The running season has started in epic way! The sold-out Prague Half Marathon was won by Kenyan Sabastian Kimaru Sawe, the reigning world champion, who broke the race record by 23 seconds. The time of 58 minutes and 24 seconds is a new personal best for him, and it is the twelfth fastest half marathon in the historical ranking and the best performance this year. Among the women, the Ethiopian Gete Alemayechu Teklemichael won, the fastest Czech male runner was Patrik Vebr and the best female runner was Tereza Hrochová. The Prague Half Marathon is a part of the prestigious SuperHalfs series and, thanks to more than 15 thousand participants, it has become the largest mass sports event in the Czech Republic and one of the biggest events in Central Europe.
The 30th jubilee season of RunCzech races could not have started better. Prague belonged to the runners – even twenty minutes after the start of the elite racers, crowds of people were still crossing the start line. The interest in this year’s first race of the season was record-breaking. The biggest hero was Kenyan Sawe, whose pace nobody could keep up after five kilometers. By around the tenth kilometer, he was running completely alone and won overwhelmingly. His compatriot Geofry Kipchumba was one minute and 37 seconds slower. He confirmed his amazing form, having won six of the last eight half marathons.
“I am absolutely happy that I managed to achieve my personal best and to break the race record as well. I had a great run, the course was fast and enjoyable. The fans drove me forward, I didn’t experience any critical moment,” Sawe, who regularly trained for several days in the parks of Stromovka or Letná before the half marathon, praised himself at the finish line. “Prague is a beautiful city. I liked it during my training, but today the beauty of the city got me completely.”
Warm weather was surprising
Thousands of participants were surprised by the hot weather, with temperatures as high as 26 degrees on the track. This caused challenges especially for the Czech elite runners. “I prefer races that are colder, it didn’t suit me. It was hard, I was struggling from the beginning. Even though I was prepared from my training in Kenya, it was hard,” said Patrik Vebr. The best Czech athlete fought again with Jiří Homoláč. “We were running together from the start, until after some fourteen kilometers he slowed down a bit and I got a ride with the other guys. But it was hard.” He had a 16-second lead on Homoláč at the finish.
The weather conditions also surprised Tereza Hrochova, who went into the Prague Half Marathon from a full training session in the mountains. “It was still snowing there sometimes, so it was a big temperature shock for me. Somewhere in the beginning my stomach started to hurt and only in the second half did it ease up. The beginning was pretty tough because of the weather and I got better only in the second half,” said Hrochová, who was more than two minutes behind her personal best with 1:14:19.
The Prague Half Marathon started for the first time on the Bubenecske nabrezi next to the popular HolKa footbridge near the Holešovická tržnice (Market Hall). And the competitors enjoyed the change. “I liked it a lot, there were less cobbles on the course and overall it was better spread out in terms of wind. We had a bit of wind at the end so that helped,” said Vebr.
The sunny weather also attracted many fans to the track. In total, over 15 thousand people participated in the Prague Half Marathon, of which around 9 thousand came from abroad. One of the reasons for this is the fact that the Prague race is part of the prestigious SuperHalfs series. “The idea for this European series was born in Prague and this year’s race is a proof that it is a great and beneficial project. Many runners have stayed and enjoy the Prague hospitality, so it has also got the economy moving. These are also the benefits of these sporting events,” said Carlo Capalbo, President of the RunCzech Organising Committee.
