Locally known as “Demooiste” (The Most Beautiful), the NN Rotterdam Marathon may be the world’s most spectator-oriented marathon and surely contends with Stockholm and Copenhagen for ‘best marathon in Northern Europe’. Over 17,000 runners took off up the famous Erasmus Bridge on the windy and warm morning of 13 April 2025.
Conditions for the 2025 NN Rotterdam Marathon
For some reason, the marathon starts at 10am – a unique aspect of this race that spectators welcome and runners often bemoan. All things considered, the conditions were decent – a warm 14°C / 57° F at the start but only warming up to 16°C / 60°F, with wet ground and some puddles from early morning showers. The biggest weather factor was the wind, which ranged from 13mph to 18mph during the race – perhaps to be expected in a country renowned for its windmills. We faced a stiff 15mph headwind from 9 to 14km and again from 35 to 41km, the latter presenting a big late-race factor for many runners as groups thinned out during the race. The 10am start (i.e. that’s when the first wave starts) means that spectators can inebriate enjoy themselves while cheering on friends and family during midday and early afternoon without having to get up early or battle the morning chill typical for this time of year. While that’s nice for supporters, it’s less optimal for runners targeting PBs who would rather start a race before 9am. By comparison, the 2024 Valencia Marathon was five degrees cooler (9°C instead of 14°C) at its 8:15am start. According to runhive’s heat calculator, for a 2:45 runner like me, that temperature difference adds 2 minutes and 32 seconds.
Our Experience in Rotterdam
This was my sixth marathon – my first in Northern Europe, my first , and my first time stacking two marathon training blocks in a row (Valencia in December then Rotterdam in April) with just 18 weeks between races. Our family loved spending the weekend in Rotterdam, enjoying picnics alongside canals, the Blijdorp Zoo, and parks with beautiful spring trees and flowers.
Having just snuck under 2:45 in Valencia, I earned a spot in the Startwave B, which enabled me to start ahead of the masses and more importantly gave me and dozens of fast runners refuge from the wind in the Hilton hotel lobby for 20 min before the race. Always nice to start a marathon from a place of gratitude!
How is the Course?
Rotterdam is notoriously flat, though this course is notably less flat than Valencia. The marathon publishes an elevation gain of +41m, but that is malarkey. Every Strava activity I saw had +70 to 105m of elevation gain, which seems much more accurate considering the two bridge crossings in the first and 27th kilometers and notable uphills at 22k, 24k, 28k, 31k, and 41k.
That said, the course largely consists of long straightaways, which helps make it fast. If you read other accounts of this marathon, you consistently see the same warning about the crowd thinning out between 31 and 39k as you run around Kralingse. This is true, but you only notice it because the crowd is so huge and loud the rest of the way.
The Rotterdam Marathon has a unique and phenomenal feature called “De Hardloopsupporter” (The Running Supporter) that I think all big marathons should adopt. Friends and family can record 6-second videos cheering you on. They then monitor bib numbers and play your video on one of four big screens at 34k (one of the only dead-quiet parts of the course). Suddenly seeing my wife and daughter screaming for me was an amazing surprise. It’s such a cool, creative way to give runners an extra boost right when they need it most. Big ups to whoever came up with this.
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How are the amenities?
Pre-race, there were almost no amenities to speak of beyond the Asics race t-shirt. The expo had fuel vendors offering free tastings, but that was about it. Whereas many other races offer a free bag of goodies from sponsors, this was not the case in Rotterdam. The other big thing to note is that bag drop is not included in the registration (it needs to be purchased as an add-on), so I gave my bag to my wife an hour before the race.
On-course amenities are offered throughout the race, with water and isotonic roughly every 5 kilometers from 5k and water-soaked sponges every 5 kilometers from 12.5k. I’d never seen sponge stations in a race before, but as someone who always throws water on my head and face, I found them handy. One small thing I found confusing were that the sponge stations were announced on the course by a big “Refreshments” sign – if you hadn’t studied the course in advance, that sign might make you might expect water or isotonic.
The other head-scratcher was that they only offer gels on the course (Upfront brand) once at 35k. For serious runners, that’s extremely late in the race to give gels and forces us to be entirely self-sufficient with fuel for the first 35k. Plus, most runners aren’t going to try a new gel 35k or later into a marathon without water; there is water at 35.5k, but I find that an awkward time to take a gel – I prefer to have my last gels at 33k and 37k, so this structure meant I couldn’t actually use any of the race-provided gels during the race. This meant I carried eight gels with me, which meant running with a race belt I had only used one time before and wound up fiddling with for the first 26k of the race (more on that in my next Race Reflections post). By comparison, Valencia offers Enervit gels at 19k and 29k and Chicago offers Maurten gels (which don’t need water) at 22k, 29k, and 36k, giving runners more time and flexibility in their gel strategy. For Chicago, I’ll only need to carry 4-5 gels instead of carrying 8 gels.
Post-race, there was water, bananas, AA isotonic drink, and (if you walked back to the bag drop area) free massages.
An unbeatable crowd of supporters
If there is one thing that sets Rotterdam apart from other marathons I’ve run, it’s the incredible amount of supporters cheering runners on, especially in the kilometers around the Coolsingel but really the entire way. Sources say there are 900,000+ spectators cheering on runners at the April event. If you can believe it, that beats out London (750,000), Boston (500,000), Paris (250,000) and Valencia (200,000), all of which are known for their crowds. Indeed, I don’t know if any marathon in the world can challenge Rotterdam’s formidable 50:1 ratio of spectators to runners. The more I reflect on the race, the more I appreciate that the event seems to have been designed to maximize crowds, noise, and overall joy while secondarily boasting a fast course that attracts elites, sub-elites, and amateurs alike.
How Fast is the Field?
With Valencia still fresh in my mind, I’d say Rotterdam has a ways to go in building a sub-elite field that is anywhere near as competitive. It has to compete with numerous other major spring marathons, including London, Paris, and Boston. Since it’s capped at 18,000 runners, doesn’t have a lottery or fast-runner qualification, and sells out within hours, the field naturally varies a bit year to year. Whereas the Valencia Marathon saw 5,000+ runners break the 3-hour mark and 1,900+ runners break 2:45 in December 2024, just 968 runners broke 3 hours and 280 runners broke 2:45 in Rotterdam this year.
My race
This wasn’t my strongest training block nor my strongest marathon race. I finished in 2:47:07, my second fastest marathon performance. I was tracking well at 3:55 per km pace (2:45:30 marathon pace) until 35k, then took my foot off the gas in the last 7k when I found myself running solo into a 15mph headwind. I’ll write up more in a future reflections and learnings post.
Final Thoughts on the NN Rotterdam Marathon
Overall: 4 – This is a great race overall, surely one of the best marathons in Northern Europe.
Crowd and Vibe: 5 – 950k spectators, live music, unique supporter video screening at 34k.
Swag: 2 – Decent shirt and medal, but not much else. Just a banana and isotonic at the finish.
Course: 4 – Mostly flat, a few hills. Long straightaways. Less fast than Valencia or Chicago.
Competition: 4 – Definitely some very fast runners at this race, but not as easy to stay in a group of runners as in other big marathons (especially in the last 10km)
Value: 3 – I paid €140 for registration. The race sold out in 2.5 hours, so it pays off to sign up for their list and get the early bird rate as soon as they open registration.
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