Yassine Rachik set a new European race record at Mattoni Karlovy Vary Half Marathon
The 7th edition of the Mattoni Karlovy Vary Half Marathon, the fourth RunCzech race awarded the 5-stars certificate by European Athletics, was dominated by Italian runner Yassine Rachik in the European race record 1:02:59. The fastest woman was Lilia Fisikovici from Moldova (1:12:34) who ran solo race. The race kicked off the EuroHeroes Challenge - a new RunCzech initiative aimed to support European athletes.
Yassine Rachik, the 25 years old winner, managed to escape from all his rivals and even to surpass Roman Romanenko's European best performance from last year. Rachik earned 1,110 points in the EuroHeroes ranking, dedicated solely to elite European athletes. The winner of the last edition, Ukrainian runner Romanenko took the second place clocking at 1:04:39. The third was Mykola Iukhymchuk (1:04:59) also from Ukraine.
Lilia Fisikovici has gained 1,129 points for the EuroHeroes Challenge and will also defend her position at Mattoni České Budějovice Half Marathon in two weeks. The second woman to come to the finish was Ukrainian Olha Kotovska (1:14:32). Viktoria Kalyuzhna from Ukraine (1:14:45) took the third place. “I wanted to run under 1 hour and 11 minutes, but the course is hilly and at that moment didn't allow me a better time. I feel at home in the Czech Republic, I am very happy to come to Budějovice, ”said the winner of the women's race.
The best Czech runners were Jiří Petr (1:10:28) among men and Petra Pastorová (1:21:35) among women.
4,000 runners took part in today’s Mattoni Karlovy Vary Half Marathon. Other 3,000 participants started at non-competitive dm family run.
The second race of EuroHeroes Challenge - Mattoni České Budějovice Half Marathon will take place in two weeks on June 1. The European athletes will compete for the third portion of points on June 15 at the Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon. The last EuroHeroes event of this season will be held on September 21 - the Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon.
TOP Men
- RACHIK YASSINE | ITA | 01:02:59
- ROMANENKO ROMAN | UKR | 01:04:38
- IUKHYMCHUK MYKOLA | UKR | 01:04:58
- POLLOCK PAUL IRL | 01:05:18
- GHELAOUZOS KOSTAS | GRE | 01:06:57
- PRODIUS ROMAN | MDA | 01:07:31
- PETR JIŘÍ | CZE | 01:10:28
- KOHUT JAN | CZE | 01:11:09
- HLADÍK MAREK | SVK | 01:11:22
- KUČERA MARTIN | CZE | 01:11:52
TOP Women
- FISIKOVICI LILIA | MDA | 01:12:34
- KOTOVSKA OLHA | UKR | 01:14:32
- KALYUZHNA VIKTORIA | UKR | 01:14:45
- SKRYPAK OLGA UKR | 01:15:55
- HANDZLIK DAGMARA | CYP | 01:18:34
- PASTOROVÁ PETRA | CZE | 01:21:35
- KAMÍNKOVÁ PETRA | CZE | 01:22:24
- SEKYROVÁ IVANA | CZE | 01:24:05
- RUSÍNOVÁ ZUZANA | CZE | 01:25:04
- HÁLOVÁ HANKA | CZE | 01:28:16
