Sara Moreira hasn’t contested a marathon since the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where an injury forced her to withdraw before the 10km checkpoint but she is aiming to make her comeback to the distance in the Volkswagen Prague Marathon on 6 May.
The Volkswagen Prague Marathon has a five-star certification from European Athletics Running for All which guarantees runners the highest levels of safety and organisation.
Moreira was initially due to contest the London Marathon in 2015 before an injury in the latter stages of her build-up forced her to scratch but the 32-year-old rebounded in the Prague Marathon less than a month later, finishing second in a lifetime best of 2:24:49 to move to third on the Portuguese all-time lists behind Rosa Mota (2:23:29) and Jessica Augusto (2:24:25).
Moreira was in good form over the weekend, winning comprehensively over 25 laps on home soil in Braga at the Trofeo Iberico Cup in 32:10.50 - comfortably inside the qualifying time for the 10,000m at the European Championships in Berlin.
Moreira has been one of Europe’s leading distance runners over the last decade with two European titles - one in the 3000m and one in the half marathon - to her name and with support from European Athletics, organisers RunCzech have launched the Euroheroes initiative in order to further boost distance running prospects in Europe.
RunCzech will dedicate two of its upcoming races - the Mattoni Karlovy Vary Half Marathon and Mattoni Ceske Budejovice Half Marathon which are both five-star certified road races - to promote European distance running, only inviting European athletes and the best Czech runners.
“We want to devote our top-quality events in Karlovy Vary and Ceske Budejovice to discover new heroes and to create local legends that will inspire others to take up sport and lead an active lifestyle,” commented Carlo Capalbo, President of the RunCzech Organising Committee and also chairman of the IAAF Road Running Commission.
The European Athletics Quality Road Race standards act as an assurance for road runners throughout Europe. They distinguish between races that respect the standards and those that haven’t sought certification or assessment. They form the foundation of Running for All, a strong recognisable brand for running activities throughout Europe.
More information on Running4All:
Website: european-running4all.org
Twitter: @runningforall
Contact: [email protected]