04 ING europe-marathon luxembourg
The big weekend Le WEEK-END à ne pas manquer
The capacity of 8,000 runners had registered by 16 May. Le nombre maximal de 8 000 coureurs a été atteint le 16 mai.
This year’s ING europe-marathon luxembourg promises to be the biggest and best yet. But other activities will see the city come alive throughout the Whitsun weekend. Cette année, l’ING europe-marathon luxembourg promet d’être le plus grand et le meilleur de tous. D’autres animations égaieront la ville tout au long du week-end de la Pentecôte. NAaron Grunwald & Duncan Roberts OLuc Deflorenne (archives)
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Anne's city magazine luxembourg
he capital city is facing a busy month as it hosts two of the biggest events in the Grand Duchy during June. Not only will 100,000 people party on the eve of National Day (see page 18) but an estimated 150,000 people will line the route and take part in the 5th ING europe-marathon luxembourg on 11 June. That is the number that attended last year’s event, according to the Police Grand-Ducale. “They say it will be more this year; let’s see what happens,” says Erich François of organisers step by step. The race itself was sold out on 16 May when the 8,000th runner registered almost four full weeks ahead of race day. Certainly the change in date, from late May to early June due to the lateness of the Whitsun weekend, may help boost figures. For one thing, it means the Luxembourg race is the last big marathon of the spring season, and many runners are looking to run their final event, before the summer heat kicks-in. The marathon is keeping its status as an evening run. According to a survey conducted by step by step, a Sunday morning race would attract one-third fewer runners. “People like the atmosphere of running at night. It’s a special event,”
says François, noting that marathons in Bratislava and Vienna are now copying Luxembourg with an evening start time.
Economic impact The organisers point out that the marathon has a huge positive economic impact for Luxembourg city. “Last year runners spent about 1.9 million euro during the weekend,” calculates François. “And don’t forget about the money Luxemburgish runners spend on buying new clothes, running shoes, and so on.” Which is why the event is so important to the city, which provides significant logistical support for the marathon organisers. “Without the Ville de Luxembourg’s help, it wouldn’t be possible to organise an event like this,” says François, citing support they get from nearly every city service from traffic to parks. “They really do so much. It’s really a lot.” Step by step’s research reveals that 52 percent of runners in 2010 were international, primarily from neighbouring countries. Nevertheless, 21 percent of runners last year stayed overnight in the Grand Duchy and two-thirds of them stayed for two or more nights – combining their visit to Luxembourg with tourism and shopping. Step by step also estimates last year’s 7,421 marathon participants were accompanied by a total of 29,684 supporters, who naturally added to both the positive atmosphere and economic impact of the weekend.
Music and entertainment Music is as much a tradition for marathon weekend as the race itself. “This gives more to the event,” says François. “It’s not just a one day shot.” About
40 bands will perform along the course, including the now-famous Samba de Luxe – a mini-festival featuring international samba bands – and a New Orleans Jazz marching band. But music fills the whole weekend. Friday the 10th sees samba performances on the Knuedler (Place Guillaume) starting at 6 p.m. Then at 10 p.m. musicians from Portugal take over, in honour of Portuguese National Day. Meanwhile, the Luxembourg City Tourist Office is playing its part by organising its All American Music Festival over the same weekend as the marathon. Formerly the New Orleans Meets Luxembourg festival, in support of that city’s reconstruction following the devastation of hurricane Katrina, the festival is a veritable celebration of the American Deep South. Not only will some 50 live musicians play jazz, Dixieland, New Orleans, swing, blues, country and gospel music, but food stalls will provide visitors with an authentic taste of the South. The festival is free and opens at 11 a.m. on both Sunday and Whit Monday and the party carries on until 11 p.m. on Sunday and 6 p.m. on the Monday. The festival may help those weary runners recover from the trials and tribulations of the previous evening. Certainly, with several climbs, the Luxembourg course is not the easiest on the marathon calendar. “It’s not the fastest course in the world, but it’s not the hardest marathon in the world,” says François. “If you want to run fast, go to Rotterdam. But then you start early and there are not any people on the street.” But he does admit it’s not the easiest course. “We say it’s not for ‘softies’.” Q
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