The eighth Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon will play out in the ancient heart of Moravia and offers runners a unique chance to not only marvel a number of UNESCO listed baroque architectural gems as they weave in and out of the laburnum lined streets packed with fans.  This can only be matched by the famous Moravian hospitality praised by runners paying a visit the city each year.

Key information:

 

• Eighth edition of the race.
• The Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon will be broadcast live on the ČT Sport channel as well as online on com website. The broadcast commences at 19:00 CET.
• The Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon is the fifth race in the RunCzech Running League, which comprises a total of seven races in five cities around the Czech Republic. Together with last year’s new feature – the O2 Prague 4x5 Relay, a total of 82 840 runners took part in RunCzech races in 2016, which is almost eight thousand more than 2015.
• The race has been awarded the Gold Quality Label by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the third year in a row.
• The half marathon kicks off from Horní náměstí at 19.00. The dm family run will get under way at 17.00 from the same place.
• Race capacity remains unchanged since last year – set at 6 200 competing runners. An additional five hundred runners will join the dm family fun taking capacity to 3 500 young and adult
• The half marathon is completed as a single course commencing from Olomouc city centre.
• The course remains unchanged from last year – it will be completely identical.
• The half marathon will be started by Olomouc City Mayor Antonín Staněk, the Olomoucký Region Deputy Governor František Jura.
• In terms of results, despite warm weather conditions, last year’s event was a great success. It even played host to one race record – specifically the best time in the Czech women’s category – secured by Eva Vrabcová.
• Of all four regional RunCzech Running League races, the Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon boasts the best women’s time (Mary Keitany ran a time of 1:06:38 in 2015).
• Sporting start number 1 is RunCzech Racing Team member Kenneth Keter, however the fastest half marathon runner appearing at the start line is Simon Cheprot. The following Kenyans Felix Kandie, Peter Some and RunCzech Racing’s Josphat Kiptis are expected to give their compatriots a run for their money.
• As one of finest European runners, Callum Hawkins will also be keen to leave his mark. Others to watch out for include the Brazilian and third man to cross the finish at the Mattoni České Budějovice Half Marathon Paulo Paula and Javier Guerra from Spain.
• The hot favourites among the women all hail from Ethiopia. Worknesh Degefa will be sporting the number 1 shirt followed by Netsanet Gudeta in number 2. Rose Chelimo representing Bahrain and originally from Kenya may well have a few surprises up her sleeve.
• Jiří Homoláč is the favourite among the Czech men, though defender of last year’s championship Vít Pavlišta will certainly be giving it his all for a place on the podium along with Pavel Dymák, Robert Míč and Martin Kučera.
• The best Czech woman Eva Vrabcová will be returning to the Haná region following her win here last year. Local star Petra Kamínková will be keen to deliver a top performance for all her fans, with others to look out for including Tereza Lajdová and Marcela Joglová.
• Dalibor Gondík will be joining the start line as pacemaker to all those taking part in the Johnson & Johnson Women's Challenge along with fitness trainer and singer from the band Skyline Jacob Bína. Other personalities to look out for include the surgeon Jan Pirk, motorbike racer Jakub Smrž and the presenter Vojtěch Bernatský.
• Representative in Alpine skiing Jan Hudec will be joining the dm family run.
• Also forming part of the half marathon weekend is the Marathon Music Festival featuring bands and DJs along the course – a total of thirteen this year. 
• RunCzech collaborates with fifty charity organisations. Last year a total of 5 287 runners generated ten million Czech Crowns for the Run for a Good Cause project.
• The main charity partner for the Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon is The Trend Wheelchair Association. They are planning a 24-hour wheelchair relay in Smetana Gardens. It gets under way on Friday at 9 am and anyone can get involved.
• Head of the title charity organisation of the Trend Wheelchair Association, paraplegic Milan Langer, will be taking part in the relay. The relay team will take it in turns to push his wheelchair along the half marathon course.
• The Moravia Sport Expo will form part of the race. Visitors can get kitted out for the entire running season, choose sports gear from dozens of exhibitors and enjoy the diverse accompanying programme including a Sports Exchange featuring several dozen Olomouc based recreational associations.
• The highest number of foreign runners will be coming to the race from Slovakia, Poland, the United States, Austria, Spain, Russia, Great Britain, Italy, France and Hungary
• The top level of medical care offered along the course will see some new features this year. Four mobile AED cycle patrols furnished with an automatic external defibrillator linking up to medical professionals will move in among the runners. 15 AID Stations (labelled as such) will also be dotted around the course
• Olomouc also boasts a Mattoni FreeRun, a five-kilometre circuit, which is open to anyone whenever they want. The course is located in Flora. A further three courses also operate in Prostějov, Přerov and Šumperk.
• The official race hashtag #OLHalf.

Interesting figures:

• Capacity for the Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon is 6 200 runners
• Capacity for the dm family run is 3 500 participants
• A total of 49 nationalities will appear at the start line
• 66 % runners are made up of men, 34% women
• The average age of women taking part in the half marathon is 35.7 years, the average age of men is 38.6 years
• On average women manage to complete the Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon in 2:07:29, men in 1:51:21
• Eleven men and five women will be celebrating their birthdays on race day
• The most common names of runners taking part are Petr, Jan and Martin among the men, and Jana, Petra and Lenka among the women
• The vast majority of long-distance runners are university educated (58%), with school leavers making up 34% and the remaining 8% made up of those with only basic level education
• On average a runner needs to take 117 216 steps to complete the 21,0975 km course
• The oldest male participant: Jiří Engliš (CZE), 79 years
• The female participant: Eva Cupalová (CZE), 69 years
• A total of 925 volunteers will help out on race day
• More than thirty thousand people from all over the world will pay a visit to the runczech.com website on race day (32 674 in 2016)
• On race day messages from RunCzech channels on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) will reach almost 130 000 users (127 3258 in 2016)

Used during the race:

• 485 traffic signs
• 41 540 safety pins
• 92 127 cups
• 34 365 freshening up sponges
• 9 700 medals
• 5 192 m of fencing
• 130 portable toilets

Drunk:

• 29 697 litres of Mattoni water
• 6 742 litres of Gatorade (hypotonic drink)

Eaten:

• 2 271 kg of bananas
• 1 597 kg of oranges
• 28 kg of salt
• 37 kg of sugar

 

Records:

• World record – men:                 0:58:23 (2010) Zersenay Tadese (ERI), Lisbon
• World record – women: 1:04:52 (2017) Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN), Prague

• Czech record – men:                 1:01:31 (1997), Jan Pešava
• Czech record – women:                 1:11:02 (1994), Alena Peterková

• Race record – men:                 1:00:17 (2014), Geoffrey Ronoh (KEN)
• Race record – women:                 1:06:38 (2015), Mary Keitany (KEN)

• Fastest Czech man:          1:05:50 (2015), Jan Kreisinger
• Fastest Czech woman:        1:15:16 (2016), Eva Vrabcová