Volkswagen Prague Marathon
Prague International Marathon (PIM), in cooperation with tempo team prague (tempo team), the organisers of the largest running events in the Czech Republic, announced the official launch of its RunCzech.com project
The RunCzech project was created with the aim of building the largest collection of running races for amateurs in Central Europe and to continue with PIM’s mission to promote a healthy, active lifestyle throughout the Czech population.
Talking about RunCzech, Carlo Capalbo, President of the Organising Committees of both PIM and tempo team, commented:
“The whole region is experiencing ‘marathon mania’ and a running boom, and it is our duty to respond to the challenge by providing world class running events throughout the country. Let’s not forget that the Czech Republic is the birthplace of one of the greatest marathon runners in the history of long-distance running, Emil Zatopek, and we want to honour his name by presenting the Czech Republic as a country of excellent mass participation events, and by inviting all runners, whether local or international, to fully discover its beauty.”
RunCzech is a year-round programme offering different distances and disciplines for runners of all fitness levels. With three main running events in Prague, the Hervis Prague Half Marathon, the Volkswagen Prague Marathon, and the MATTONI Prague Grand Prix, the complete running circuit will eventually include eight main races certified by IAAF and AIMS, and will expect over 80,000 participants per year. The expansion to the regions started in Olomouc with the Volkswagen Olomouc Half Marathon in 2010, and continued in September 2011 with the Volkswagen Usti nad Labem Half Marathon, which featured a unique route leading partially through the local chemical factory. In 2012, the southern part of the Czech Republic will also get its own race as Ceske Budejovice joins the series. After adding two more events in 2013 and 2014, the circuit will be completed.
Runners will be awarded points for each completed race. The allocation of points decreases with each additional race according to its difficulty. The ranking system will be available online and supported through runners’ interaction via social networks, mobile technology and other channels of communication, and will be determined by gender, occupation (68 different categories), and IAAF age groups.
PIM in cooperation with tempo team is launching the RunCzech series at the end of a very successful running season, which saw races sold out weeks before the official closure of their registration and a total of 60,700 runners taking part, from which 31% were foreign runners. For the first time ever, PIM also saw the magical 1 hour limit broken in the Czech Republic during the Hervis Prague Half Marathon, as well as even more world-famous celebrities taking part in the races.
To crown the season, PIM is also proud to announce that it has received confirmation of both IAAF Road Race Gold Labels for its Hervis Prague Half Marathon and Volkswagen Prague Marathon for 2012. Registrations for both these races are already open and offer favourable registration fees up until November 30th, 2011.
RunCzech.com, 2012, will include:
- Hervis Prague Half Marathon 31st March, 2012
- Volkswagen Prague Marathon 13th May, 2012
- České Budějovice Half Marathon 2nd June, 2012
- Volkswagen Olomouc Half Marathon 23rd June, 2012
- Matonni Prague Grand Prix 8th September, 2012
- Volkswagen Ustí Half Marathon 16th September 2012
Check out runczech.com for more information
