LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

roger · Joined: 26 Feb 2004 Posts: 531

Kay and I are going to this marathon. Anyone else interested?

Some reasons to do this marathon: Its easy to get to, with lots of low-cost operators flying to airports nearby; the course looks good, criss-crossing over the Rhine, and Düsseldorf is a very pleasant city to spend a little time.

There are also lots of great skate routes in the area if you want to do more skating. And on a personal note ts also where I first got into skating, which gives me a special reason to do this marathon.

Alastair · Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 2:46 pm Subject:

Sounds interesting - couldn't find many details about it on the web though...

roger · Joined: 26 Feb 2004 Posts: 531

Sorry, the URL is http://www.duesseldorf-marathon.de. They have quite a lot of information in English.

It looks like you have to use a bank transfer to pay the entry fee, so if anyone wants to go it would reduce costs if we arrange for a single transfer for all of us.

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Bank transfers are mighty pricey. If Doris has a German bank account then it could be easier to pay her instead.

Doesn't seem to be a problem for Hannover. I think I'll do that one instead. It think it is bigger too so more likely to get some good lines going.

roger · Joined: 26 Feb 2004 Posts: 531

Bank transfers to Germany are only 8 pounds from my Co-op account, or else I will be in Germany at Christmas, so either way it won't be very expensive.

Not sure on numbers - the results page from last year's marathon in Duesseldorf was a bit hard to read, but there were at least 500 particpants, so I don't think we will be on our own too much. Anyway Duesseldorf is a much nicer city than Hannover.

Alastair · Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 3:50 pm Subject:

The online booking for Hannover requires a German bank account, by the look of it...

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Not been to Hannover but have been to DDorf. It is quite nice. Hannover was 1000 competitors last year but the race starts at 15:00. I think I am convinced to go to DD with you guys. Let's see how many bodies we can get together. Registration price doesn't go up until 31st December. so if we book in 2 months we should know Ryanair pricing. Can't book that far ahead with Ryan air at the moment, but it looks something like £6 + tax using the January weekend rates.

Gav · Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 5:06 pm Subject:

I wonder if the Paris marathon will happen in 2005.... hmmmm... It was scheduled to be on this weekend before it got cancelled.

But otherwise I'm keen to get a May race in so might well be persuaded too.

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Can't do an online entry according to their website. Doesn't look like they accept credit cards either. I expect they would want a German cheque too. So we need to to an International Money Transfer for which they have posted the details. Considering the charges for doing this with Kemell for the skinsuits last year (£33 on top of everything else) I may end up doing Hannover instead. Even if we club together to do one transfer, it feels like being ripped off. Anyone got any different information?

Duracell · Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 12:29 pm Subject:

Have you asked the German guys on SR?

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Not when there is another marathon on the same day that I can register with a credit card.

Natasha · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 2973 Location: Basingstoke

Hannover? Has anyone done it before? How many participants? Is there a time limit?

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

http://www.marathon-hannover.de/

1000 skaters did it last year in the rain. Which is slightly more than did Hamburg in the dry. It's 2 laps of a 21.1km course. Which you can see in the skater info page.

Natasha · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 2973 Location: Basingstoke

merten · Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:59 pm Subject:

From what I know: Hannover is a flat city (and it is only 130km from my place Wink

).

42km is a standard marathon like Berlin (26 miles?). The course should be flat throughout and from I read on reports quite nice except very few cobbles. Hannover has a time limit of 3 hours. The under 2 hours limit is Hamburg.

There is another marathon which is run from Hannover to Celle (a smaller town 40k north), that might also be interesting.