Get chilled with a hot Siberian marathon!

When I registered for the Siberian marathon, I didn't expect it to be a hot one. But at this time of the year, the temperature in Omsk (situated on the same latitude as Copenhagen) can get up to 25° C - and it did!

When arriving in Omsk the organization provided a pickup-service at the airport, they took you to your hotel and to the place where the starters bag was to be picked up. They offered sightseeing-tours through Omsk and told us a lot about the city in English, German or even Chinese. This was a very useful service, because tourism is not yet very developed in this region and one can hardly find English-speaking locals and, which is worse, signs or information in Latin letters. This service also helped meeting other foreign runners so that the whole thing turned into a big party. For all this: thanks a lot to you, Vladimir!

Before the marathon started at 09.00am, temperature was already nice and so I didn't have to worry about warming extra clothes to throw away. Besides that, the ambiance among the racers was very good and there was some kind of a hype about the few participating foreign runners. Some 10.000 runners went on the track and there was a real crush of people the first bridge over the river Irtysh. After the bridge the course led back next to the starting/finishing area and all of a sudden most of the people were gone. The reason is that most participants went for the 5- or 10 km run. Only about 1.000 runners faced the whole distance. But despite of that the run didn't get boring: On one hand the "Two-way-traffic" on some sections made it interesting and on the other hand the crowd along the course was really something. I've been at several big European marathons with significantly less supporters along the road. And they showed true enthusiasm most of the time and whooped even more when you gave them something back.

The Omsk marathon deserves definitely more International participation (especially considering the time schedule: the marathon usually takes place in between the other international events). If you are still not convinced, remember: this is Siberia, folks! A cool place to be with very nice and friendly people and quite a lot of interesting places to visit. And on top of this, the marathon always takes place on the anniversary of the city of Omsk (this year it was the 293th !) usually celebrated with festivals in the parks and all around the city.


!  !  !  !  !  !      If you are interested in going to the next Siberian International Marathon, be aware of the following:

On the official homepage it is said:

"Once you have registered for the Siberian International Marathon, the SIM Race Committee will send you an official invitation."

But this invitation won't come automatically. You first have to submit an official demand and remit an extra 40 Euros. And be patient: it takes some time before the invitation will be in your postbox.

But if you care about this in time, you will have the chance for a real special experience!