Utrecht Marathon

Utrecht Marathon
The entrance of the Jaarbeurs Utrecht, near the start and finish point
Date	April
Location	Utrecht, Netherlands
Event type	Road
Distance	Marathon
Established	1978
Official site	Jaarbeurs Utrecht Marathon

The Utrecht Marathon (officially the Jaarbeurs Utrecht Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon competition which takes place in Utrecht, the Netherlands, usually in April.

First held in 1978 as the U N Marathon, the event featured a full marathon competition 21.0975 kilometres (13.1094 mi) and also a half marathon race. It attracted a largely domestic field of runners in its first decade and began to attract other European runners in the 1990s. The marathon race was removed from the programme of events between 1999 and 2004, and the city of Utrecht hosted just the half marathon during this period. Another organisation had created the Leidsche Rijn Marathon in 2000, whose course ran through the local area from Vleuten to De Meern. The race organiser groups combined their efforts in 2005, forming the Utrecht Marathon, and the city of Utrecht once again hosted annual marathon and half marathon races.

The current marathon course is within the city and has a clock-wise looped format. The race starts and ends on Croeselaan, which is near Jaarbeurs Utrecht (a large building complex for events and trade fairs). In addition to the main marathon competition, the day's events include half marathon, 10 km and 5 km races. The half marathon follows a shorter version of the marathon course while the 10 km and 5 km events follow a looped route close to the streets of the city centre.

The marathon race records are 2:09:41 for men (set by William Kipchumba Kwambai in 2009) and 2:33:40 for women (set by Anne van Schuppen at the 1992 edition). The 2013 race was cancelled due to a lack of sponsorship.

In response to the increasing dominance of Kenyan runners in Dutch marathons, Utrecht race organiser Louran van Keulen revised the prize money scheme for the 2011 edition of the event. He offered 100 € as the prize for first place, but a Dutch winner would receive up to 10,000 € in bonus prizes. Utrecht City Council, which subsidised the event, sought a review of whether the move was discriminatory towards foreign athletes and the council's executive for sport remarked that it "does not make the city look great". Van Keulen defended his position by arguing that he wanted to invest in grassroots sport and improve local facilities, with a long term plan to see Dutch runners challenge Africans at the top level. He had specially selected twenty of the best Dutch male runners to participate in a "Dutch Battle" in Utrecht.