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Berlin Half Marathon
April 3, 2016 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Here’s all the details you need to know for our Berlin Half Weekend.
Race Date & Time: April 3rd at 10am.
Travel
People are arriving various days, I assume everyone is coming in by plane 🙂
Schönefeld Airport (Ryanair)
It’s a short walk to the train station which is outside the main airport building, the S-9 and S-45 as well as some regional trains serve Berlin. Trains run from here on the S-Bahn into the city until 1:30 AM you need a ticket for zones A,B,C which is about €3.20 and covers transfer to another line or lines to get you to your final destination.
If you’re staying in Prenzlauer Berg like me then take the S-9 and there’s no need to change. Remember to stamp the ticket to validate it before boarding.
Tegel Airport (Aer Lingus)
This isn’t served by a direct train connection, there are buses to the city centre but most sites recommend getting a bus to one of the nearby S-Bahn or U-Bahn stations and using those of onward journey. Check out WikiTravel or use Google Maps.
Race Expo & Number Pick Up
The expo is on in STATION Berlin, a 19th-century former railway station now an events center, with 7 halls for conferences & meetings. In Madrid last year the Expo was badly run and number collection (unless you skipped the queue) took ages, I’m sure it will be better run in Berlin but leave yourself plenty of time.
Opening hours:
Thursday, March 31th, 3:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Friday, April 01st, 12:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 02nd, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Directions
The closest U-Bahn station is Gleisdreieck, there are several S-Bahn stations close by too, suggest checking out Google Maps for directions from wherever you’re staying.
What You Need for Number Pickup
- Presentation of a photo-id (ID-card, passport, driver‘s licence) is mandatory!
- Presentation of the start card is mandatory! (you’ll be emailed this before the race)
- Your participation documents have to be picked up personally!
- Pick-up by any other person is not possible!
- The athlete’s wristband is your access authorisation to the starting area. The wristband will be attached at the race number pick-up. Please do not remove it before leaving the finishing area on the day of your race.
- If you have your own ChampionChip, please bring it along and present it for the registration at the counter.
- If you have booked a rental chip, you will receive it together with your starting number.
- Every participant will receive a clothing bag.
- T-Shirts: the pre-booked official adidas Event Shirts has to be picked up at the expo BERLIN-VITAL.
- Start-block changes are only possible with the proof of an official certificate.
Race Day
Meeting Point
It’s going to be a busy race with nearly 30,000 athletes registered. We’ll meet before the race at the Berlin Congress Center between 8:45 and 9am, for a quick photo and then off to bag drop.
The BBC is west of Alexanderplatz, and should be easy to find, but check directions before you leave where you’re staying.
Nearest stops of Public Transportation:
Underground: Alexanderplatz (U2, U5, U8)
S-Bahn: Alexanderplatz (S3, S5, S7, S75)
Train: Alexanderplatz (RE1, RE2, RE7, RB14)
Bag Drop Off
Be sure to also only use the clothing bag and label that you received at the Expo, the baggage drop off area is at the end of the start area then you walk up and into your designated start area.
You’ll have a designated truck to drop your bag off in, check out the link below, you need to match you number to a truck.
Starting Blocks
There will be three start waves:
1st wave
block A under 1:29:00h
block B 1:29:01 – 1:39:00h
block C 1:39:01 – 1:49:00h
2nd wave
block D 1:49:01 – 1:59:00h
block E 1:59:01 – 2:14:00h
3rd wave
block F over 2:14:01 and without times
Social Stuff
Dinner is booked for 6pm on Sunday in 
Brauhaus Lemke on Dircksenstraße 143, 10178, it’s a German beer hall that takes groups and serves a lot of traditional German food (Patrick apologies if this is the Berlin equivalent of Templebar 🙂 )
Link to the menu below if you want to check it out before hand.
Alexanderplatz is one of the closest S-Bahn and U-Bahn stops, it’s just a short walk away if you get off here.
- From Prenzlauer Berg take U2 from Schönhauser Allee or Eberswalder Straße to Alexanderplatz
- From Schöneberg take U2 from Wittenbergplatz to Alexanderplatz
- Or from Schöneberg take S5, S7 or S75 from Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten to Berlin Hackescher Markt (this is directly at the restaurant)
It looks like it’s going to be a bit of a scorcher on Sunday after the race so I plan on soaking up some atmosphere in Prater Garten which is a big beer garden Prenzlauer Berg near where I’m staying.
If it’s wet or too cold I’ll head somewhere else but I’ll let you know on Facebook & Twitter.
Berlin Map
Here’s my Berlin map, covers start point, meeting point, restaurant and bars and stuff to see (red pins).