IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, Cardiff 2016, launched

The IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, Cardiff 2016, was officially launched in the host city on Wednesday (25).

The 22nd edition of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships will be an important stepping stone for many of the athletes towards the Olympic Games marathon in Rio 147 days later but, following in the footsteps of the innovative approach by its predecessor in Copenhagen last year, it will also offer 25,000 runners of all ages and abilities the chance to compete in a mass participation race along the fast and flat course around the Welsh capital.

Club and casual runners will be able to rub shoulders with the world’s elite athletes at the biggest athletics event to be staged in Wales since the Commonwealth Games in 1958.

Runners have the chance to claim one of the 25,000 places in the event by registering their interest on the official website www.cardiff2016.co.uk

“It is fantastic that Cardiff will be hosting a World Championship event of this stature in 2016. The Cardiff Half Marathon has already proved itself to be one of the biggest and best road races in the UK and when the best athletes in the world run on the same course the times should be spectacular,” said Lynn Davies, the President of British Athletics and 1964 Olympic Games long jump gold medallist.

“But the real beauty of this event is that ordinary runners get the chance to line-up on the same start line as the best athletes in the world. That simply doesn’t happen in many other sports.”

It will be the fourth time the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships has been staged in Great Britain.

The inaugural event was staged as part of the Great North Run, now an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, in 1992; Bristol hosted the event in 2001 and Birmingham in 2009.

No British male athlete has won the title, but Liz McColgan (1992) and Paula Radcliffe (2000, 2001, 2003) have captured four titles between them for British women.

 “It’s was a huge honour for Wales to win the right to host the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and one which is testament to the nation’s enviable credentials in hosting successful global sporting events, such as Ashes Test, Ryder Cup, Rugby World Cup, UEFA Super Cup and many others,” said Ken Skates, the Welsh Government’s Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism.

“The success of the Cardiff Half Marathon was also an important contributing factor in the success of the bid.  We look forward to working with partners to deliver a world class event in 2016 – for both the elite runners and everyone else who will join this amazing opportunity,” added Skates.

The official IAAF Partners for the 2016 World Half Marathon Championships are Adidas, Canon and Seiko.

Organisers 

IAAF World Half Marathon Championships championship records

Individual men – 58:59, Zersenay Tadese (ERI), Udine 2007
Individual women – 1:06:25, Lornah Kiplagat (NED), Udine 2007
Team men – 2:58:54, Kenya, Udine 2007
Team women – 3:22:30, Kenya, Birmingham 2009