Berlin Marathon 2018 – Application

My plan is to run all 6 World Marathon Majors by the end of 2019. Completing London and New York this year I’m well on track. My plan is for  2018 to run Berlin and Chicago.

This post will be about Berlin and the application process.

The lottery application opened up on the 18th of October 2017 at 12pm CET.

I didn’t rush filling out the application form because it’s going to get decided via a lottery system. So as long as I applied between the 18th of October and 8th of November 2017, my name was in the pot.

I had to put in my Bank Card details, but they not charging anybody till the lottery been drawn. but if you get drawn out your card will be charged straight away. So will have to make sure there are enough funds on it.

I had options to choose extra stuff, but if you didn’t want anything ( finisher top, jacket, video, photos ect) then the registration fee was only €108 plus €6 for the timing chip.

I had to decided if I want the ” bag drop off ” or ” post race poncho “. After running New York I knew well I need the poncho.

I’ve also opted in to buy the adidas Finisher-Shirt, I do think it’s better to pre-order it. Just in case they run out of it at the expo.

Also selected to get my Medal Engraved and getting my Race Video.

DETAILS OF YOUR REGISTRATION

They started to announce the results from the 30th of November. So by the looks of it Berlin done this much faster than London. I kept refreshing my email system all day long, I was hoping for a “You are in ” email.

My email arrived at 20.45 GMT and unfortunately it was the refusal one 🙁

Well I’m clearly not one of the lucky ones.

• 2x refusal from London
• 1x refusal from Tokyo
• 1x refusal from Berlin

Because I really want to run this race I spent all night thinking about my options. There were 3:

      1. Donate and Run

On December 7, 2017, we will open up 1000 additional spots for 168 Euros as part of the RTL Donation Marathon for children in need. 60 Euros of the payment for those spots, which are limited at 1000, will go directly to the RTL Donation Marathon. The amount of donations will be donated in full to a charity project for Berlin children.

     2. Tour operators

 2:09 Events Ltd , Sports Tours International , Running Crazy Ltd. , Swinley Travel Ltd

The problem I’ve found them that  almost all of them only offered the full package, Swinley travel offered just the bib for £259 but I never heard of them so didn’t want to risk it. Done my calculations and money wise it would not worth for us (me and hubby). Really expensive hotels, plus paying for the registration fee and then was supposed to buy our own flight tickets.

    3. Charity

The official charities can be found on this website. 

      So I have spent a few hours going through them , till I’ve found the cheapest one. Someone would say it’s bad saying I choose the cheapest, but it’s still money for a charity.  I’ve signed up with Prostate Cancer UK, their registration fee was only £20 with a minimum fundraising target of £500. The fundraising money need to be paid by the end of October 2018. So it’s not too bad at all, I can easily save up for it. If you want to sign up with them click on this link. 

So I’m running the 2018 Berlin Marathon. World Marathon Majors #3.

When I applied for the ballot I’ve already booked in our hotel via Booking.com so we got a really great deal. Only £315 for 3 nights ( Friday to Monday ) for 2 people. Also the hotel is not too far from the start and finish area, it’s only 3km.

Astrid am Kurfürstendamm

The only other thing I need to purchase is the flight tickets, currently its £75/person. But hopefully it will go lower a bit.

Total cost of the races is without the optional extras are: £985

As soon as I have more information regarding starting times, bib numbers I will make a separate post. You’ll find it under the ” World Marathon Majors ” – ” Berlin 2018 ” tab.

Love,