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The Prague International Marathon company has officially opened the PIM Running Series 2010. The first race will be the increasingly popular Hervis 1/2Marathon Prague, which will be held on Saturday 27th March.

The 1/2 marathon is becoming increasingly attractive. The number of people enrolled has increased by 60% in comparison with the same period of time last year. The organizers have already confirmed its route and the names of the first elite athletes.

Promising starting list

The following runners have already confirmed their participation: Yeman Tsegay Adhane from Ethiopia, Guenther Weidlinger from Austria and Rosa Kosgei from Kenya. The PIM believe that they will be able to present other names of elite runners over the next few weeks.

Top-class Ethiopian

Adhane will take part in both 1/2 marathon and the full marathon in May. He will be the first Volkswagen Marathon Prague runner with a personal marathon record under 2:07.  Last year, he came fourth at the World Championship in Berlin and at the Paris Marathon.

Austrian champion

Guenther Weidlinger is one of the best European athletes. He is the champion of Austria and has set several Austrian records from 1500-metre long races up to marathon.

Great runners from Kenya

Rosa Kosgei from Kenya is the current Hervis 1/2 Marathon Prague record-holder. Last year, she finished the race with a time of 1:09:03 , which is also her personal record.
Also Francis Karanja, the blind runner from Kenya, will again participate in the race this year and he will try to break his personal record.

2500 years from the Battle of Marathon

Jiří Nečásek, the PIM’s Marketing Director, has also mentioned one not very well-known thing:
“The fact that these top athletes will come to Prague is proof of the high quality of  PIM’s races. This year is an important year for all runners, as it is the 2500th anniversary of the legendary Battle of Marathon. We are preparing a number of special activities for this occasion which will hopefully motivate the public to take up running this year!”

Thousands at last year’s start

Hervis 1/2Marathon Prague 2009 attracted over 6000 athletes and thousands of spectators, which makes it one of the most popular athletic events in the country. Recently, the race also received the prestigious IAAF Road Race Gold Label, which is awarded to races that meet a number of important criteria concerning the organization and sports level of the race, safety and medical standards, media services and the overall atmosphere.

What is new

The PIM introduces several new projects this year. One of them is the PIM Women´s Challenge, whose objective is to motivate women to start running on an everyday basis as a part of their healthy lifestyle. The PIM Running Series will also present several new sports events, e.g. Pedigree Walk with Dogs, University Marathon and the European Police Championship Marathon. Another year of the Garnier Junior Marathon is under preparation and individual races will take place in 14 towns: Pilsen, Karlovy Vary, Ústí nad Labem, Liberec, Hradec Králové, Pardubice, Opava, Olomouc, Zlín, Brno, České Budějovice, Poděbrady, Jihlava and Praha.

For more information visit: www.pim.cz.

Important dates

Hervis 1/2Marathon Prague – Saturday 27th March 2010
Volkswagen Marathon Prague – Sunday 9th May 2010
TESCO Grand Prix Prague – Saturday 11th September 2010