By Daniel Etchells

The 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships are scheduled to take place in Cardiff on March 26 ©IAAFThe 2016 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Half Marathon Championships have been officially launched in Cardiff.

The 22nd edition of the Championships, billed as the biggest athletics event to be staged in Wales since the Cardiff 1958 Commonwealth Games, is scheduled to take place on March 26, 147 days before the marathon at Rio 2016.

The Welsh capital, sole bidder for the event, will hold the race on the same waterfront course which hosts the annual Cardiff Half Marathon event in October.

It has built on the model proposed by Copenhagen, which hosted the World Half Marathon Championships last year, of integrating the race into a mass event.

As many as 25,000 runners of all ages and abilities will have the chance to compete alongside the world's elite athletes. 

"It is fantastic that Cardiff will be hosting a World Championship event of this stature in 2016," said Lynn Davies, President of British Athletics and Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games long jump gold medallist.

"The Cardiff Half Marathon has already proved itself to be one of the biggest and best road races in the UK and when the best athletes in the world run on the same course the times should be spectacular.

"But the real beauty of this event is that ordinary runners get the chance to line-up on the same start line as the best athletes in the world.

"That simply doesn't happen in many other sports."

Lynn Davies (left), President of British Athletics, and Ken Skates (right), the Welsh Government's Deputy Minister for Culture Sport and Tourism, unveil the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships countdown clock ©IAAFLynn Davies (left), President of British Athletics, and Ken Skates (right), the Welsh Government's Deputy Minister for Culture Sport and Tourism, unveil the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships countdown clock ©IAAF





The event will mark the fourth time the Championships have been staged in Great Britain, with the inaugural event in 1992 forming part of the Great North Run in Tyneside.

Bristol hosted the event in 2001, when home athlete Paula Radcliffe retained the women's title, while Birmingham welcomed the world's elite half marathon runners in 2009.

Although no British male athlete has won the title, Radcliffe's other triumph in 2003 and Liz McColgan's in 1992 takes the British women's tally to four.

Wales has hosted several other major sporting events in recent years, including the opening Test of cricket's 2009 Ashes series at the Swalec Stadium in Cardiff, golf's 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, and football's UEFA Super Cup at the Cardiff City Stadium.

"It's was a huge honour for Wales to win the right to host the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and one which is testament to the nation's enviable credentials in hosting successful global sporting events," said Ken Skates, the Welsh Government's Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism.

"The success of the Cardiff Half Marathon was also an important contributing factor in the success of the bid.

"We look forward to working with partners to deliver a world class event in 2016 - for both the elite runners and everyone else who will join this amazing opportunity."

Ken Skates, the Welsh Government's Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, becomes the first person to pre-register for the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships ©IAAFKen Skates, the Welsh Government's Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, becomes the first person to pre-register for the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships ©IAAF



Eritrea's Zersenay Tadese and The Netherlands' Lornah Kiplagat hold the Championship records in the individual men's and women's events, clocking times of 58min 59.00sec and 1 hour 06min 25sec respectively at Udine 2007.

Kenya set the team men's record time of 2:58.54 in 2007, and the women's equivalent, 3:22.30, in 2009.

Runners can register their interest in claiming one of the 25,000 places available via the event's official website, by clicking here.

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November 2013: Cardiff awarded 2016 IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships