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Dubbed one of the world\u2019s most beautiful marathons, it will play host to elite athletes as well as thousands of runners from almost ninety countries around the world. Don\u2019t miss out on the opportunity to enjoy this athletics festival as a runner, volunteer, fan or spectator with live broadcasting from \u010cesk\u00e1 televize.<\/p>\n

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Key information:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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• 23rd<\/sup> race year <\/strong><\/li>\n

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• The Volkswagen Prague Marathon will be broadcast live<\/strong> on \u010cT Sport. Starting at 8.50 a.m. on Sunday 7th<\/sup> May<\/li>\n

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• The Volkswagen Prague Marathon is the second race in the RunCzech Running League<\/strong>, comprising a total of seven races in five cities around the Czech Republic. Along with last year\u2019s new feature, the O2 4×5 Prague Relay, a grand total of 82,840 runners took part in RunCzech events in 2016 \u2013 that\u2019s eight thousand more than in 2015<\/li>\n

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• The race has been awarded the Gold Quality Label<\/strong> from the International Association of Athletics Federations for the seventh time in a row. Seven RunCzech Running League races boast a total of seven Gold Quality Labels which places the Czech Republic at the helm of the world rankings for countries organising long-distance runs. No other country can pride itself on this one hundred percent track record<\/li>\n

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• The race kicks off at 9 a.m. from Old Town Square.  <\/strong>The last runner will arrive at the same place seven hours later, i.e. at 16 p.m. and will be welcomed by the entire RunCzech team<\/li>\n

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• The start gun will be sounded by Prague Mayor Adriana Krn\u00e1\u010dov\u00e1<\/strong><\/li>\n

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• The race earned its reputation thanks to the beautiful course which cuts through the historical heart of Prague<\/strong>, leading runners around the Vltava and over six bridges including the famous Charles Bridge. The competing runners will start from Old Town Square, run around the National Theatre, the Dancing House, Municipal House and other key sights<\/li>\n

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• 10,600 marathon runners<\/strong> will make it to the race start line, with relays now exclusively reserved for the O2 4×5 Prague Relay race held in June. All those lacking the confidence to complete the entire marathon distance can sign up to 2Run where each runner completes half the distance<\/li>\n

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• The Volkswagen Prague Marathon became the fastest May marathon of all time <\/strong>in 2010 thanks to Eliud Kiptanui\u2019s race record of 2.05:39. The women\u2019s race record of 2:22:34 has been held by Lydia Cheromei since 2011<\/li>\n

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• The main race favourites to win include men who have previously managed to smash the 2 hour and 7 minute limit<\/strong>, in this case a trio of Kenyans – Lani Rutto, Frankline Chepkwony and Stephen Chemlany along with a trio of Ethiopians – Bazu Worku, Feyisa Bekele and Gebretsadik Abraha<\/li>\n

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• Ethiopia is likely to dominate the women\u2019s category including four runners – Feyse Tadese, Amane Beriso, Mulu Seboko and Tadelech Bekele – all with personal bests under 2:24<\/strong>. In terms of the Kenyans, Valary Aiyabey may be the one who surprises us most<\/li>\n

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• Czech fans can look forward to the traditional Czech Republic marathon championships<\/strong>, taking place as part of the marathon. Competing runners include the defender of last year\u2019s victory title Petr Pechek, V\u00edt Pavli\u0161ta as well as Radka Chur\u00e1\u0148ov\u00e1 and Dagmar Rychnovsk\u00e1 or Petra Pastorov\u00e1<\/li>\n

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• The Volkswagen Prague Marathon has traditionally offered runners one of the last opportunities to meet the standards of their respective athletics federations to qualify for the forthcoming world championships<\/strong>, being held this year in London. We can therefore look forward to seeing elite representatives from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Brazil, New Zealand, Ecuador, Venezuela, Uruguay and Greece<\/li>\n

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• A number of well-known personalities will also be taking part alongside elite athletes. These include Olympic decathlon Gold medallist Roman \u0160ebrle<\/strong> and actor \/ presenter Dalibor Gond\u00edk<\/strong> who will be competing as a duo as part of the Johnson & Johnson Women’s Challenge. Taking part in the 2Run are guitarist from the band Chinaski Franti\u0161ek T\u00e1borsk\u00fd<\/strong> along with Light for the World director Richard Schinko<\/strong>. Taking on the whole marathon distance are rowing Olympic Silver medallist from the coxed four at the Athens Games David Kop\u0159iva, <\/strong>the surgeon Tom\u00e1\u0161 \u0160ebek<\/strong> and severely visually impaired runner Ond\u0159ej Zme\u0161kal<\/strong><\/li>\n

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• The Volkswagen Prague Marathon was the first in the world to boast a digitalised version. The Prague Digital Marathon<\/strong> will also get under way at 9 a.m. on Sunday 7th<\/sup> May<\/li>\n

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• The Volkswagen Prague Marathon not only offers spectators an interesting sporting spectacle, but also a diverse accompanying programme. The Sport Expo Prague<\/strong> takes place all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The accompanying programme<\/strong> will include autograph signings with elite runners plus a discussion with V\u00edt Pavli\u0161ta and Petr Vabrou\u0161ek, meetings with elite athletes and children plus our traditional Pasta Party<\/li>\n

