The Rotterdam Marathon is an annual marathon that has been held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands since 1981. It has been held in April of every year since the third edition in 1984, and attracts many top athletes. It has also been ranked as one of the top 10 marathons in the world by Runner's World magazine. [1] The event is the biggest marathon in the Netherlands, followed by the Amsterdam and Eindhoven Marathon.

The Rotterdam Marathon often produces very fast times, as the course is very flat and weather conditions are typically ideal, although the 2007 event witnessed extreme weather conditions. Conditions were reported as 'unseasonal' and the KNMI meteorological institute reports that Sunday was the warmest day ever recorded in the month of April and temperatures in Rotterdam reportedly reached as high as 34 degrees^[1]. The event was officially cancelled at 14:30 hrs.^[2]. Although many runners ignored warnings and continued to run.

The course record is held by William Kipsang and was set in April 2008. His time was 2:05:49.^[3]

The start of the first Rotterdam marathon organized by the Rotterdam Marathon Foundation with more than twohundred participants. The first winner, John Graham of the United Kingdom, gave the event an immediate international reputation with a time of 2:09:28. The Rotterdam Marathon has developed into the largest one-day event in the Netherlands.

Start and finish are, true to tradition, on the Coolsingel in the very heart of the city, where at 11:00 hrs to the accompaniment of cannon fire all the participants will start. The last edition took place on April 13, 2008. On April 15, 2007 the event was cancelled half-way because of the temperature, though the competitive runners already had finished by that time.

DATE	NAME ATHLETE	COUNTRY	WINNING TIME
May 23, 1981	John Graham	Great Britain	2:09:28
May 22, 1982	Rodolfo Gómez	Mexico	2:11:57
April 9, 1983	Robert de Castella	Australia	2:08:37
April 14, 1984	Gidamis Shahanga	Tanzania	2:11:12
April 20, 1985	Carlos Lopes	Portugal	2:07:12
April 19, 1986	Abebe Mekonnen	Ethiopia	2:09:09
April 18, 1987	Belayneh Densamo	Ethiopia	2:12:58
April 17, 1988	Belayneh Densamo	Ethiopia	2:06:50 WR
April 16, 1989	Belayneh Densamo	Ethiopia	2:08:39
April 22, 1990	Hiromi Taniguchi	Japan	2:10:56
April 21, 1991	Robert de Castella	Australia	2:09:42
April 5, 1992	Salvador García	Mexico	2:09:16
April 18, 1993	Dionicio Cerón	Mexico	2:11:06
April 17, 1994	Vincent Rousseau	Belgium	2:07:51
April 23, 1995	Martín Fiz	Spain	2:08:57
April 28, 1996	Belayneh Densamo	Ethiopia	2:10:30
April 20, 1997	Domingos Castro	Portugal	2:07:51
April 19, 1998	Fabián Roncero	Spain	2:07:26
April 18, 1999	Japhet Kosgei	Kenya	2:07:09
April 16, 2000	Kenneth Cheruiyot	Kenya	2:08:22
April 22, 2001	Josephat Kiprono	Kenya	2:06:50
April 21, 2002	Simon Biwott	Kenya	2:08:36
April 13, 2003	William Kiplagat	Kenya	2:07:42
April 4, 2004	Felix Limo	Kenya	2:06:14
April 10, 2005	Jimmy Muindi	Kenya	2:07:50
April 9, 2006	Sammy Korir	Kenya	2:06:38
April 15, 2007	Joshua Chelanga	Kenya	2:08:21
April 13, 2008	William Kipsang	Kenya	2:05:49

DATE	NAME ATHLETE	COUNTRY	WINNING TIME
May 23, 1981	Marja Wokke	Netherlands	2:43:23
May 22, 1982	Mathilde Heuing	West Germany	2:54:03
April 9, 1983	Rosa Mota	Portugal	2:32:27
April 14, 1984	Carla Beurskens	Netherlands	2:34:56
April 20, 1985	Wilma Rusman	Netherlands	2:35:32
April 19, 1986	Ellinor Ljungros	Sweden	2:41:06
April 18, 1987	Nelly Aerts	Belgium	2:41:24
April 17, 1988	Xiao Hongyan	PR China	2:37:46
April 16, 1989	Elena Murgoci	Romania	2:32:03
April 22, 1990	Carla Beurskens	Netherlands	2:29:47
April 21, 1991	Joke Kleijweg	Netherlands	2:34:18
April 5, 1992	Aurora Cunha	Portugal	2:29:14
April 18, 1993	Anne van Schuppen	Netherlands	2:34:15
April 17, 1994	Miyoko Asahina	Japan	2:25:52
April 23, 1995	Mónica Pont	Spain	2:30:34
April 28, 1996	Lieve Slegers	Belgium	2:28:06
April 20, 1997	Tegla Laroupe	Kenya	2:22:07
April 19, 1998	Tegla Laroupe	Kenya	2:20:47 WR
April 18, 1999	Tegla Laroupe	Kenya	2:22:48
April 16, 2000	Ana Isabel Alonso	Spain	2:30:21
April 22, 2001	Susan Chepkemei	Kenya	2:25:45
April 21, 2002	Takami Ominami	Japan	2:23:43
April 13, 2003	Olivera Jevtić	Serbia and Montenegro	2:25:23
April 4, 2004	Zhor El Kamch	Morocco	2:26:10
April 10, 2005	Lornah Kiplagat	Netherlands	2:27:36
April 9, 2006	Mindaye Gishu	Ethiopia	2:28:30
April 15, 2007	Hiromi Ominami	Japan	2:26:36
April 13, 2008	Lyubov Morgunova	Russia	2:25:10

• Rotterdam Half Marathon
• Amsterdam Marathon
• Eindhoven Marathon
• Enschede Marathon

• Official Site
• Marathon Info
• www.42k195.com