The Westenergie Marathon is a road race along Lake Baldeney in Essen, Germany.
It's run by volunteers from TUSEM Essen's athletics department and includes full marathon, a one-lap lake race and a team relay.
The organizers and sponsor highlight the long tradition of the lake marathon and the wide range of events families can join.
Rather than touring the city's main streets, the race keeps to the lakeshore and showcases Essen's waterfront.
Full marathon runs a short opening section and then two laps of Lake Baldeney.
Course is fully paved with asphalt, and the terrain is flat.
In the Heisingen section past the Kampmann Bridge,
runners do a short out-and-back on Wuppertaler Straße on both laps to make up the exact full marathon distance.
The route repeats laps of the lake, with the shoreline route and this out-and-back together forming course.
The route is measured to international standards and has distance markers.
The one-lap lake race starts at Seaside Beach, circles the lake once and returns.
At the end, runners loop counterclockwise around the Seaside Beach grounds to the finish by the lakeside promenade.
In the team relay, four runners split full marathon distance, with men's, women's and mixed teams.
Kids' races and a walking event are also on offer, so beyond solo long-distance runners, families and teams can experience the lake too.
