Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon Highlights, watch from U.S. on streaming video from www.runczech.com

Key information:

• This is the 8th race event year.
• The Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon will be broadcast live on ČT Sport and online on www.runczech.com and the RunCzech YouTube channel on Saturday 15th September at 14:50.
• The Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon is the eighth RunCzech race series comprising a total of nine races in six cities around the Czech Republic.
• A record total of 82 883 runners took part in RunCzech races last year.
• The race has received the Gold Label awarded by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the fourth time in a row.
• The half marathon follows a single-circuit course which remains unchanged since last year. Runners go all the way to Svádov, crossing Edvard Beneš Bridge a total of four times during the half marathon, not forgetting the popular segment which cuts through the Spolchemie chemical plant.
• Capacity for this year’s main race is capped at 3 700 half marathon runners, the dm Family Run will welcome 3 200 athletes from children to seniors while the Spolchemie Czech Handbike Cup will play host to around 15 disabled athletes in the senior category and around 10 competitors in the junior equivalent.
• The half marathon kicks off at 15:00 from Mírové náměstí. The dm Family Run starts from the same spot at 13:30 and the Spolchemie Czech Handbike Cup at midday.
• City mayor VÄ›ra Nechybová will be in charge of start gun duties at the Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon, with deputy mayor Petr Å míd kicking off the dm Family Run and Spolchemie’s Director of Development Tomáš Loubal the handbike race.
• Runners taking part in the Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon can take advantage of the new RunCzech mobile app. In it they will find a guide to the entire race, their start number, offers from our partners, live online monitoring of runners on the course and loads more. The app is available on both Android and iOS devices.
• Runner preregistration is one of this year’s most widely anticipated new features. In practice this means that if runners can’t take part in a race, they can transfer their start numbers to someone else.
• The Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon is one of the world’s fastest half marathons and prides itself as the “Ferrari among races.” Two-times winner Barselius Kipyego ran the fifth fastest half marathon in the world here last year, and even made it to third fastest in 2016.
• Kenyan runner Barselius Kipyego will also be looking to scoop up his third race win in a row (in RunCzech’s twenty-five year history only Belarusian representative Jelena Vinickajova runner has achieved this feat – at the Prague Marathon between 1996 and 1998), plus leave his mark in the history books.
• A total of eight athletes are capable of running the half marathon in under one hour. In addition to Kipyego, these include Ethiopian long-distance runner Guye Adola, RunCzech Racing Team member Josphat Tanui plus another Kenyan Albert Kangogo.
• Japan will also be bringing along a strong team to Ústí nad Labem headed by Kenji Yamamoto, while the United States will be represented by Jared Ward.
• In terms of the women, two names in particular warrant our attention – Kenyan runners Nancy Kiprop and Lucy Cheruiyot both know the Ústí course well, having ran personal bests here last year and are also among the hot favourites to win this year.
• Fellow compatriot Diana Kipyokei is another strong contender for a spot on the podium as is American runner Sara Hall. Japanese runner Yuka Takashima plus Lilia Fisikovici from Moldova, who took first place at the Mattoni České Budějovice Half Marathon in June, are also down to participate.
• Czech fans will get to enjoy their fair share of excitement too when it comes to checking out local long-distance stars to include Petra Kamínková, Ivana Sekyrová, Marcela Joglová plus local runner Zuzka Rusínová.
• Eva Vrabcová Nývltová will have to give the race a miss this time around owing to trouble with her Achilles tendon, however the country’s top long-distance runner will co-host the commentating team on the live broadcast on ÄŒT Sport.
• We can expect to see traditional favourites among the Czech men – with the next round of a duel expected to play out between Jiří Homoláč and Vít PavliÅ¡ta.
• Also appearing at the half marathon start line are Lukáš Konečný and his boxing team headed by Fabiána Bytyqi and Tomáš Šálek, plus 2016 “Czech Miss” beauty pageant winner Andrea BezdÄ›ková
• The Marathon Music Festival featuring bands and DJs along the course will also form part of the half marathon.
• Plamínek naděje and Ústecká komunitní nadace are main charity partners to the Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon.
• The organisers have also arranged awards for the fastest man and woman from the Ústí Region who will collect regional king and queen trophies produced by the AJETO glassworks.
• The top level of medical care in Ústí nad Labem this year will include a professional medical rescue service team plus 13 medical points dotted around the course.
• Runners will have a chance to appear on a special Camera located at the 12.5th kilometre and also feature on the live broadcast on Česká televize.
• This year Adidas will be offering a limited event T-shirt collection featuring maps by thirteen-year old Matěj Hošek, known by the MAAPPI brand.
• The greatest number of foreign runners taking part come from Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, Ukraine, the United States, France and Spain.
• Ústí nad Labem boasts two Mattoni FreeRun courses. The five-kilometre circuits, which are open to anyone and at anytime, are situated in Střekov and Svádov.
• The official race hashtag is #ULhalf.

