Adidas, RunCzech attack world half marathon records in Prague

With the Covid-19 pandemic apparently slowly easing off globally and sport shifting a gear up, Prague-based athletics events management company RunCzech are looking for a flying finish to the coronavirus-ravaged season.

This Saturday (September 5) RunCzech – in partnership with sportswear manufacturers Adidas - are going flat out on an assault on world distance running records at a specially-organised completion in the heart of the Czech capital, Prague.

In a press statement on Tuesday, RunCzech announced they have organised a special, invitation-only half marathon race featuring 35 top distance runners, including Kenya’s former world record holder over the 21-kilometre distance, Peres Chepchirchir.

“While the Covid-19 pandemic has put the entire world on hold, race organisers at RunCzech were determined to find a way of hosting at least one magnificent event before the regular racing season came to an end. And it looks like they’re about to do it,” the press release on Tuesday said.

“On September 5, a date when they would have been hosting their traditional Grand Prix—which includes a women’s 5K and an open 10K—RunCzech will instead host an invitation-only half marathon featuring 35 of the most celebrated distance runners in the world today.”

The president of the organising committee for Saturday’s special race, Carlo Capalbo, said the pandemic has deprived athletes the chance to participate in races all across the world.

“It has deprived us from witnessing some of the great performances that we’re accustomed to seeing. We wanted to find a way of doing something spectacular for everyone,” he said.

Saturday’s special event will take place at Letna Park in Prague and the athletes will compete on an oval course around the park, running 21.0975 kilometres, roughly 16.5 laps.

“The flat course and the intense competition are designed to be an all-out assault on current world records and best times. For the men that means shattering the 58:30 mark, which was done only two times in history.

“And for the women, the current world record in women's only race stands at 1:06:11.

“Men and women will compete in separate races. The men’s race will begin at 06:20. The women will start at 08:00. Weather permitting.

“Both performances will be broadcasted live on Czech Television and spread to the whole world.”

Organisers said the race will also be a proving ground for a breakthrough product from RunCzech partner and sponsor, Adidas.

Adidas are introducing their “Adizero Adios Pro” shoe at the event, perhaps in response to rivals Nike’s “Zoom Elite” range of racing shoes that has so far celebrated both the world half and full marathon records along with the world 5,000 metres record on the track through Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor (58 minutes and one second), Eliud Kipchoge (two hours, one minute and 39 seconds) and Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei (12:35.36) have been responsible for the Nike-based records.

The “Adizero Adios Pro” shoe has been designed in close collaboration with elite athletes.

Besides former world half marathon record holder (1:04:51) Joyciline Jepkosgei and world 10-kilometre world record holder Rhonex Kipruto, several RunCzech Racing athletes contributed to product development and validation of the Adidas shoe, including half marathoners Stephen Kiprop and Philemon Kiplimo; marathon runners Abel Kipchumba, Bethwell Yegon; two-time Eindhoven Marathon title holder Festus Talam and two- time Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon champion Benard Kimeli.

“To create the best, we knew we had to work with the best,” Adidas’ Footwear Development Manager, Robbie Patterson, said on Tuesday.

“Thousands of kilometres, months of testing, and dozens of prototypes, went into something designed to help athletes run faster, for longer but with the same energy, than ever before.”

The Prague organisers further said Saturday’s special event will also indicate that the world is fast opening up and will help keep sport alive.

“While this race is coming at what would normally be the end of the season, we hope in a way that it will be the start, a spark that gets race organisers all over the world thinking creatively about how to keep the sport alive,” Capalbo said.

“Organising an event like this sends a message that the Czech Republic is well on its way to recovering from the shutdowns, and is poised to restart economically, socially and athletically,” the release from the organisers further said.

“It’s a way of reminding people that we are capable of defeating this pandemic once and for all. That there is hope and joy in our future.”

While Kamworor holds the men’s world half marathon record at 58:01 broken at last year’s Copenhagen Half Marathon, Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh holds the women’s record at 1:04:31.

Another Ethiopian, Netsanet Gudeta, holds the women’s only world record over the half marathon (1:06:11) set at the World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia in 2018.

More follows…