Stronger than ever

The race organisers moved the date to 8 May 2022, to give runners more chance of cooler conditions in the middle of the Fall season. The race had record entries at the marathon distance with more than 6000 runners opting to experience the full length of the 42.195km course.

The Santiago Marathon remains the best of its kind in the region – a perfect running party. It is covered by the national and international media and broadcast live for television in a four-hour programme including the awards ceremony. The runners considered the new start and finish venue a major improvement since the O’Higgins Park, named after Chile’s founding father Bernardo O’Higgins, offered much more space to cater for runners before and after the race.

The mass participation event did not preclude also having the traditional elite field but this time it was without Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes due to sanitary and visa restrictions in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This gave local athletes a great opportunity to show their competitive spirit. They took places on the podium after many years of seeing the foreign athletes monopolising the prize money. The Chilean Athlete Daniel Cortes set a new personal best with 2:17:31, but the Kenyan Luka Rotich remains course record holder with an impressive 2:09:37. The Peruvian Ines Melchor won the women’s title in 2:28:18.

This year the Marathon organisers built a control centre to oversee the full length of the course, increasing the race’s safety and security in the event of an emergency. The race has also stepped up its social and environmental programmes as well as the Marathon Expo. The Expo is held at the old French-style railway station, transformed into an Exhibition Centre, offering seminars on sports medicine, nutrition, psychology, technology, and sportswear. The press conference precedes the opening of the Marathon Expo and the launch of the Santiago Marathon with the presence of the Ministry of Sport and other local authorities.

More than 80,000 people visit the Marathon Expo every year during the last 3 ½ days before the race. The Marathon organisers were most proud of their achievements and the success of the 2022 race but they are expecting an even better race in 2023. Now that Government sanitary restrictions are finally over there will again be a top international field.

Visiting the capital of Chile is a great travel experience both for runners and non-runners who can enjoy international hotels and restaurants with high-end cuisine and world-famous Chilean wines. The country also offers a variety of landscapes from the Northern Atacama desert through to Patagonia with more than 4000 km of Chilean coast. The running party is back on its feet again.