Berlin (AFP)
The Berlin marathon, scheduled for September 27, 2020, is canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, organizers announced on Wednesday, minutes after a similar announcement for the New York marathon.
Since 2003, the last seven world marathon records have been achieved on the Berlin course, flat and particularly favorable. The current best brand belongs to Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, in 2 h 01 m and 39 seconds, since September 2018.
The last winner in 2019, the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, had failed 2 seconds from the world record after an anthology final.
Given the ban on all gatherings of more than 5,000 people in Berlin until October 24, the organizers have worked on other options to postpone the event. But the attempt to work out with the local authorities and the experts a health protocol to protect the runners, was unsuccessful.
"As hard as we have worked, it is currently not possible to organize the marathon", say the organizers on their site: "Pleasure, good humor, health and success are the elements that characterize" the marathon from Berlin, "but we cannot guarantee all of that at the moment."
Berlin is traditionally the meeting place for tens of thousands of runners from all over the world.
© 2020 AFP