Record participation of competitors, world champion in the running field, start and finish in a new location, route leading through the center of the metropolis. The sold-out Prague Half Marathon, which starts on Saturday at 10:00, is full of novelties. “This year’s race will be really special. I’m thrilled to see people returning to running and trying to get moving after a darker period. This is great news for the Czech Republic and the whole society,” said Carlo Capalbo, president of the RunCzech organizing committee. Among the elite runners, one of the most prestigious races will feature the reigning world champion Sabastian Kimaru Sawe from Kenya, as well as a record number of 15,500 runners from 115 countries. “The biggest race with a record? This is of course great news for Czech athletics. It’s great that RunCzech has overcome the more difficult covid period and still motivates runners to move and brings them such amazing conditions,” said Libor Varhaník, President of the Czech Athletics Federation.
The Prague Half Marathon, which is part of the prestigious SuperHalfs series of European half marathons, will thus become the largest mass sports event in the Czech Republic and one of the largest events in Central Europe in terms of the number of participants. It is also a great event. Sabastian Kimaru Sawe is a real diamond in the starting list.
In his career he has run a total of seven half marathons, winning five of them. His slowest time is 59:23. “I will try to break the race record. I want to run so that my family will be proud of me,” said Sawe, 29. His personal best from last November (58:29) would have been enough to break the 2012 race record (58:47).
Patrik Vebr (1:05:42), the defending Czech champion from last year, also spoke about the record at a press conference at the Hilton Hotel in Prague. How does he see the attack on the current best Czech time of the race, held by his great rival and friend Jiří Homoláč (1:03:23)? “63 minutes. Nothing is impossible, we’ll see,” smiled Vebr.
RunCzech has prepared a number of novelties for the 24th edition of the Prague Half Marathon, which boasts the Elite World Athletics quality mark. In addition to the increased number of registrations, the race will now start on the Bubenské nábřeží (riverbank of Vltava River) next to the popular HolKa footbridge near the Holešovická Tržnice (Market Hall). “This is the biggest change. After a very long time we are in a new place. The route otherwise honours the original one, running along the banks of the Vltava River, but also through Old Town Square and Pařížská Street. We designed it to be very fast,” said Tomáš Mirovský, RunCzech race coordinator. “At the original starting point on Jana Palacha Square, the limit for the half marathon was around 12,000 people. Thanks to the move to Holešovice, we were able to increase the capacity. The location near the market square will provide more comfort,” Mirovský added.
The organizers ask the participants of the Prague Half Marathon to arrive at the starting point on time and not to underestimate the warm weather due to the increased capacity. “We will probably also experience a temperature record at the Prague Half Marathon. The forecast for Saturday is up to 25 degrees. It’s weather for shorts and a T-shirt. We will therefore be reinforcing the refreshment stations,” Mirovský outlined, adding that 21,000 liters of Mattoni mineral water in 42,696 bottles will be prepared for the race participants on site and will be available at 8 refreshment stations on the course and at the finish line. There will also be 12,000 liters of ionic drinks, 15,000 apples, 40,000 bananas and 10,000 oranges.
A record number of foreigners will actively participate in the halfmarathon, almost 9 000 runners will come from abroad. “We have never had so many people from abroad. The participants will be accompanied by their families or friends, so the race will be a great contribution to the Czech economy,” added Carlo Capalbo.
The Prague Half Marathon will not only be about running performances, records and the euphoria of movement. It will also bring joy to the participants to know that they are running for a good cause, namely for Světluška (Firefly), a project of the Czech Radio Foundation, which is dedicated to the severely visually impaired. Světluška is not only the main partner of the race, but also one of the many foundations with which RunCzech has been cooperating for a long time. “We appreciate this partnership very much, because thanks to RunCzech we can help people with severe visual impairments to lead a quality and dignified life,” says Gabriela Drastichová, director of Světluška.
