byLarry EderBy all standards, the 2014 IAAF AL-Bank Half Marathon World Championships was a huge success! Here is the piece sent to publishers from the media department at the WCHM!
The Case of Denmark
Denmark and the Danes were also the big winners at today’s IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon 2014 which was staged in perfect weather for world records. A World Championship like never before. Four men sub the magic hour! And never before has a World Half Marathon been staged alongside a gigantic mass participation race of 30,000 runners. And never before have so many national and international media covered the World Half Marathon.
“Wow! What a party! We have awarded the world’s fastest half marathon runners their prices whilst 30,000 recreational runners also became winners. It has been extremely important for us to give them the ultimate experience and I think we succeeded.”
Such were the words after the race from a proud but also relieved Jakob Larsen director of the Danish Athletic Federation who together with no less than 1,500 volunteers and a small organizing committee has been up and running for the staging of the event.
“The IAAF has praised us to the skies and called this World Championship for a landmark in terms of creating a new concept. We have enjoyed an exemplary cooperation with Sport Event Denmark and the other partners. Copenhagen and the Copenhageners have given us the best possible and epic venue.
Elite race – broadcasted live to several nations – featured an extremely strong race with the four fastest men sub the magic hour. With the almost perfect conditions there were set no fewer than 11 nation’s records.
Another fast man was Wilson Kipketer the official world half marathon ambassador who ran within the mass participation race: “It was great! All around I could hear people shouting Wilson, Wilson. It gave me more energy. And if Cardiff in two years also stage a mas participation in relation to the World Half Marathon , well, then I will run again,” says the Wilson Kipketer.
“This World Half Marathon was yet another genuine sports festival once again staged in Denmark. Around Christmas the LEN European Short Course Championships were staged in Denmark and in January this year four cities hosted the EHF Men’s European Handball Championships. The invaluable and many volunteers, the organizing committee and the other partners did a great job. The 30,000 mass participants together with the thousands of spectators transformed the capital into a gigantic celebration of running today,” says Lars Lundov, CEO, Sport Sport Event Denmark.
FACTS on IAAF / AL -Bank World Half Marathon 2014
– 30,000 mass participants from 76 nations
– 127 male and 95 female elite runners ( +50 % compared to last WHM – highest number since 1998)
– 58 nations in the elite ( + 35 % compared to last WHM – and the second highest ever)
– 1,500 volunteers
– 120 pace makers
– 20 Danish clubs had conducted preliminary half marathon training resulting in increasing numbers of new club members
Organisers: The Danish Athletic Federation, Sport Event Denmark, Wonderful Copenhagen and the municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg are supporting the event.
Read more about IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships 2014 here:
English.copenhagen2014.dk and on Facebook. #WHM2014
