After a long wait, the Tel Aviv marathon finally happened last Friday morning. Thousands of people gathered to support their family and friends in the race.
There were several options for the runners, ranging from running the whole marathon to running just 10% of it, and others in-between. This gave many people the opportunity to participate without having to run the whole 42.195 km. The race began at 5:45 in the morning at Rokach Boulevard near the Tel Aviv Exhibition Center. Shortly afterwards, the half marathon (10km) began, for which over 2,000 runners and hand cyclists were registered.
The highly anticipated race was originally supposed to take place on March 26th; it was then postponed until May 14th, due to a disagreement between the sponsor, Adidas, and the city of Tel Aviv about where to start and end the race. This was a major issue and concern for many runners. Some of the participants had been training for extensive amounts of time in preparation for the race. By postponing it, these runners had to extend their training and prepare for a very hot and humid race. The weather in May compared to March is substantially warmer, hence it was more difficult to run such long distances. This problem was partially solved by pushing the race up to the very early hours of the morning.
For some, this was their very first marathon. Student Talia Hosenpud was very anxious and excited to run in her first marathon. A foreign student studying at Tel Aviv University, she said, “The beginning of the race was stressful because I arrived at the wrong starting point. So, I had to run a mile even before the race even started! Even when I arrived there were not that many marathon runners. But I was still excited to begin my first marathon!” Hosenpud successfully finished the marathon with other first-timers.
Tom Deen, a nine-year resident of Tel Aviv, said that many people around him were suffering from heat stress, and that the heat affected his run and his time drastically. Hosenpud also commented about the issue of the intense heat: “The heat started to affect me around mile 20. But I managed to pour water all over myself every chance I got and spectators from the sidelines were kind enough to hose the runners down.” Deen said that he usually runs his races in the winter to avoid these issues. Although he has been running for a while, this was also his first Tel Aviv marathon.
Besides the many runners who were participating for the first time, hundreds were running the marathon for their third and fourth times. Several participants said that they encourage anyone who is active and runs to participate in a marathon eventually, saying that it is very fulfilling and something anyone could do if they put their mind and body toward the goal.
Although there were not as many runners as the previous year, the turnout was still impressive. Next year’s marathon is scheduled to take place April 8th, 2011.
To register or to find out more information, visit http://www.tlvmarathon.co.il/faq.aspx.