JTBC Seoul Marathon

Hi! I expected more with this marathon. This is my third one (Nagoya and Sydney), and its the only marathon without an expo. But thats okay. The worst thing was that during 30km above their were no water stations available or banana and food. Good thing that there were good samaritans who would give us water along the way. This is such a huge disappointment because you guys knew that the course was not easy, it was mostly hills! The last 12km made a huge difference with my pace because I was already conserving water because I didnt know if there would be. I finished at 5:21, but my target was 4:55.

Unless significant improvements are made by the event organizers, don't even bother joining this one. (TLDR ; down 🔽) I'm happy to provide more insights if needed and help make future runs more enjoyable - as a passionate runner and event manager, all I can say is that this was the unfortunately most unpleasant race event I have participated in so far. TLDR: There hasn't been any follow-up messages or news about the 10km run, only one general email with basic info: - the notion that starter packaged could only be picked up within two days before the race, giving an address completely different and far away from the race venue. Also, no official information was shared what happens if starter packages are not picked up in time (no info if and where this could be collected, at the race venue?); - no detailed venue map sent or to be found online, I randomly found one at the race and even then with no marker where we are located, making it necessary to ask around 3 other runners who were also just guessing; - no visible welcome desk for foreigners, only after asking a few runners and walking around for 20 minutes, the right tent popped up. FYI, even the volunteers didn't know where it was; - the loudspeakers provided the warmup speech and all info from the moderators, as well as countdown were only in Korean language, you didn't know what was happening at all as no English translation efforts were made whatsoever; - short moments of walking instead of running due to too many runners creating a bottleneck (forget about having a personal best time) and additional traffic congestion, participants were sometimes running only a few centimeters next to opposite traffic (cars, trucks, buses), giving the impression this to be a relatively risky and not fully enjoyable running experience - finisher medals were provided in plastic packaging, with the visible print "Made in China" on it, this felt sterile and not like a typical positive running experience; - drinks and food were just distributed by volunteers from regular pallet batches, no effort was made to decorate or cover them with whatsoever - this gave the impression everything was "industrialized" and cold; - the biggest plus was the passion, energy and friendliness of the many volunteers who made this event possible, big shout-out to them!

Overall I think it was a good marathon. I find that the start corrals could be better organised as they were over crowded. I had problem getting to my B corral and ended up "sandwiched" with E corral runners..too overcrowded. Water points were spread at 5km apart and could not find portable toilets set up along the route.

The 1st 2 to 3 kms were kind of congested. Water points could be spaced out more regularly at 2.5km apart vs 5.0km in the race. It would be good to set up portable toilets along the route for unexpected nature's call.

Absolutely amazing crowds creating a fantastic atomsphere

this is amazing experience for me to observe Seoul with bridge , fall, olympic park, . cheerful crowds will make everyone come here to miss when they leave.

hard route for me, and i will comeback to get it again. go go

The full course route was great, passing multiple Seoul Korea landmarks and crossing Han River three times during the peak of Autumn season making the running experience memorable.

Well organised, easy to follow instructions. Even for a foreigner who speaks no Korean! Only improvements I would add is that Cups are never as good as small bottles at water stations so the runners can carry the bottle. And the finisb bag was so hard to carry! why not have it as a wearable backpack!

Course was well measured

Well organized, start was according to time plan. Water and sponge stations had enough supply. One thing to note: ALL overseas runners ran in the B corral (3hour-3:30 hour group) regardless of previous marathon times. This might be frustrating if you are aiming for fast times.

A lot of short hills towards end of race, which can be mentally hard.

Excellent event! Well organized, beautiful route! Great experience.

Not foreign runners friendly. Most updates are in Korean. Not enough washrooms at starting line. Water stations super infrequent - only 1 every 5km, not ideal under such dry sunny weather of 16-20 degrees. Can’t believe pedestrians can cross the road while runners are running

Not foreign runners friendly. Most updates are in Korean. Non Koreans not able to use runable but no other instructions were given to foreigners. Not enough washrooms at starting line. Water stations super infrequent - only 1 every 5km, not ideal under such dry sunny weather of 16-20 degrees. Can’t believe pedestrians can cross the road while runners are running

Amazing organisation and great location! Definitely my best marathon experience.

Pro: no wait time for a foreigner to pick up bib the afternoon before race; less crowded field than in March 2024 Seoul Marathon; free amino vital products before during and after the race; nice photo booths at finish and post-race packet Con: assigned wrong corral, which led to a race official recommending I run from the correct corral but that caused a technical problem and slight delay in receiving my race time. No official sub-three pacers

I ran a personal best 2:53:59 on this course. The course is far flatter than the Hong Kong marathon course.

While there were a lot of people and certain areas were a little tougher to get through, I think the chosen route was great and provided enough room for runners to keep a pace!

10km distance was nice and the weather was perfect. Ending at Yeouido Park was perfect.

There were some bottleneck parts of the route which was too scary as it was narrow and so many people. Definitely need to look into that.

The route was beautiful! Very good atmosphere. Only complaint is that the starting groups were organized in an odd way — I was in corral B and there were people from paces 3:00-4:30 there. I don’t think that was the smartest way to do things.

Beautiful course, helpful staff! Best race package I’ve ever gotten.