22nd Linz Donau Marathon: 15,000 starters as a goal

“The next balance sheet is always the most difficult,” Oberbank General Director Franz Gasselsberger jokingly told the organizers yesterday at the press conference for the 22nd Linz Donau Marathon. Knowing full well that the stocks at Upper Austria’s running festival, which is taking place for the 22nd time on April 7th, are rising every day.

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Wolfgang Scheibner, LIVA marathon coordinator, calculated that a positive upward trend could be seen after the second closing date, which took place last week. While last year at the same time there were 4,500 reports, this time there are already 8,300 who gave their confirmation of running. “We had similar numbers in the record year of 2019.” In the end there were over 19,000, and for this year the goal has been set at least 15,000 starters.

Video: 22nd Oberbank Linz Donau Marathon – The symphony of running

Gasselsberger did not want to give a bank guarantee for the targeted new record run for men, but the main sponsor is supporting the efforts with a special budget to once again beat the 2:06:13 hours achieved by Fikre Bekele (Eth) at the anniversary in 2021. “We want to tackle this mark,” says race director Günther Weidlinger, who has already put the professionals from the International Sports Service (ISS) from Berlin against fast marathon runners from East Africa. Linz, a famously fast course, is also certain to attract top local talent. This time the national championship titles will also be awarded over the 42.195 kilometers, which will also earn valuable extra points for Olympic qualification. Which is why Andreas Vojta, a 49-time champion, wants to make an attempt on Paris.

“Most visited city festival of the year”

Mayor Klaus Luger, like his deputy Karin Hörzing, is looking forward to the “city festival with the highest number of visitors of the year.” Linz tourism boss Marie-Louise Schnurpfeil reports that the booking situation on the race weekend is primarily influenced by the proportion of runners from Germany, the Czech Republic and Italy is noticeable. Probably also because there are new competitions in the program this year. For example, the 5-kilometer run is just as attractive as the fact that more children than before are allowed to take part in the junior marathon on Saturday at a new location. With the Special Olympics Run there is also an offer for people with disabilities for the first time. Gasselsberger said passionately yesterday: “Everyone who is serious about running should be at the starting line in Linz on April 7th.”