25 years of #PragueMarathon

• The IAAF Road Running Commission, the most important international body in the world of running, held its annual meeting for the first time in Prague, during the Volkswagen Marathon Weekend.
• RunCzech was proud to open its brand new running center – Running Mall, also during the Volkswagen Marathon Weekend.
• There was historically highest participation of the marathon race
• RunCzech launches new website
• Nicholas Kemboi of Quatar wins the race in 2:08:51
• Among the women the winner was Caroline Rotich of Kenyia, clocking in 2:27:00

• The first gold PIM Kings (runners who have finished 15 marathon) were crowned.
• There was only one PIM Queen – Věra Vavrejnová. She took part not only in the 15 measured marathons, but also in two before PIM started using he chip technology.
• For the first time with the golden mark of IAAF quality
• The novelty of the year was the “Run without barriers” for runners with disabilities
• RunCzech established its Facebook profile

• Last time with a silver label. After the race, we got the gold label from IAAF.
• New event record men: 2:05:39
• New event record women 2:25:29
• The highest participation in history
• Google Street View enables users to visually see the course
• We celebrated the 2500 year anniversary of the legendary Marathon Battle
• The first year of Walk with dogs
• Relf Klug finished the marathon race within the seven-hour limit, running backwards
• Free Hugs in front of the Expo

• On April 4, Carlo Capalbo had been elected to the board of AIMS. He has become one of the 9 members who “move with the world of running”
• With Google, we developed a pilot project which offered a unique application enabling you to compare your performance with your friends
• New course record was set: 2:07:48 (Patrick Ivuti, KEN)
• On Saturday before the race, Carnival Parade took part
• Half of the Minimarathon fee was donated to Karel Pavlik foundation

• Volkswagen Prague Marathon 2008 was special, as many top athletes had a last chance to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing.
• The 2008 edition could boast with the record number of runners – 4517.
• The number of foreign nationalities grew constantly and in 2008, there were 2609 foreigners from 71 countries.
• The novelty of this year was the Corporate Marathon, which attracted 150 teams, of 4 runners and the registrations had to be closed prematurely.

• Volkswagen Marathon Prague was started by the president of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus
• The 1st edition of the „Walk for Health“ Rook place during the Volkswagen Marathon Weekend
• At the start of the Vokswagen Marathon, there were 4167 runners, 45 elite athletes and 65 different nationalities
• 84% of Vokswagen Marathon runners were men• Foreigners  accounted for 60% of Vokswagen Marathon Prague start field
• Portugal’s athlete Ornelas Helder became the winner, at 2:11:49

• The number of participants in the Prague Marathon is exceeded by the number of Half Marathon runners for the first time
• At the Volkswagen Marathon Weekend you could also join the Eco run, in-line race, City run 8 km or 4 km family run
• On Saturday there was a carnival in the streets of Prague
• The speaker was Lejla Abbasová, who starred at The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
• Part of the Music Festival was star_Fest: famous Czech singers performed for Cetrum Paraple (charity)
• With the registration fee you could help an ostrich
• The male winner, Shami Hassan Mubarak from Qatar, finished in time 2:11:11
• The pasta party you know nowadays was not in the Expo but in a café

• Steven Matebo Cheptot finished as a winner in time 2:10:42. The fastest Czech Jan Bláha 7 minutes and 17 second after him. The fastest Czech women Ivana Martincová made it under 3:00:00.
• The Marathon Music Festival was very successful. There were costumes everywhere, dancing groups and men walk on stilts.
• The runners had an awesome possibility: 
• Take part in a new record – Bring water from your town – Prague International Marathon and The Museum of Records and Curiosities present: “Confluence of the biggest number of waters of the WORLD” Do you have a mountain stream, a pond full of carp, a huge dam …around you? If you bring a sample of water from the place of your heart to the EXPO registration tent, you will become a part of world record – WATER OF THE EARTH. How to participate, what else is going on? 

