A course record by Bernard Koech from Kenya in 2:04:09 hours, seven new times for the women in the top ten list of the event as well as the Olympic norms for Paris fulfilled by Richard Ringer and Fabienne Königstein: The results at the Haspa Marathon Hamburg on Sunday also surprised chief organizer Frank Thaleiser. "I didn't think that 2022 could be topped," he said.

The performance of the top athletes at the 37th edition was only one side - 11,800 registered runners for the 42.195 kilometer lap through the Hanseatic city was the other. The number was well above 2022, when the event still had to take place under Corona conditions and there were only 10,400 reports. But in 2019 there were still 13,400 reports.

Of course, the declining number of participants is not only a problem in Hamburg. "It's not up to us. It's up to the marathon scene," emphasized Thaleiser in his review on Monday. However, the organizers were able to compensate for the drop in the time before the corona pandemic in part due to around 500 more entries at the half marathon (4570), which has been part of the entire event for several years.

However, Thaleiser also wants to limit the field in the run over the 21.1 kilometers in the future. "If we open it, we'll have 15,000 participants without any problems, but only 5,000 in the marathon. But I think that the event can only be called a marathon if the majority of the participants also take part in the marathon."

After all, you are "still in an oasis of well-being," explained Thaleiser. "Others have up to minus 30 percent participants. I think there will also be changes in the event landscape." In order to improve the numbers in Hamburg, on the other hand, Thaleiser also invested in the social media presence of the event. "We inform our participants extremely."

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