Danube Marathon

Totally flat route. The last 3km on the corridor leading to the finish is all cobblestone, so it slows you down a bit, and you end up doing that piece 2x. First half of the race is done completely with the half marathon people, so even if you're near the front, you don't find yourself running alone. At the same time, it's not crowded, so this is a great place to shoot for a PR. But once the full marathoners peel off after the half, it's lonely running. Few spectators from km 22 until km 38. Good placement of water/energy stations/port-a-potties. The finishing corridor in town is exciting. Refreshments afterwards are a bit lame, but sufficient. And they do give out beer, so that's cool. And marathon finishers get a shirt at the end. Otherwise, the goodies are a bit lacking. The expo is disappointing. I chose this one because it matched my needs for timing, and because I was looking to set a PR and break 3 hours for the first time. It was a great course for that, and we had great weather. The only other downer is that there were a few places where the route should have been marked better, and it was unclear where to go, so I had to slow down until I got an answer. But I imagine that's less of a problem if you're running in the middle/back of the pack. And Linz itself is not a very exciting place, but it's only about 1 1/2 hours from Vienna, so you can stay in Vienna and just go to Linz for the race.

Course has been improved and the less attractive sections have been pepped up with music zones.

This marathon has developed into an international top event. The city and the Danube River are beautiful. The race organization has thought of many small details to make the experience enjoyable for the runners.