UTRECHT HALF MARATHON
Utrecht, Netherlands
Sunday 18 March 2018

We are thrilled to announce the 2018 half marathon will be in Utrecht, Netherlands, a city described by Lonely Planet as in the “Top 10 of the World’s Unsung Places.” Located 35 miles southeast of Amsterdam, Utrecht is home to the largest university in the Netherlands and boasts an ancient city centre with buildings from as far back as the high Middle Ages. It has been described as a graceful city, encircled by a medieval canal and filled with bustling wharves, bohemian cafes, shops and restaurants.

The half marathon is particularly appealing to our group. In addition to a great mid-March date before spring break and (hopefully) before hot spring weather, the course is dead flat (with only an one meter rise over the entire course). The course starts outside of town at the University Science Park and then loops back through the town and parks of Utrecht. There is a marathon on the same course which means the time cut-off for the half is the same as for the full marathon at 5.5 hours. The marathon gets good reviews for being well organised with regular water stations and toilets. The race is smaller than some of our previous races, with about 2,500 runners (similar in size to the Padua race). The benefit of a smaller race is easier logistics and less runner congestion at the start and during the race. This is a great race for everyone in our group whether it’s your first half marathon or you’re going for a personal best time.

One thing to be aware of is that the race starts at 12:15 which is later in the day than our previous races. On the positive side, this means there is no need for an early morning wake-up on race day!

Please remember that the half marathon trip is for WRW runners only. No husbands, no partners, no kids, no non-runners. This weekend is all about you and the women in the running group. If you want to talk about this, just let me know.

Hotel and Race Registration
Below you’ll see the link that takes you to the hotel’s group-booking form for WRW. You need to book through this system to get our group rate. You will also see the link that takes you to the race registration site. PLEASE FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS because you need to enter a special WRW code for the race registration. This code will allow us to collect all the WRW race numbers at once which means we will have a free day to enjoy instead of having the entire group go to the race office to pick up numbers.

General Plan for the Weekend
Friday – Arrive and group dinner.
Saturday – Enjoy Utrecht and/or Amsterdam. We will provide some tour options for those who are interested in exploring. There is an option to pick up your race number in the afternoon. Group dinner.
Sunday – THE RACE and celebration dinner!
Monday – Return to London.

Looking ahead to the overall cost of the weekend, we expect that the hotel rooms will be in the range of 100 – 130 euros per night with options for singles and doubles. Dinner costs should be in the range of 50 – 70 euros. Please note that these costs are not finalised and could change, but not significantly.

Travel plans
Flights:  We’ll fly to Amsterdam and then there is a 35 minute express train (cost 10 Euros) from the airport directly to the centre of Utrecht. The hotel is a three minute walk from the train station. Another benefit of this race is that there are many flight options from London to Amsterdam. There are over 25 flights a day just considering BA, KLM and EasyJet. We have listed some of the flights below but there are many more options as well. Please be aware that when people start booking flights the prices will go up. If the prices seems suddenly expensive, make sure you look around at other options.

Hotel:  We are reserving a block of rooms at a hotel in the centre of town. We’ll email in the next few weeks with details about how to book your room.

Race registration: Please wait to register for the race. The race director is going to give us a special code for our group so we can pick up our race numbers all at once. We’ll get back to you soon with more directions about how to register.

What to do now?
The most important thing to do is to mark your calendar and keep running. If you are ready to commit, you can book your flights. Once you book flights please email Sue Wheeler ([email protected]) and let her know which flight you are on. This will help us keep track of our numbers and our travelling groups.

Finally, we all owe a HUGE “Thank You” to Carolyn Perelmuter, our trip planner extraordinaire! Carolyn has been hard at work behind the scenes talking with the hotel and the race director and making sure that everything is in order for us. THANK YOU!

I’m really looking forward to sharing this experience with you!

Jane

Monday, March 19, 2018 Flights Amsterdam to London