Interesting statistics

• Capacity at the Mattoni Ústí nad Labem Half Marathon is capped at 3 700 runners, 3 200 participants will take part in the dm Family Run
• A total of 30 nationalities will appear at the start line
• 66.7 percent of runners are men, 33.3 percent are women
• The average age of women taking part in the race is 36.6 years, for men it is 40.1 years
• On average women manage to complete the race in 2:06:28, men in 1:49:09
• The most common names of men appearing in the race are Jan (153), Martin (111), Petr (108), Jiří (101) and Tomáš (89)
• For women these are Jana (66), Petra (42), Lucie (40), Martina and Kateřina (38)
• The most common race surname among men is Svoboda (19), Novák and Černý (10), Veselý and Beneš (9)
• For women these are Černá and Dvořáková (5), Svobodová, Pokorná and Kolářová (4)
• The most widely represented professions of those taking part in the
RunCzech Running League are:
o managers (310)
o admin workers (264)
o students (145)
o teachers, lecturers and coaches (115)
o electrical engineers and mechanical engineers (75)
• 3 men and 5 women will celebrate their birthdays on race day
• The oldest male participant hails from the Czech Republic and is 74 years of age
• The oldest female participant hails from Germany and is 67 years of age
• The vast majority of long-distance runners are educated to university level (58 %), with college-educated individuals making up 34% and the remaining 8 % made up of those with high school education
• A total of 650 volunteers help out at the race
• On race day over thirty thousand visitors from all over the world (37 345 in 2017) will visit the www.runczech.com website
• Messages from RunCzech channels on social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) will reach over one hundred and fifty thousand visitors on race day

Key statistics

Used during the race:

• 359 traffic signs
• 29 121 safety pins
• 53 675 cups
• 27 043 sponges for freshening up
• 3 700 thermal sheets
• 6 900 medals
• 3 909 m of Johnny Servis fencing
• 95 Johnny Servis portable toilets

Drunk:

• 26 176 litres of Mattoni water
• 3 890 litres of Gatorade

Eaten:

• 1 957 kg of Kaufland bananas
• 1 458 kg of Kaufland oranges
• 17 kg of salt
• 13 kg of sugar

10 km records:

• World record – men: 0:58:23 (2010), Zersenay Tadese (ERI)

• World record – women: 0:29:43 (2017), Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN)

• Czech record – men: 1:01:31 (1997), Jan PeÅ¡ava, KoÅ¡ice

• Czech record – women: 1:11:01 (2018), Eva Vrabcová-Nývltová, Praha

• Race record – men: 0:59:14 (2017), Barselius Kipyego (KEN)

• Race record – women: 1:07:17 (2015), Peres Jepchirchir (KEN)

• Fastest Czech man: 1:04:33 (2017), Jiří Homoláč

• Fastest Czech woman: 1:11:22 (2017), Eva Vrabcová-Nývltová