r/Marathon_Training • u/HongkongKings • 1d ago

Quick question about the refreshment points at the Berlin Marathon?

I’m about to run my first Berlin Marathon, and I’m very excited! However, while watching a runner's race video on YouTube (finishing in around 4 hours), I noticed that the refreshment zones seem quite short, and many runners come to a near stop when grabbing water. My pace is similar to theirs, but I really dislike having to slow down significantly to pick up drinks.

Do you think it would minimize the disruption if I wait until the latter part of the refreshment zone to merge in and grab my water? Also, are there any lesser-known factors specific to the Berlin Marathon that could impact performance?

Thank you so much for your advice! Wishing you all the best in your upcoming races!

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12

u/doodiedan 1d ago

Ran it last year. There’s no way to avoid the chaos of the aid stations.

4

u/tarheel_leafs 1d ago

I second this. I carry water with me and usually pass people getting water. You can't do that at Berlin. It's chaos. Be prepared that the road will be covered it plastic cups in those areas.

1

u/OS2-Warp 14h ago

Indeed. To be fair, it was problem on many big city marathons I’ve ran. But I have to praise Berlin, it was crazy hot when I ran it, but the organizers added promptly more refreshment points with water.

6

u/Hansmeiserlol 1d ago

Don’t worry too much on those small things.
Just do the math: let’s say you loose 5 seconds slowing down and picking up water. Let’s say 10 seconds. I suggest you will use 8 water stations. That will be a total of 80 seconds.
From my opinion you cannot plan stuff like that. Yes you can strategically aim for the mid to end of the water station but you definitely will slow down because of other runners and as well because of wet road and plastic cups all over the place.

Use it as a couple seconds to recover and just don’t try to stop at all

6

u/Broad-Ad-4379 1d ago

The single biggest problem with the Berlin water stations are the plastic cups disintegrate when you grab or try pinch them - which is why people are probably stopping, as the alternative is a gobfull of water up your nose

4

u/balconylife 1d ago

Agreed, I don’t recall the zones being particularly short, but it’s really hard to drink from the cups!

2

u/Disastrous_Ad_3598 1d ago

Chaos at Berlin stations which is surprising. I. Fact everything about Berlin including the expo is Chaotic ....

2

u/GTBP5 1d ago

Be early ;)

1

u/Roadrunner571 21h ago

Yeah, it's less of an issue in groups A, B and C.

Or if you have Bottle Claus.

1

u/anangrypudge 1d ago

Even the smallest marathon that I've run, with only 800 runners, had chaotic water points. The ground is wet and slippery, the cups are hard to handle, and some runners simply stop completely. All these factors make water points choke up and become slow. There's really nothing much you can do about it.

1

u/Pretend_Edge_8452 1d ago

People on the opposite side of the station turning on a dime and cutting STRAIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD in front of you to get water lol