The Valencia Half Marathon ( es, Medio Maratón de Valencia) is an annual half marathon

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

event held in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, since 1988. It is categorized as a Gold Label Road Race by

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

. The race is organised by the Valencian

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

, which also organises the annual

Valencia Marathon The Valencia Marathon (also known as Marathon Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon road running event hosted by Valencia, Spain since 1981. It is categorized as a Platinum Label Road Race by World Athletic ...

. The race attracts top level elite competitors from Kenya, Ethiopia and Morocco, as well as runners from the host country Spain.

History

The event was initially founded as a race of , called the "20 kilómetros Adidas", with the inaugural race taking place in 1988.https://web.archive.org/web/20201207055002if_/https://www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com/revistas/revista-MMVTA-2015/archivos/assets/common/downloads/revista-MMVTA2015.pdf From 1993 to 1995, the race was not contested for reasons beyond the organizer's control. The race was later lengthened to a half marathon, beginning with the 2006 edition of the race. The change coincided with a growth in the number of participants and a higher standard of elite level competition. A record 9328 runners from over 10,300 entrants finished the race in October 2013. On , the race organizer announced the cancellation of the 2020 in-person edition of the race due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants given the option of transferring their entry to 2021 or obtaining a full refund. About a month later, on , the organizer announced that the

(which it also organized and whose mass race was just cancelled days earlier) would hold an "Elite Edition" of the race on , and that it would also include a half marathon race that year. On the day of the race, four half marathon runners broke the previous world record of 58:01, with Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie setting a new world record of 57:32.

Course

The half marathon starts and finishes on Carrer d'Antonio Ferrandis about southwest of the City of Arts and Sciences. The course first crosses the City of Arts and Sciences before making a loop around the and

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for the first third of the race. The half marathon then largely follows the roads along the as it makes its way northwest to and then back to the start.

Winners

The course records for the half marathon are 57:32 for the men's race (set by Kibiwott Kandie in 2020) and 64:51 minutes for the women's race (also a world record at the time, set by Joyciline Jepkosgei in 2017). The latter time is the women's all-comers record for the event in Spain. Key: Course record (in bold)

20K

Half marathon

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{IAAF Gold Label Half marathons Marathons in Spain Sports competitions in Valencia Recurring sporting events established in 1991 1991 establishments in Spain Autumn events in Spain