Cardiff to Host 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships

The IAAF World Half Marathon Championships are heading to Cardiff, Wales for 2016, it has been announced.

The Welsh capital city’s annual half marathon was held on 6 October and for the first time incorporated the British Half Marathon Championships.

The World Half Marathon Championships will take place in March 2016 and be open to elite and amateur runners.

“This is a major coup for Cardiff and Wales,” said Welsh Athletics CEO Matt Newman.

“It is a huge endorsement of the excellent work that has been put into the Cardiff Half Marathon over the past decade.

“I am excited to see what the world’s best athletes will able to produce on such a flat and fast course”

The event is the first of its kind to be staged in Wales and elite athletes will use it as part of their preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games.

“It is a major achievement for a small nation like Wales to be able to win an IAAF major championship event and our successful bid proved the power of the partnerships we have been able to build in recent years with the Welsh Government and Cardiff Council. Both agencies were vital parts of our bid,” Newman added.

“Now we have less than three years to prepare for one of the most prestigious sporting events ever staged in Wales and we intend to make it one to remember.”

The 2016 race will be the 22nd running of the event and Cardiff will follow Copenhagen, who host the 19th Championships on 29 March, 2014.

“It will be the fourth time the race has been run in the United Kingdom: South Shields staged the inaugural Championships in 1992 and it has also been held in Bristol in 2001 and Birmingham in 2009.