International Bodensee Marathon: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

The start is on the Hauptstraße level with the Festhalle. The course runs through the centre of Kressbronn and out via the hamlet of Betznau to the river Argen, reached after about five kilometres. A loop of roughly twelve kilometres follows the river before the same five kilometre return leg leads back through Betznau into the village.

That loop is covered twice. The turnaround between lap one and lap two sits in the village centre directly in front of the finish and spectator area, which means that after a little over twenty-one kilometres you run past the finish line and the loudest crowd of the day, and back out again. That is the defining feature of this marathon and, for many, its hardest moment.

The surface changes constantly: around half the route is asphalt, the other half wide, prepared natural path along the Argen. This is not a lakeshore course; it leads inland from the Lake Constance village into the river valley. The race is organised by Turnverein Kressbronn 1898, the start is unusually late at half past eleven, and every finisher receives a wooden medal.

Pacing Strategy

On a course with no meaningful gradient there is nothing to slow you down if you start too fast, and that is the main trap here. The first lap feels easy on a flat profile, and the two and a half hour limit at the turnaround adds a further temptation to build a cushion that the second lap will charge you for.

The race is decided between kilometre 21 and kilometre 30, immediately after the turnaround at the finish area. Hold first-lap pace through there and you run an even race; start the lap too hard and this is exactly where it goes. Plan the second lap from the outset as the equally fast one, not the faster one.

The second factor is the time of day. A half past eleven start puts most of the race in the warmest part of a September day, with long unshaded stretches along the river. Use the fifteen aid stations consistently from the beginning, and account for the repeated change between asphalt and natural path, which alters your cadence several times per lap.

Training plan for International Bodensee Marathon: 12-week build

For age-group athletes the effort lasts roughly three to five hours, with the five hour limit setting the upper bound. The character is a steady aerobic run: close to sixty percent of the route is flat and there are no steep sections at all. That sounds easy, but it means running the full distance in essentially one rhythm with no relief phases.

The main training emphasis follows directly from that. Where an undulating profile forces the muscles to vary, a consistently flat course loads the same structures throughout. Long runs at marathon pace on flat terrain and tempo runs of fifteen to twenty-five kilometres prepare you better than hill repetitions.

Conditions are the second emphasis. A half past eleven start in mid September means deliberately placing sessions at midday rather than in the cool of the morning, and rehearsing the fuelling plan in training exactly as it will run on race day. The change between asphalt and firm natural path should also be trained, since around half the course is not run on asphalt.

Mentally, the two-lap structure belongs in the preparation. Runners who regularly train on loops, and who plan long sessions so that the second half passes a point they have already been through, arrive far better prepared for the turnaround in front of the finish than someone meeting it for the first time on race day.