(26-Jan) - With the Roman Catholic Easter holiday falling on April 8, right in the middle of the traditional spring marathon season, race organizers have moved their events to avoid the holiday, creating a super marathon weekend, April 14-16.
The ABN AMRO Marathon Rotterdam, which is usually held in early April, has moved to Sunday, April 15, along with the Paris and Vienna Marathons, two other high-level competitions. The Boston Marathon, which is always held on the third Monday in April, falls on the 16th making for an action-packed two days of marathon running.
The following weekend is nearly as busy with the Enschede, Virgin London, and Zürich marathons taking place, amongst others. Given the men's fields lined up for Rotterdam and London, it is possible that the world record could be set, then broken, on consecutive weekends.
Here is a recap of the key spring marathons by date:
Sunday, April 15:
ABN AMRO Marathon Rotterdam (32nd) - Netherlands
Barclays Milano City Marathon (12th) - Italy
Brighton Marathon (3rd) - Great Britain
Canberra Marathon (35th) - Australia
Debno Marathon (38th) - Poland
Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon (12th) - Japan
Paris Marathon (36th) - France
Vienna City Marathon (29th) - Austria
Monday, April 16:
Boston Marathon (116th) - United States
Saturday, April 21:
Belgrade Marathon (25th) - Serbia
Sunday, April 22:
Cracovia Marathon (11th) - Poland
Enschede Marathon (44th) - Netherlands
Stadtwerke Leipzig Marathon (36th) - Germany
Borealis Linz Donau Marathon (11th) - Austria
Deutsche Post Marathon Bonn (12th) - Germany
Rock 'n' Roll Madrid Marathon (1st) - Spain
Maratona di Sant' Antonio (25th) - Italy
Zürich Marathon (10th) - Switzerland
Virgin London Marathon (32nd) - Great Britain
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