• The fastest Czech male runner Róbert Štefko finished third! With the time of 2:12:33 he qualified himself for the Olympic in Athens. 
• Barnabas Koech finished very first in the time 2:12:15.
• Fastest women, Leila Aman, won in time 2:31:48. The best Czech female runner finished in time 2:45:29.

• In the Czech Republic, in 2003 there was a new president elected, who replaced the very first Czech president, Václav Havel. Václav Klaus, already in the first year in the office, joined his name with the 5th edition of Hervis Prague Half Marathon, which he started.
• The marathon, finisher medal went through a change. The siluette on it is heading to the right, for the first time.
• Wilyl Cheruiyot from Kenyia has won the Prague International Marathon, clocking at 2:11:56. Anna Jelagat Kibor was the most succesful one among the women and won in 2:31:10.
• Among the czech athletes, Jan Bláha managed to ourun all the others, finishing in a time of 2:22:21 and Ivana Martincová won in 2:50:42.

• Year 2002 brought new route of Prague International Marathon and the accompanying non-competitive run. Both runs were starting and finishing at the Oldtown Square, but the adjusted route of marathon was now more attractive na d objectivelly faster. The non-competitive run lead runners accross the Charles Bridge for the first time.
• In 2002 there was also a new technology introduced to the runner. The families and friends of the runners could newly be „live tracking“ them, as moving dots on the map of the race, on the internet. Also, each runner could newly train  according to the „virtual training“, a software product, which created a tailored training program to each runner.
• Henry Tarus from Kenya won the race in 2:11:41 and Alvetina Ivanova from Russia defeated all teh other women in 2:32:24.
• Among the check talents, Jiří Wallenfels took the win with the time of 2:25:52 and Jana Klimešová was the fastest of the Czech women field, with the time of 2:47:24.

• Prague International Marathon continued to grow both in terms of number of participants and their reputation. The turn of the new millennium brought another significant change. adidas has set PIM in its new adidas Marathon Series along with Berlin, Boston, London, Rotterdam, Paris and Madrid.
• Italian female runner Maura Viceceonte has set a new women’s marathon record in 2:26:33.
• The fastest man on the course was with time 2:10:14 Andrew Sambu.
• The fastest Czech was Jan Bláha with a time of 2:15:54 and between the Czech ladies dominated with time 2:37:07 Alena Peterková.
• The Prague Half Marathon in April moved from Stromovka to the city center.

• In the starting field of the 6th Prague International Marathon, there was Ronaldo Da Costa, the current world record holder, with the time of 2:06:05. Therefore, he joined the group of famous people, associated with the Prague International marathon, such as Emil Zátopek, Eliah Lagat, Gelindo Bordin and Paul Tergat.
• In the women starting field, there was again Franca Fiacconi, the winner of the last edition and the track record holder. The attack on the track record was expected in both women and men categories, didn’t manage to show their best effort. Fiacconi finished third among the women and Da Costa took the 17th place, overall. This year, the battle between Da Costa and Fiacconi, together with the rest of the starting field, could have been watched live on the internet by people from all around the world.
• Moreover, in 200, the Prague International Marathon got a new image. Tono Stano, the famous photographer, created a series of photos, featuring a female runner with Vltava and Hradčany in the background. The image was completed with the slogan „Život je sladký běh“ („Life is a sweet run“).

• The main star at Prague International Marathon was no Kenyan as it had been of late but a woman, attractive P.E. teacher from Italy, Franca Fiacconi, who had just come from a win at the NYC marathon and who occasionally changes from her sports shoes to heels. In Prague, she realized all the organizers’ wishes and became their triumph. The spectators could have seen her in the finish clocking 1:28:33.
• Besides the competition of the best runners, Prague was on that Sunday a running event participated in by almost 30 thousand professional and amateur runners – from the babies in buggies to the pensioner, for whom running remains a vigorous endeavour. 
• The biggest news in PIM’s 1999 menu was the race held on Saturday, March 13, at Výstaviště which we know today as Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon. More about the history of this race can be found here.
• This year we celebrate the 25. anniversary of the Prague International Marathon – known today as RunCzech’s Volkswagen Prague Marathon. You are warmly welcomed to join us!

