I did this race 3 years ago, the 2nd race I ever did. I enjoyed the race the last time and decided to do it again. The race has changed a little bit since I last ran it. Biggest change is the distance, the race is now 5 miles instead of 4 miles. This is mainly because the original Dam tot Damloop race is 10 miles (this is the biggest running event in the Netherlands) and they probably wanted the Damloop by Night to be exactly half of that.

Getting to the start and bag drop off went smoothly (at least when you arrive through public transport) and I managed to get into the starting pen on time. You do have to walk 2 km from the station to the the bag drop off and another km or so to the starting pens. Would have been nice if they would have been more clear about the time it takes to walk everywhere instead of just saying "it's walking distance", so you can take this into account.

The route hasn't changed, they only made it longer, but I remembered most of it from 3 years ago. Nice route along the water and a lot of entertainment. Lit fountains, boats with lot of lights, flyboarders on the water and lots of music! Since there are 15.000 runners on just 8k, it is quite crowded on the course. I wasn't able to run full speed and often had to run on the sidewalk so I could pass some runners.