The Volkswagen Prague Marathon took place for the first time in 1995 when multiple Czech Olympic champion Emil Zatopek famously fired the starting pistol.
This year’s race on 6 May will be a landmark edition as not only will the Prague Marathon take place for the 24th time, the race will also welcome home the millionth runner in RunCzech racing history since 1995.
The Prague Marathon is a recently certified five-star road race by European Athletics Running for All which means the organisers have met stringent and thorough safety and quality checks.
More than 10,000 runners from 85 nationalities will be taking part in the full marathon distance with another 6000 participating in adjoining races on the programme. The race will be broadcast live on Czech television and will also be streamed live on www.runczech.com.
Key facts and figures:
*The capacity for the Prague Marathon is 10,600 runners. A further 5400 people will run the family mini-marathon with another 500 people taking part in the Walk with Dogs. In total, 16,500 participants will take part across the programme.
*Runners from 85 nationalities will appear on the start-line of the Old Town
*Male runners make up 76.6 percent of the marathon field with female runners making up the remaining 23.4 percent.
*The average age of female competitors taking part in the marathon is 39.9 years while the average age of male competitors is 42.7 years. The oldest female competitor in this year’s race is France’s Liliane Glass (71) and the oldest male competitor is Czech Republic’s Jiri Pridal (84).
*The average finishing time for female competitors in the Prague Marathon is 4:19:29 and the average finishing time for male competitors is 3:50:52.
*A total of 13 men and 28 women runners will celebrate their birthdays on race day.
*The most common name of male participants is Jan (289) followed by Petr (281), Martin (273), Pavel and Jiri (190 each). The most common names among the female participants are Jana (52), Petra (45), Lenka (35), Martina and Lucie (33 each).
*There will be 241 portable toilets along the route and at the start/finish area.
*There will be 107,850 water-soaked sponges and 374,241 cups of water at refreshment tables along the route.
*The course records are held by Kenyans Eliud Kiptanui (2:05:39, 2010) and Valary Jemeli Aiyabei (2:21:57, 2017)
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]