Vienna City Marathon

29 million calculations for a perfect experience

Right from the start, the Vienna Marathon 2025 will be perfectly staged.

(Bild: ORF/Roman Zach-Kiesling)

More participants, but more space for every runner. What sounds like a paradox at first will be realized this year at the Vienna City Marathon on April 6. This is thanks to Marcel Altenburg, a "mass scientist" at the University of Manchester, who calculated the perfect race with 29 million calculations.

Altenburg was once part of the Berlin Marathon team when he became fascinated by the idea of how best to calculate and plan a race for so many participants in advance. When Manchester offered a degree course in crowd science for the first time in 2015, he accepted and has been based there ever since.

He has been calculating the ideal crowd movements for major events for years. Initially for major marathons, but also for the admission of spectators at Formula 1 races or the European Football Championship 2024, as well as for the funeral services at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Altenburg also helped with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

Based on the dates of the 2024 Vienna Marathon and the available space, he made no less than 29 million calculations! "We have the luxury of being able to calculate this backwards to the start," he explains his approach. He ran through various scenarios of where a runner would be in the race if they were one second faster or slower. "This changes the event for everyone because they meet other runners at a different time or are at the refreshment point." Just like the butterfly effect.

Every runner should have an almost perfect experience at the VCM.

(Bild: VCM/Leo HAGEN)

Holy trinity: time, space, order
The ideal starting order consists of the holy trinity of time, space and order. On Altenburg's advice, the starting area is narrowed, but the time is extended from 35 to 40 minutes. "You have to imagine it like a water tap that you turn on more or less as required," explains the German. It is important that the faster runners start in the first waves. This will also be strictly controlled this year on the basis of evidence. An important goal is that there are as few overtaking maneuvers as possible - because they need space.

It is therefore possible that there will be 20 percent more starters (there is a record for the pure marathon with over 11,000 registrations), but each runner should still have 18 percent more space on the course. The rule for Altenburg was: "With a road width of three meters, 248 runners can pass per minute." Florian Holecek from the VCM team used a tape measure to measure the key points of the course once again in order to measure them precisely for Altenburg. Critical points: Mariahilfer Straße and the turn onto the left Wienzeile. But this has now all been taken into account.

The police have also been informed of the expected scenario.

(Bild: Mario Urbantschitsch)

The simulation can also be used to instruct the refreshment points when to expect the biggest rush, as well as the staff in the finish area who present the marathon participants with their medals.

When Altenburg predicted the course of the New York Marathon for the first time in 2015, the actual event matched his forecast 99.6 percent of the time. A perfect experience for every runner should therefore be guaranteed at this year's Vienna City Marathon.