue, and then were told put it on there back, so they could be given another sticker for the bag, and nobody obeyed any of the queues, which resulted in quick tempers and mayhem. I bet there had to be people late for the start because of the bad organization here.
4. Also I found the atmosphere among the runners to be poor. I did Dublin last year and found the runners friendlier and the spectators more enthausiastic.
I would recommend this marathon but I preferred Dublin by a long way.

Must have been too cold and windy to come out and watch. Felt like a training run. Mostly serious runners - a small field, circa 6,000. Plenty of room to run a PB, and a nice, flat course.

Very flat and beautiful course (even flatter than Chicago) with a good crowd. The race is very fast (appropriate for a PB), however quite crowded. Be careful to be at the appropriate pace location at the starting point since slow runners could easily slow you down throughout the race if you don't pay attention to this. Excellent support, and no complaints regarding water stops since anything more would cause over-hydration. The city is beautiful, friendly, and definitely worthwhile to see. A quiet hotel around Vondelpark would be a good choice.

There was a great buzz around the finish in the Olympic Stadium. The spectators were out in thousands.

This was my first international marathon and it did not disappoint. The course is flat (was able to post my second best time), the organization wonderful, and the city a great host. It was quite inspiring to start and end in the Olympic Stadium. The sight of three different windmills definitely made you know you were running in Holland. :) My only concern regards water and food. Having Gatorade at each water stop was great... but there were WAY too few stops. The availability of food at the end was rather disappointing. Definitely the smallest amount offered of the four different marathons I have run. Bagels, yogurt... anything added to the choice of bananas and oranges would have been great. Overall, though, it was a wonderful international experience! I would highly recommend it.

Lovely everything, including the weather, but definitely not enough water stops. Nothing between 30K and 41K!

The fastest course I've run so far. I went to Amsterdam to break 3 hours for the first time of my life and I finished in 2:57:58!! Big PR. A lot of fast runners, so you never run on your own, and there is always someone to focus on. The wind was a bit strong this year, but it didn't bother me so much. Temperature(58F) was perfect. Water stops were o.k. and enough for me. The only negative point was the "hidden" KM-markers. I missed a lot of them because spectators stood in front of them and blocked my view. After-race food is sparse (only a half banana and a sandwich), but the race costs not more than 45 euros, so you can spend some money on your own food. Two very nice surprises are the showers and even a free massage. Course was fantastic; never got bored.

This marathon is fantastically organized and has the added benefit of an extremely flat course.

I have run it twice, both times ending up with big PBs.

As for the comments from other posters regarding refreshments "only every 5K" - I don't know what you are used to, but from my experience this is normal (in the UK and Europe) and is also ample. Just make sure you stop at each one.

Whilst there are many other autumn marathons, a major feature of this one is that there are several support races, which means that large groups can travel together, have a great weekend, and run whatever suits them from 10K, to half, to full marathon.

Our group (of approximately 15) may well return again to Amsterdam in 2006.

The pre-race expo was good, the people of the Netherlands wonderful, and the course beautiful.

Arrival at race start was delayed because of race street closures. Because of closures, only one tram line was running to the start; unfortunately for many of us at our tram stop, we didn't know about the race-day tram schedule till the last hour and half before the event. Secret: tram #16 does run on race-day.

Luckily I had planned on arriving 1 and 1/2 hours before start; with the delays, we got to the stadium 15-20 minutes before the start.

First five miles are quite tight with more than a few bottlenecks. So, try to get in your expected finishing time slot at the start or you will expend much energy getting to the open course. But the course; it is beautiful.... The canals, the people, the bikes, the green, the windmill, terrific course....

Water and aid was problematic: water every 5K leaves no room for error over 26.2 miles. Next time I will carry a bottle.

All in all, a great race in terrific city.

Thank you, Amsterdam, for a great destination event.