Lille Half Marathon
Rue de Paris in Lille – near the finishing point of the race
DateLate March
LocationLille, France France
Event typeRoad
DistanceHalf marathon
Established1986
Course recordsMen's: 59:05 (2012)
Kenya Ezekiel Chebii
Women's: 1:06:57 (2022)
Ethiopia Zenebu Fikadu
Official siteLille Half Marathon
Participants3,157 finishers (2018)
2,739 finishers (2019)
2,621 finishers (2022)

The Lille Métropole Half Marathon (French: Semi-Marathon de Lille Métropole) is an annual half marathon foot race which takes place in Lille, France, in early September. First organised by the Association de Promotion des Événements Lillois in 1986, the race began as a marathon event before switching to the shorter distance in 1996.[1] The course of the race begins in the Boulevard de la Liberté and finishes at the front of Lille's city hall on Rue de Paris.[2]

The French Half Marathon Championships were held concurrently with the final edition of the marathon race in 1995. Bruno Leger was the men's winner with a time of 1:02:31 while Christine Mallo took the women's title in 1:12:05.[3] The half marathon race has delivered some fast winning times – the 2009 race saw the top three men run under an hour and Mary Keitany ran the seventh quickest run ever to become the women's race winner.[4] The men's course record of 59:05, set by Ezekiel Chebii in 2012, is the fastest ever recorded for the distance in France.[5]

In addition to the half and full marathon, the Lille Half Marathon also hosted an elite 5K run and 10K run starting in 2023.[6][7]

Past winners

Key:   Course record

Marathon

Edition Year Men's winner Time (h:m:s) Women's winner Time (h:m:s)
1st 1986  Jacques Boxberger (FRA) 2:14:16  Chantal Langlacé (FRA) 2:33:58
2nd 1987  Luis Soares (FRA) 2:14:41  Chantal Langlacé (FRA) 2:41:43
3rd 1988  Helmuth Stuhlpfarrer (AUT) 2:13:08  Fabiola Oppliger (COL) 2:42:25
4th 1989  Jean-Pierre Pietrement (FRA) 2:14:11  Brigitte Olive (FRA) 2:45:15
5th 1990  Alexandre Rachide (FRA) 2:14:51  Fabiola Oppliger (COL) 2:37:46
6th 1991  Elisio Rios (POR) 2:17:45  Lutsia Belyayeva (RUS) 2:42:38
7th 1992  Gyula Borka (HUN) 2:13:15  Lutsia Belyayeva (RUS) 2:35:46
8th 1993  Csaba Szűcs (HUN) 2:14:24  Alevtina Naumova (RUS) 2:36:50
9th 1994  El Hadi Moumou (FRA) 2:14:53  Lutsia Belyayeva (RUS) 2:43:55
10th 1995  Ronny Ligneel (BEL) 2:14:48  Yelena Sipatova (RUS) 2:36:21

Half marathon

Duncan Kibet won the men's race in 2004.
Edition Year Men's winner Time (h:m:s) Women's winner Time (h:m:s)
1st 1996  Jean-Paul Gahimbaré (BDI) 1:02:11  Annette Sergent (FRA) 1:11:21
2nd 1997  John Gwako (KEN) 1:01:10  Jackline Torori (KEN) 1:11:26
3rd 1998  Joseph Kibor (KEN) 1:01:46  Anne Njeri (KEN) 1:12:43
4th 1999  Phaustin Baha Sulle (TAN) 1:00:38  Zahia Dahmani (FRA) 1:12:38
5th 2000  Abdellah Béhar (FRA) 1:01:30  Nuța Olaru (ROM) 1:11:08
6th 2001  Driss El Himer (FRA) 1:02:08  Hafida Gadi (FRA) 1:13:16
7th 2002  Robert Cheboror (KEN) 1:01:42  Anastasia Ndereba (KEN) 1:11:45
8th 2003  Wilson Onsare (KEN) 1:00:52  Magdaline Chemjor (KEN) 1:09:39
9th 2004  Duncan Kibet (KEN) 1:01:01  Lenah Cheruiyot (KEN) 1:10:15
10th 2005  James Theuri (KEN) 1:00:54  Merima Denboba (ETH) 1:11:37
11th 2006  Joseph Maregu (KEN) 1:01:20  Meriem Wangari (KEN) 1:11:36
12th 2007  Joseph Maregu (KEN) 59:45  Mary Keitany (KEN) 1:08:43
13th 2008  Tilahun Regassa (ETH) 59:36  Tigist Tufa (ETH) 1:11:42
14th 2009  Stephen Kibiwott (KEN) 59:37  Mary Keitany (KEN) 1:07:00
15th 2010  Wilson Kiprop (KEN) 59:34  Florence Kiplagat  (KEN) 1:07:40
16th 2011  Geoffrey Kamworor (KEN) 1:00:02  Valentine Kipketer (KEN) 1:08:21
17th 2012  Ezekiel Chebii (KEN) 59:05  Flomena Chepchirchir (KEN) 1:08:06
18th 2013  Vincent Kipruto (KEN) 1:00:39  Diana Sigei (KEN) 1:10:14
19th 2014  Mark Korir (KEN) 1:00:49  Rael Kinyara (KEN) 1:09:29
20th 2015  Stephen Chebogut (KEN) 1:00:19  Peninah Arusei (KEN) 1:08:56
2016 Did not held[8]
21st 2017  Vincent Kipsang (KEN) 59:27  Gladys Chesir (KEN) 1:07:49
22nd 2018  Victor Chumo (KEN) 1:00:03  Antonina Kwambai (KEN) 1:09:44
23rd 2019  Kibiwott Kandie (KEN) 59:31  Diana Kipyokei (KEN) 1:09:45
– 2020 Did not held due to COVID-19 pandemic in France.
– 2021
24th 2022  Andrew Kwemoi (UGA) 59:37  Zenebu Fikadu (ETH) 1:06:57

Statistics

  • Note: Data for half marathon race only

References

  1. ^ HISTORIQUE Archived 2010-08-31 at the Wayback Machine (in French). Semi-Marathon Lille. Retrieved on 2010-04-06.
  2. ^ The half-marathon Archived 2010-04-12 at the Wayback Machine. Lille Tourism. Retrieved on 2010-04-06.
  3. ^ Seigneuric, Yves (2009-09-22). National Road Champions for France. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2010-04-06.
  4. ^ Turner, Chris (2009-09-07). Keitany powers to 67mins clocking in Lille Half Marathon. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-04-06.
  5. ^ Top Lists - Half Marathon - men - senior - outdoor. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-01-19.
  6. ^ "2023 Lille Half Marathon Results". World Athletics.
  7. ^ "Le Semi-Marathon de Lille". RunAgain. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  8. ^ "Après la Braderie de Lille, le semi-marathon et le 10 km annulés". la voix du nord. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
List of winners

External links

Annual half marathons in Europe
Categories