Dong-A Seoul International Marathon

The Dong-a Seoul Marathon is attempting to resurrect itself post-pandemic, following several years of virtual installments. Bizarrely, they capped the number of full-course runners at 3,000 and instituted a diabolically confusing lottery system. The website is Kafka-esque (see https://en.seoul-marathon.com/register/?idx=2). After making it onto the waiting list, I received an email intstructing me to pick up my race pack at the marathon expo, the day before the event. After several months of steady training, I called to ask about the location of the expo, and they told me that the email they'd sent was a 'mistake'. I wasn't able to participate after all! Very frustrating, to say the least. I ran this marathon in 2019 and 2017. Those years, the big problem was a huge lack of bathroom facilities. Before the start, there were literally hundreds of men urinating in odd corners of the starting plaza. The baggage storage trucks stopped accepting bags about 30 to 45 minutes before the start time and drove off, leaving some people inconvenienced. As for the course, it's alright if you like concrete and bland architecture. Also, be prepared for very toxic levels of fine dust in the air (unless you get a lucky break with the weather systems). The course is very flat, though, which can be a boon.

I was very excited for this marathon because I wanted to complete a bucketlist. I got my orange Adidas shirt and my number and a plastic bag for my belongings like a week before the marathon. As an amateur runner I knew I wasn't going to make it before the 5 hour mark but I also didn't expect everyone cleaning up the water tables while there was still many people running, also as part of the last group of runners it was difficult to get to the finish because there was no signs on the road or anyone to guide us, we were kinda forgotten and on our own, when I managed to get my tired sore body across the finish line I was just ignored and left there, I was in a lot of pain and nobody rushed to help me, I know I was an hour late but I expected somebody give me a hand at least but as a foreigner maybe I felt that Korean people are too shy to approach me. also I want to include that since there was a 5 hour limit the road had to be open for cars and that meant I had to stop at every red light hence making me more late,so it was very inconvenient for those of us who wanted to finish but stopping at every red light made everything more complicated, there was also pedestrians who must've been bothered by runners yelling to make them move out of the way. The medal came in a food bag, which I thought was a bit strange...I also wish there would've been more water tables towards the end of the race, there was also not many cups and at one point I was just given the 2L bottle because there were no more cups so there was a lot of wasted water. Finishing this race was difficult because of the obstacles at the end, if you want to run this race I suggest you don't do like me, train hard and get fast and endurance, or quit once the road has opened for cars because after that it doesn't feel like marathon running anymore. There is a marathon bus picking up the runners who are tired and cant continue, which I thought was convenient for those who needed to stop running, there was also men peeing everywhere at the beginning, I would suggest going to the bathroom before running, there was first aid people but I wish they would've been some towards the end because that's when us slow runners had more pain to finish, I completed this marathon in 6 hours and 1 minute. I'm 25 years old female, I hope my comment is helpful!

Just ran the 2017 edition of this race this morning. My review may be a little biased because I ran a PB and came away feeling pretty good about the whole experience. The biggest issue with this marathon is the registration. It's terrible if you don't read Korean. Google translate helped me figure it out but I was still confused. I wasn't even sure if I was registered or not. But if you email them, they will reply. If you want to get a starting place, then you need to email the organizers a past race result. This information is available in Korean but not in English. I was given an A start on the basis of a 2:53 time. The organization at the start of the race is pretty good. You just need to make sure to get your bag in the right truck before the designated time. They started people in waves with about five minutes between each group. There were no issues to do with congestion once the gun went off. As others have mentioned, the water stations are at every 5K. I think near the end of the race I may have been a bit dehydrated. At least more than normal for a marathon. Just make sure to drink plenty at each station. There are a few little rollers on the course but as others have said, this is a fast one. There was not any wind to speak of either. The sun was strong which I didn't really expect but the temperatures remained cool. It's definitely the fastest course I've ever run. If you don't care about the frills (expo, fan support, photos etc), then this is a good race to get a PB. I think even if you are not concerned with time it would be worth doing it and travelling for it.