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 20 km (12 mi), called the "20 kilómetros Adidas", with the inaugural race taking place in 1988.[1] From 1993 to 1995, the race was not contested for reasons beyond the organizer's control.[1]
The race was later lengthened to a half marathon, beginning with the 2006 edition of the race.[1][2][5] 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.[6]
On 30 July 2020, 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.[7] About a month later, on 10 September, the organizer announced that the Valencia Marathon (which it also organized and whose mass race was just cancelled days earlier) would hold an "Elite Edition" of the race on 6 December, and that it would also include a half marathon race that year.[8][9] 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.[10][11]
The half marathon starts and finishes on Carrer d'Antonio Ferrandis about 1 km (0.62 mi) southwest of the City of Arts and Sciences.[12]
The course first crosses the City of Arts and Sciences before making a loop around the Camins al Grau [ca] and Algirós [ca]districts for the first third of the race.[12] The half marathon then largely follows the roads along the Garden of the Turia [ca] as it makes its way northwest to Ciutat Vella [ca] and then back to the start.[12]
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).[13] The latter time is the women's all-comers record for the event in Spain.[14]
^"Archived copy". www.worldathletics.org. Archived from the original on 2 September 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2022.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Jemal Yimer
