Valencia Half Marathon

The Valencia Half Marathon (Spanish: Medio Maratón de Valencia) is an annual half marathon road running event held in Valencia, Spain, since 1988. It is categorized as a Gold Label Road Race by World Athletics.[3] The race is organised by the Valencian sports club SD Correcaminos, which also organises the annual Valencia Marathon.[4]

Valencia Half Marathon
DateOctober
LocationValencia, Spain
Event typeRoad
DistanceHalf marathon
Primary sponsorEDP
Established1988 (1988)[1]
2006 (2006) (as half)[1][2]
Course recordsMen's: 58:33 (2018)
Ethiopia Jemal Yimer
Women's: 1:02:52 (2021)
Ethiopia Letesenbet Gidey
Official siteValencia Half Marathon
Participants20,000 (2022),
8,842 finishers (2021)
15,356 (2019)
13,799 (2018)

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]

Course
External image
image icon Course map of half marathon in 2019[12]

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 and Algirós districts for the first third of the race.[12] The half marathon then largely follows the roads along the Garden of the Turia as it makes its way northwest to Ciutat Vella and then back to the start.[12]

Winners
2005 winner Ethiopian Ashu Kasim (pictured here at a 5K in Albany)
2009 winner Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai (pictured here at the NYC Marathon)

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]

Key:    Course record (in bold)

20K
Ed. Year Men's winner Time[lower-alpha 1] Women's winner Time[lower-alpha 1] Rf.
— — not held from 1993 to 1995 [1]
10 2000  Enock Keter (KEN) 1:00:44  Margaret Ngadi (TZA) 1:13:19 [15][16]
11 2001  Julio Rey (ESP) 1:01:43  Teresa Gracia (ESP) 1:25:36
12 2002  Julio Rey (ESP) 59:46  Margareth Iro (TAN) 1:11:08
13 2003  El Houssine Essemaali (MAR) 1:02:39  Sandra Ruales (ECU) 1:11:09
14 2004  Sawel Kalia (KEN) 1:01:33  Gladys Cherono (KEN) 1:10:28
15 2005  Abdellatif Meftah (MAR) 1:00:46  Ashu Kasim (ETH) 1:09:30

Half marathon
Ed. Year Men's winner Time[lower-alpha 1] Women's winner Time[lower-alpha 1] Rf.
16 2006  Edwin Koech (KEN) 1:02:48  Joan Aiyabei (KEN) 1:12:48
17 2007  Peter Korir (KEN) 1:02:24  Joan Aiyabei (KEN) 1:11:16
18 2008  Jacob Yator (KEN) 1:01:32  Sarah Kerubo (KEN) 1:15:18
19 2009  Geoffrey Mutai (KEN) 59:30  Beatrice Jepchumba (KEN) 1:15:31
20 2010  John Mwangangi (KEN) 1:01:10  Joyce Chepkirui (KEN) 1:09:25
21 2011  John Mwangangi (KEN) 59:45  Malika Asahssah (MAR) 1:10:26
22 2012  Joel Kimurer (KEN) 59:36  Alice Mogire (KEN) 1:09:57
23 2013  Jacob Kendagor (KEN) 59:58  Joyce Chepkirui (KEN) 1:08:15
24 2014  Abraham Cheroben (KEN) 58:48  Emily Chebet (KEN) 1:08:01
25 2015  Abraham Cheroben (KEN) 59:10  Netsanet Gudeta (ETH) 1:07:31
26 2016  Stephen Kibet (KEN) 59:27  Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) 1:07:09
27 2017  Abraham Cheroben (BHR) 59:11  Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN) 1:04:51
28 2018  Jemal Yimer (ETH)[lower-alpha 2] 58:33  Gelete Burka (ETH) 1:06:11 [13][19][20]
29 2019  Yomif Kejelcha (ETH) 59:05  Senbere Teferi (ETH) 1:05:32
30 2020  Kibiwott Kandie (KEN) 57:32 WR  Genzebe Dibaba (ETH) 1:05:18
31 2021  Abel Kipchumba (KEN) 58:07  Letesenbet Gidey (ETH) 1:02:52 WR
32 2022  Kibiwott Kandie (KEN) 58:11  Konstanze Klosterhalfen (GER) 1:05:41
33 2023  Kibiwott Kandie (KEN) 57:40 Margaret Chelimo KIPKEMBOI (KEN) 1:04:46

Notes
  1. h:m:s
  2. Abraham Kiptum originally won with a world record time of 58:18, but was later disqualified for doping.[17][18]

References
  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20201207055002if_/https://www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com/revistas/revista-MMVTA-2015/archivos/assets/common/downloads/revista-MMVTA2015.pdf
  2. "Real Federación Española de Atletismo - RFEA - Temporada 2004/2005 - Resultados de Ruta y Marcha". www.rfea.es. Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  3. "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)
  4. 23º MEDIO MARATÓN VALENCIA TRINIDAD ALFONSO. S.D. Correcaminos. Retrieved on 2013-11-02.
  5. "Real Federación Española de Atletismo - RFEA - Temporada 2005/2006 - Resultados de Ruta y Marcha". www.rfea.es. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  6. La media maratón bate dos de sus tres récords. El Mundo (2013-10-20). Retrieved on 2013-11-02.
  7. "Statement Valencia Half Marathon Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP". www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  8. "Valencia Marathon Cancellation Notice". www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  9. "Valencia Marathon announces it will hold a top-level elite event in 2020". www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  10. "Kenya's Kandie smashes half marathon world record in Valencia | Reuters". de.reuters.com. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  11. "Valencia Half Marathon - 25 October 2020". www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  13. "Previous editions · Valencia Ciudad del Running". www.valenciaciudaddelrunning.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  14. All-Comers Records- Half Marathon. Association of Road Racing Statisticians.
  15. https://web.archive.org/web/20170824001739if_/http://www.rfea.es/competi/resultados_otros/2000_2al.pdf#page=31
  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20201207110126/https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/tanzania/margaret-irro-ngadi-014302627
  17. https://web.archive.org/web/20191117105941if_/https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/disciplinary-process/en/191105-IAAF-v-Kiptum-Decision.pdf
  18. "Abraham Kiptum: Kenyan runner gets four-year ban for anti-doping violation - BBC Sport". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  19. https://web.archive.org/web/20201125063654/https://worldathletics.org/athletes/ethiopia/jemal-yimer-mekonnen-14757695
  20. https://web.archive.org/web/20201020202323/https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/ethiopia/gelete-burka-14259909
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