By: Brian Jenkins

Race Date: 30^th March, 2025

Venue: Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium

This was another of those “London Marathon said no” events, that in the past led me to trying events that I’d probably not try otherwise. Whilst I had run a marathon in the French-speaking Walloon region (the “Beer Lovers’ Marathon” in Liège), this was to be my first marathon in Flemish-speaking Flanders.

Getting there was easy enough: a flight to Charleroi (from Manchester) and a bus direct to Ghent.

I had a whole day free before the race, and I went to the race village (an indoor athletics stadium in the west of the city) to pick up my race pack and t-shirt. It was a pleasant enough stroll and outside there was a wall with a list of all the competitors who had entered (for both the marathon, and the half marathon) which was a nice touch, and the way out from the number collection took us past the race finish line (on an indoor running track).

I retired to my hotel for carb-loading and relaxation, with everything I needed for the race the next day.

On race day, I made my way to a bus stop at the rear of Sint-Pieters Station (the main station in Ghent) and caught the free shuttle to the event village. The race village provided a long line of tents for the bag-drop, 2 huge bike parks (bikes are a highly popular form of transport in Ghent) and plenty of toilets (more than I had seen at a race before).

The runners formed-up in the start area, there were different start pens based on your predicted finish time, and the announcer motivating the crowd announced that this had been confirmed as the biggest marathon in Belgium (ever) in terms of the number of runners.

The race was started in a chilly wind and the different time groups were set-off in order, and us (in the slower groups) could see the faster runners who had turned around the bottom of the rowing lake and were heading towards the historic city centre.

We waited our turn, and soon my group were off. Soon we were crossing the River Leie and after a short loop passing under the bridge we had crossed, we moved into the medieval city (and its cobbles) and then north to the docks, back into the city and then a more rural loop to the east of the city.

Then there was a southern loop, the highlight was at about mile 20 and involved a run around the pitch at the Planet Group Arena, the stadium of the K.A.A. Gent football club (currently 6^th in the Belgian Pro League).

Then we were sent north, and then west following the rowing lake we started next to. We turned left into the stadium, around the track, and over the finish line with well-wishers cheering from the track-side.

I crossed the finish line with a P.B. of about a minute.

After the race, and a “period of reflection”, I took the shuttle bus back to the station, and the route took us past the same start line where the half marathoners were being set-off (so a potential for a marathon / half marathon ultra combination with a hint of jeopardy, for those who are that way inclined).

The route itself was varied and included many of the touristy bits of Ghent, crowd support was good, and water stations were every 5km-ish serving cups of water and isotonic drink in cups.

All-in-all, a flat, well-organised city (road) marathon, with definite P.B. potential. The charms of Ghent will fill in those bits in the weekend where you aren’t running.

4,379 runners completed the marathon.

The race was won by Steven Verschuere (Belgium) in 02:20:21 and Amber Teugels (Belgium) in 02:49:54 .

Strider’s Result: