About the event

The history of the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON is linked to the history of the city of Berlin. The race could only have developed in this way in today's German capital. This is because in the 1980s, when the Berlin Wall was still up, East and West each had their own races: In East Germany, the Peace Run was the biggest road race of the year, while in West Berlin, the Berlin Half Marathon organised by SC Charlottenburg had only a local character. The race served as a test of one’s preparedness a few weeks before the BERLIN-MARATHON. Around ten months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a joint race took place in the late summer of 1990, which then developed into one of the largest and most elite races over the 21.0975-km distance: the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON.

The origins of the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON
At the beginning of the 1980s, the first large city runs modelled on foreign races began to develop in Germany. The USA, Great Britain and France were already a little further ahead at the time. In spring of 1981, the French organised a city run in their sector of Allied-occupied West Berlin, and the '25 km de Berlin' was launched in May. The French had thus broken the spell: The first BERLIN-MARATHON through the city followed in the fall, after the premiere of the Frankfurt Marathon (Hoechst Marathon Frankfurt) had also been launched. The popular sports scene in the GDR was not immune to this development. It also pushed onto the streets, although this was even more difficult in the eastern part of Germany. Initially, there was no green light for a city run. However, a group of organisers started the Lichtenberg Marathon in 1981. The 42.195-km race took place on smaller roads through the East Berlin borough. Only a few hundred runners participated. The centre of East Berlin was still off-limits at the time. Due to the manner in which the event developed, the origin of the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON is considered to have begun with this Lichtenberg Marathon.

The half marathon as preparation for the marathon in Berlin
The modest beginnings of the Lichtenberg Marathon quickly expanded. The success of the city races in the West was evidently also recognised in the eastern part of Germany. Now the East Berlin authorities in the Red City Hall and the sports officials of the GDR in the DTSB (German Gymnastics and Sports Federation) agreed to a race through the city streets. This is how the small Lichtenberg Marathon with 466 runners became the Peace Run, which is reported to have had 20,000 participants at the start in 1982. However, according to contemporary witnesses, this was greatly exaggerated. In addition to a marathon, the programme also included a 20K run and additional shorter races. Most of the participants ran just for fun. However, the half marathon was not one of the distances offered at the Peace Run. The Peace Run was also used by the GDR leadership for propaganda purposes. In 1985, the race was moved to a Thursday because the International Olympic Committee was meeting in East Berlin at the same time. The then IOC President Juan-Antonio Samaranch gave the starting signal for a race in which 70,000 people were supposedly at the start. This figure was obviously greatly exaggerated. The Berlin Half Marathon in the western part of the city did not have the significance of the Peace Run. It was simply a preparatory race for the BERLIN-MARATHON, which usually took place four weeks later. The first Berlin Half Marathon was organised by SC Charlottenburg Berlin, which later became the current organiser, SCC EVENTS, on September 2, 1984. The number of participants in this race fluctuated between 1,350 and 1,800. The start and finish of the race were in the Mommsen Stadium, and the route ran along and through the Grunewald forest.