In April of 2012 Atsedu Tsegay of Ethiopia burst onto the international running scene by posting a world class half marathon time of 58:47 in Prague.
That performance made Tsegay the fourth fastest half-marathoner in history and no one has been able to eclipse that clocking in the ensuing two years.
After a difficult year battling injuries following that breakthrough Tsegay has recently shown that he is back in top form. In New Delhi in December he very successfully competed against a loaded field of 10 other men with half marathon personal bests under one hour and won convincingly in 59:12.
Tsegay is presently working on increasing his endurance and will make his full marathon debut in Dubai on January 24 before returning to the half marathon distance in Prague. Now fully healthy and once again demonstrably in top condition Tsegay has announced that he is anxious to come back to Prague which made such a positive impact on his career.
He is eager to regain the crown that World Record Holder Zersanay Tadese claimed last year by winning the 2013 Prague Half Marathon in 1:00:10. It won’t be an easy task as the RunCzech elite athlete coordinator, Jana Moberly, is promising another strong field with several other sub one hour half marathoners including Philemon Limo, the 2011 winner of the Prague Half Marathon in 59:30 and the winner of the Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon in 2013. The women’s field will be led by Firehiwot Dado a 2011 winner of the New York City Marathon in 2:23:15.
With a new title partner the 2014 Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon has proven more popular than ever with runners by selling out all entries almost four months before the April 5th race. Although all of the RunCzech events have regularly sold out in recent years this was the earliest yet. Foreign runners who have waited to make their travel plans before entering now find themselves most affected by the entry closure. Carlo Capalbo, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, stated “We are sorry to disappoint our foreign friends but we need to communicate to all the need to plan and enter early in order to be a part of the RunCzech experience”.
Sportisimo, the new title sponsor for the event, is the largest sporting goods retailer in the Czech Republic with 75 stores in the nation and another 19 in Slovakia. They were the category retailer of the year in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Martina Kudlackova, Sportisimo Manager of Purchasing and Marketing, stated the company was interested in connecting with the recreational runners of the Czech Republic and that a partnership with RunCzech was an ideal way to achieve that.
