Toe to toe: Tel Aviv, Jerusalem slate marathons for same day

Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are battling for marathon glory in 2013, with both cities hosting their annual races on March 15, 2013. Tel Aviv insists it reserved the date first — more than four year ago — and Jerusalem says that in fact, it claimed it even earlier.

Neither city seems ready to budge.

The Tel Aviv Municipality called the conflict a shame. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat added that the move would hurt tourism and placed a large billboard ad for his city’s marathon on a main Tel Aviv street.

“Breathtaking” is the Jerusalem marathon’s theme. Its website calls it a “run through history,” boasting of 3,000 years of tales and legends. The race would be Jerusalem’s third.

Tel Aviv’s Gillette Marathon has a somewhat different vibe, calling itself “the nonstop party marathon.” The race includes inline skating and a hand-cycle race.

The 2013 marathon conflict follows two years of near-collision marathon dates. In 2011, Tel Aviv’s marathon followed Jerusalem’s by a few weeks. This year, Tel Aviv’s marathon will also happen two weeks after the capital’s marathon.

Tel Aviv generally draws a larger crowd: some 15,000 people in 2011 compared to approximately 11,000 in Jerusalem.

Both cities’ events consist of a shorter races, too — a 10k and a half marathon.