The 45th edition of the NN Marathon Rotterdam takes place on Sunday 12 April, and with just forty-eight hours to go the Dutch port city is preparing for one of its biggest sporting weekends of the year. The race starts at 10:00 AM local time at the foot of the Erasmus Bridge and finishes on the Coolsingel in front of Rotterdam City Hall, following a flat, sheltered course through the city centre that has produced three world records in its history and an extraordinary density of sub-2:05 performances in recent editions. Organisers expect around 16,000 starters across the marathon and accompanying distances, making this one of the largest road races on the European spring calendar.
This year's edition carries additional domestic significance as the Dutch marathon championships (NK Marathon) are being contested within the race, with national titles on the line for both men and women. Leading the home challenge is Filmon Tesfu, the Eritrean-born, naturalised Dutch runner who has become the second-fastest marathoner in the country's history with a personal best of 2:06:42, behind only Olympic medallist Abdi Nageeye. Tesfu enters as the clear favourite for the Dutch title and is targeting a top-ten international finish on a course that suits his rhythm-based approach. Stan Niesten, Tom Hendrikse and Jonatan Venema provide the domestic depth, while the international elite field has been headlined in the build-up by a strong East African contingent under NN Running Team colours.
Conditions on Sunday morning are forecast to be cloudy with a chance of light rain in the opening hours, and temperatures climbing from around 15°C at 10:00 AM to 17°C by midday. Wind direction will be watched closely given Rotterdam's vulnerability to coastal westerlies, but on paper the forecast looks manageable for fast times if the weather holds. The course has long been a favoured venue for athletes chasing Olympic and World Championship qualifying marks, and that tradition continues this weekend with several non-selected European athletes using Rotterdam as a final push for summer squad places.
The race's logistical footprint has grown steadily since the return of mass participation after the pandemic, and the 45th edition brings a handful of small changes to improve runner experience. Start waves are staggered between 10:00 AM and 10:40 AM to reduce congestion on the opening kilometres, additional water points have been added to the stretch between kilometres 25 and 35 following athlete feedback from the 2025 event, and the post-race recovery zone on the Coolsingel has been expanded. Dutch broadcaster NOS will carry comprehensive live coverage from 9:30 AM local time, with World Athletics distributing the international feed for the third consecutive year.
Rotterdam's historical importance in marathon running is easy to underestimate. This is the course where Khalid Khannouchi broke the world record in 1998, where Carlos Lopes set his 2:07:12 mark in 1985, and where Kenenisa Bekele produced one of his final great road performances before the pandemic era. With Paris and London marathons still to come over the following two weeks, Sunday's race in Rotterdam represents the opening act of European marathon season — and, potentially, the first opportunity of 2026 for a genuinely fast mark on the continent. For Dutch athletics, which has been quietly building a strong distance-running generation behind Nageeye and Sifan Hassan, it is also a moment to crown a new national champion on the Coolsingel.