Two-loop course taking in the attractive old town and several bridge crossings of the River Danube, but mostly run out of town on flat main roads and quiet footpaths. The latter are pretty dull, with few spectators. That said, it is a flat and quick course. As such, I ran a PB by over 6 minutes. Would definitely recommend the race for anyone looking to run a PB.

Many entrants in the race are only running a half marathon, with many of these running in relay teams. As such, for the first lap of the marathon, there are lots of runners, generally moving faster than a standard marathon. With these stopping after one lap, the second lap is much quieter, with very little race traffic.

Despite the course being a little dull and undersupported, the atmosphere in the old town is good and there is a nice feel to the race weekend (they hold races from Saturday morning onwards for children, etc.). I would definitely recommend staying at the Sheraton Hotel if running the race. Not only is the hotel great and relatively cheap, but the start of the race is right outside the hotel, making life on race day much easier.

I ran in Bratislava for my first two marathons with very good times. This is still a young and small marathon with a good potential to grow. In the first half of the race there's always some people around but the other half I ran basically alone, which is an interesting feeling, like "take it easy; it's a personal training run." A big piece of the track leads through green areas near the Danube, a short one through the historic center, and the rest through suburbs. The organization is very good, though the crowds are somewhat missing (they're present only in the center). For the low price, I got a good quality race and will run it probably next year (2011) as well.