Enschede Marathon

The Enschede Marathon is an annual marathon race held in the city of Enschede, Netherlands. The race is the distance of a typical marathon (42 km, 195 metres). It has been held annually since 1991, after being bi-annual for the previous 44 years. The race crosses the German border through the city of Gronau. There has been a women's competition since 1981.

In 2000 the race event was cancelled due to a large explosion of fireworks that destroyed much of the center of the town near the marathon course. The race was known as the "Twente Marathon" from 1992 through 2002. The 1949 race distance was about 40 km.

The first race took place on Saturday July 12, 1947. It is the oldest marathon race in the Netherlands. [cite web | url=http://www.enschedemarathon.nl/page.php?pid=0&id=2&lang=en | title=Official Enschede Marathon Homepage | accessdate=2007-04-17 | work=enschedemarathon.com] The total number of runners who competed in the first race was 51. 33 of them reached the finish in the Van Heekpark. Finland's Eero Riikonen was the overall winner with a time of 2:44:13. At the finish line he was greeted by Dutch track and field athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen. Nine minutes later the first Dutchman, Joop Overdijk, finished and took the national marathon title.

The Enschede Marathon is the fourth largest marathon in the Netherlands, after the Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Eindhoven marathons.

Men's Winners

Women's Winners

ee also

* Amsterdam Marathon
* Eindhoven Marathon
* Rotterdam Marathon

External links

* [http://www.enschedemarathon.nl/page.php?pid=0&id=2&lang=en Official Site]
* [http://marathoninfo.free.fr/historique/twente.htm Marathon Info]

References