Each and every edition of Prague International Marathon brought something new. Either a new race was added, or the Marathon course was adjusted to become more appealing to the runners. The fourth edition was not an exception and offered both. Together with the competitive and non-competitive runs, the in-line skaters were welcomed, for the first time. The marathon course was also modified and newly the course led over the Charles Bridge, for the first time.  This change even increased the magical atmosphere of the course, which goes mostly through the streets of the old Prague. Nevertheless, the fourth edition brought one more novelty. Prague International marathon was established as the Czech Championship for the domestic runners.

Elijah Lagat from Kenya has become the winner of the main race and behind his victory is very interesting story. When Lagat was 25 years old, he worked in the personal department of Ministry of Education in Kenya. This job has led him to become overweight. He was advised by a doctor to start running, to get rid of his extra fat. After 6 years of running, Lagat has become one of the fastest marathon runners in the world and he won the Prague international Marathon in a time of: 2:08:52. Lagat, for the fourth time in a row, improved the course record and started rumors of Prague International Marathon, having one of the fastest courses in the world.

Also in 1997, a new race introduced. Technical director of PIM, Gelindo Bordin, came with an idea to organize a race dedicated only to high school students, that takes place on the course of Prague International Marathon. This was the origin of Junior Marathon Championship, that is still being organized today.

The Golden Ten was renamed and moved to September. Newly, the race was called Mattoni Grand Prix and in the winner was Paul Tergat, previous 10k world record holder.

The main race, Prague International Marathon, attracted also due to increased prize money many great athletes, lead by John Kagwe from Kenya. John Kagwe confirmed his role of a favorite and he won the Prague International Marathon 1997, setting a new course record of 2:09:07. The quality of elite athletes was proven by the fact that 7 runners managed to run under the previous course record time and the winner was determined just after the sprint towards the finish line.

Apart from the marathon race, the non-competitive races for 9km and 4,5km took place. All three races attracted more than 30 000 runners. Carlo Capalbo made the following remark about the 1997 season: “On the map of the biggest world marathons we have already made a strong mark. The biggest satisfaction for us is the fact that people from all over the world found out that Prague is not only a city of inimitable beauty, but a city of sport as well.”

After successful first edition, the organization team led by Carlo Capalbo decided to introduce another race, to make the second edition more interesting – an elite race for 10km. Overall, the second edition of the Marathon weekend held 4 courses – marathon, The Golden Ten and non-competitive 9,5 km and 5,5 km.

Sunday of 19th May 1996 has witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of runners compared to 1995. The Prague International Marathon was run by 1330 runners, the non-competitive 9,5km – 10 500 runners and the kids run – 18 000 young enthusiasts. The number of participants has almost doubled since the first edition.

Wiliam Musyoki became the winner of the marathon distance, securing the win in 2:12:21, time which marked his personal best and also the course record. Elena Vinickaya won among women and she was the only one to break the hegemony of the African runners. The second edition of Prague International Marathon exceeded the premiere of the race in 1995 and increased the quality of the organization to a new level.

Like so many things in the Czech Republic, the idea of staging an international marathon in Prague came over a pint of beer. It was a fine autumn Saturday in November 1994, and Carlo Capalbo was sitting in a small bar with his friend and fellow Italian Gelindo Bordin, winner of the marathon at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. After they drew a draft of the racecourse on a napkin they decided to call Emil Zátopek to ask for his support. The famous Emil Zátopek, three gold medals holder from the Summer Olympics in Helsinki.

There were 985 runners, who took part in the first edition of the Prague Marathon, but it was not only them running. There were two more distances people could join – 9,2 km and 4,8 km. The capacity of these runs were increased several times and in total 15 000 people (children and adults) participated. 

The winner was Turbo Tummo in time 2:12:44 (ETH) and the fastest women was Svetlana Tkach 2:38:33 (UKR).

Join the 25th anniversary