A marathon is always a big event, many people are doing many months of training. Doing a marathon in a costume is making it even harder. Now thinking about a marathon in a costume AND a lot of beer with high elevation? It sounds like a challenge, but a fun one! The Beerlovers Marathon in Liege!
Where is it located and when does it happen?
The Beerlovers Marathon is happening in the Belgium town of Liege with almost 200.000 people living there. Liege is super close to the border of the Netherlands and also, due to that, not so far from Germany.
It happens every year during the end of may.
What can you expect?
You can expect many crazy costumes, depending on the topic of the year. This year, it was the topic “cinema”, so every runner is dressing up with something in this topic. You could for example run as Darth Vader from Star Wars for example.
You will have to run a full marathon (42,195km) and you have a maximum of 6:30 h’s to finish it. You will have 15 to 18 beer stops, where you can try local beer from Belgium, which in my opinion is the best beer in this world. Of course you are going to have music and also the chance getting water.
The organizers are saying “The Beer Lovers’ Marathon is a unique opportunity to run a marathon without pressure, and where everyone encourages each other to finish.”
How is it there?
When I was visiting Liege and saw by surprise this event, it was just amazing seeing all these people in costumes and quite drunk some of them as well. Everyone seemed to be happy and having a lot of fun.
For spectators, you can have a lot of fun there, even when you are just going to watch. For people who are starting there, you are going to be around many fun people and the marathon in general isn’t very easy. Many stairs up, but for this you should read a story from a runner, who was competing there. Click here to read his article
The medal you are going to receive will have a bottle opener in it.
What else is happening there?
When I visited this event in 2019, there was at the same time the beer lovers festival on the other side of the street. It seems to not always be the case, but when having more time, this could also be a fun event, if you like beer, but I assume otherwise you wouldn’t read this article.
At the beer lovers festival, you are able to try many different local beers from small breweries. The beer is strong and can knock you out for sure, so take care, when it is too hot outside as well. Many fun people are also visiting that event, so you can have good talks and enjoy amazing beer.
Summary
Finishing a marathon is already an achievement. Finishing a marathon, when drinking 15 to 18 beers is crazy, in my opinion. I haven’t done it yet, but when I do, there will of course be an article from my perspective. It is on my list.
Visiting the city of Liege in general is already worth it, so you won’t regret visiting it. A clean and also beautiful city in my opinion, so checking the city out itself is already a good idea.