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• The non-competitive dm Family Run will now move to the Saturday and Stromovka Park which will play host to its very first dm Family Day<\/strong>. The 5,300 participants of the dm Family Run <\/strong>will take on the five-kilometre course which starts and finishes at V\u00fdstavi\u0161t\u011b, with other events including the Walk With Dogs <\/strong>and a cani-cross competition category boasting five hundred participants, plus a mini-marathon <\/strong>concert for kids featuring the band P\u00edskomil se vrac\u00ed<\/li>\n

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• A total of 34 bands will perform as part of the Marathon Music Festival<\/strong> on race day<\/li>\n

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• 300 high-school students <\/strong>will also be joining the Junior Marathon final. The 30 ten-member teams were selected from 13 semi-final rounds throughout the Czech Republic featuring 2,550 students and 126 teachers<\/li>\n

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• The top level of medical care <\/strong>offered along the course each year will see some new features this year. Four mobile AED cycle patrols furnished with an automatic external defibrillator linking up to professionals from the Prague Medical Rescue Service team will move in among the runners. 30 Ibalgin Medical Point stands will also be dotted around the course<\/li>\n

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• RunCzech works with fifty charity organisations<\/strong>. Last year a total of 5,287 runners generated almost ten million Crowns for the Run for a Good Cause project. Doctors Without Borders is the main charity partner for the Volkswagen Prague Marathon<\/li>\n

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• The greatest number of foreign runners <\/strong>taking part in the marathon will be coming from France, Italy, Great Britain, China, Germany, Slovakia, Spain, the United States and Sweden<\/li>\n

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• The official race hashtag is #PragueMarathon<\/strong><\/li>\n

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  Interesting statistics:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  • The race capacity for the Volkswagen Prague Marathon stands at 10,600 runners<\/strong>, with a further 5,300 people running the dm Family Mini-Marathon and 500 the Walk With Dogs. This means a total of 16,400 people will take part in the Volkswagen Prague Marathon <\/strong><\/li>\n

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  • A total of 88 nationalities<\/strong> will appear at the start line<\/li>\n

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  • 76,5 % runners<\/strong> are made up of men, 23,5 %<\/strong> women<\/li>\n

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  • The average age <\/strong>of women taking part in the marathon is 39.8 years, the average age of men is 42.3 years<\/li>\n

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  • Women typically complete the Volkswagen Prague Marathon in 3:54:43<\/strong>, men in 3:41:32<\/strong><\/li>\n

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  • A total of 31 men and 9 women will be celebrating their birthdays<\/strong> on race day<\/li>\n

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  • Jan is the most common name <\/strong>at the start line, followed by Petr and Martin. The most common names among women are Jana, Lenka and Petra<\/li>\n

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  • The oldest male runner <\/strong>is 83 years of age (Ji\u0159\u00ed P\u0159idal, CZE), the oldest female runner is 80 (Joyce Hodges-Hite, USA)<\/li>\n

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  • The vast majority of long-distance runners are university educated <\/strong>(58 %), runners with high school level education make up 34 %, and the remaining 8 % with basic education<\/li>\n

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  • 1,790 volunteers <\/strong>help out during the race<\/li>\n

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  • Over eighty thousand visitors (83,260 in 2016) from all over the world will visit the runczech.com<\/strong> site on race day<\/li>\n

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  • More than four hundred thousand users (433,097 in 2016) will receive messages from RunCzech social media <\/strong>(Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) channels<\/li>\n

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    Used during the race:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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    • 416 traffic signs<\/li>\n

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    • 58,120 safety pins<\/li>\n

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    • 386,160 cups<\/li>\n

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    • 106,850 freshening up sponges<\/li>\n

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    • 10,600 thermal insulation sheets<\/li>\n

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    • 16,400 medals<\/li>\n

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    • 5,418 metres of fencing<\/li>\n

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    • 233 mobile toilets<\/li>\n

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      Drunk:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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      • 42,687 l of Mattoni water<\/li>\n

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      • 19,125 litres of hypotonic drinks<\/li>\n

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        Eaten:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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        • 5,364 kg bananas<\/li>\n

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        • 8,876 kg oranges<\/li>\n

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        • 1,456 baguettes<\/li>\n

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        • 28 kg salt<\/li>\n

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        • 22 kg sugar<\/li>\n

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          Records:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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          • World record \u2013 men:                 2:02:57 (2014) Dennis Limetto (KEN), Berlin<\/li>\n

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          • World record \u2013 women: 2:15:25 (2003) Paula Radcliffe (GBR), London<\/li>\n

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            • Fastest Czech man: 2:11:57 (1993), Karel David<\/li>\n

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            • Fastest Czech woman: 2:27:00 (1995), Alena Peterkov\u00e1<\/li>\n

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              • Race record \u2013 men: 2:05:39 (2010), Eliud Kiptanui (KEN)<\/li>\n

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              • Race record \u2013 women: 2:22:34 (2011), Lydia Cheromei (KEN)<\/li>\n

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                • Czech race record \u2013 men: 2:12:35 (2004), R\u00f3bert \u0160tefko<\/li>\n

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                • Czech race record \u2013 women: 2:30:310 (2016), Eva Vrabcov\u00e1<\/li>\n

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