During the second weekend in September, thousands of runners and spectators flock to the lit up streets of night-time Prague. The first of the two races, the adidas Women’s Run 5 km is exclusively for ladies. Kicking off just as the sun is setting and featuring an impressive number of world-class, long distance stars, the second race – the Birell 10 Km – is open to all runners. Hence there’ll certainly be no shortage of action on the course! Whether on the streets of the city or via the live broadcast on Czech Television, make sure you don’t miss out on the Birell Prague Grand Prix.
Key information
- The Birell Prague Grand Prix will be broadcast live on the ČT sport channel. Tune in at 7 pm on Saturday, the 10th of September
- 21st race year
- The Birell Prague Grand Prix is a part of the RunCzech Running League, which comprises a total of seven races in five cities around the Czech Republic. A total of 74, 585 took part in the races in 2015, almost five thousand more than in 2014.
- This is the third year the race has been awarded the Gold Label from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). All seven RunCzech Running League races hold Gold Labels which places the Czech Republic at the top of the ladder in terms of countries which organize long-distance runs
- It is the second oldest race in the RunCzech Running League
- It has progressed from a ten-kilometer race exclusively for invited elite runners to a running event with ten thousand participants this year. The adidas Women’s Race 5 km is exclusively for women participants while the second race – the Birell 10 km Race is open to everyone – including leading world-class long-distance runners, men, women, amateurs as well as semi-professionals
- The Birell 10 km Race kicks off at 19:30 hours from Republic Square close to the Municipal House. From there runners cross Štefánik Bridge, head towards Holešovice and then return to the embankment all the way to Klárov.
- After making a loop around the government building they will head back towards Štefánik Bridge and run onto Revoluční Street towards the finish line on Republic Square
- The adidas Women’s Race 5 Km commences at 18:00 hours from the same spot. After crossing Štefánik Bridge they turn off onto Edvard Beneš embankment and then turn against the current of the Vltava towards Klárov. From there they head straight to the finish line
- The course of the Birell 10 km Run is celebrated for its speed. Last year a total of seven men managed to complete it in amazing time, all under 28 minutes
- This year capacity has been increased to 10 000 runners! A total of 7 500 runners will take part in the Birell 10 km Race and a further 2 500 women in the adidas Women’s Race 5 km
- Both the 5 and 10 km races can be completed as an individual or as part of a three-member team. Each member runs the whole distance and the results are subsequently tallied up to a final score
- The Birell Prague Grand Prix boasts a very strong start line with a total of five men capable of completing the race in under 28 minutes
- Daniel Chebii will be coming along to defend last year’s victory. He was also unbeatable in 2013 and will be keen to make it a hat-trick this year
- His rival on the course includes Patrick Makau, former world record holder in the marathon distance. A total of five long distance runners capable of running under 28 minutes will be joined by Richard Mengich, Stephen Omiso and Evans Kigen Kurui
- Another one to watch out for on the course is two-time champion of the Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon Daniel Wanjiru
- Women participants include unexpected winner of this year’s Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon Violah Jepchumba. Her performance in April was enough to secure her third place on the historical half marathon tables while her split time of 30:29 at the 10 km mark has yet to be beaten this year
- Her greatest rivals will likely include Gladys Cherono and Paskalia Kipkoech
- The top Czech long-distance stars will also be appearing in Prague
- Women participants include Olympians Eva Vrabcová and Anežka Drahotová. However, they will face competition from Kristiina Mäki, Lucie Sekanová, Tereza Čapková, not to mention Czech veteran Petra Kamínková
- Among the Czech men, we’re likely to see a battle play out between Jiří Homoláč and Milan Kocourek, both of whom took part in the European Championships in Amsterdam. Jan Kreisinger will also be making a come-back following health problems, plus we can look forward to checking out performances by Vítek Pavlišta and David Vaš
- Apart from the elite athletes, a number of well-known personalities will also be participating. Appearing in the first of the races, the adidas Women’s Run 5 km are Olympic cross-country skiing winner Kateřina Neumannová, biker Markéta “Peggy” Marvanová, the actor and presenter Adéla Gondíková, presenter Zorka Hejdová, model Taťána Kuchařová as well as members of the so-called Models on the run team. These are to include Czech beauty pageant stars Eva Čerešňáková (1st Czech Vice-miss 2007), Karolína Mališová (Czech Miss Earth 2015), Tereza Skoumalová (Czech Miss World 2014), Aneta Vignerová (Miss Czech Republic 2009) and Andrea Kabická (Miss 2011 finalist)
- Taking on the Birell 10 km run are: blind runner Ondřej Změškal, former boxer Lukáš Konečný as well as Olympic decathlon winner Roman Šebrle and his wife Eva
- The event also includes a Marathon Music Festival featuring bands and DJs along the course playing to the beat of runners
Runners collect their start numbers from the Grand Prix Expo located at the Running Mall which is open from Monday to Saturday. Part of the accompanying program includes the chance to go for a run with Jiří Homoláč, Kristiina Mäki and Jan Kreisinger - RunCzech works with a total of 45 charity organizations. Last year a total of 4,620 runners raised a whopping 7,279,615 Czech Crowns for the Run for a Good Cause project
- Light for the World is the main charity partner at the Birell Prague Grand Prix. Each year as runners head off on the course, almost 300 lit candles are lined up in the shape of Africa as a gesture to thank all runners who purchased their start numbers via Light for the World
- The largest number of foreign runners taking part come from Slovakia, Germany, Poland, Spain, Great Britain, Italy, the United States, Hungary, the Netherlands and Austria
- Everyone who actively takes part in the Birell 10 km race will contribute 5 Czech Crowns to the Unstoppables project, which helps athletes with physical disabilities
- The official race hashtag #PragueGrandPrix. For the adidas Women’s Race 5 km, use the hashtag #bezimpetku
- A whopping 106,943 visitors attended all three Prague races in 2014, 27 thousand of which came from other regions in the Czech Republic or from abroad
- Visitors to the Prague races spent over 276.2 million Czech Crowns owing to the events which led to a growth of local businesses amounting to at least 190.4 million Czech Crowns and local gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 54.3 million Czech Crowns
- Hotels, restaurants and other businesses had to employ many more workers to meet demand which when converted into full-time positions throughout the year amounted to the creation of 170 permanent positions
Interesting statistics
- The capacity of the Birell Prague Grand Prix is 10,000 runners
- A total of 66 nationalities will appear at the start line
- The Birell 10 km Race
- will comprise 63 percent men and 37 percent women
- the average age of women runners is 35.1 and for men 38.2
- on average women manage to complete the race in 0:59:37, and men in 0:50:48
- The most common name for men competing at the race is Petr, followed by Jan and Martin. For women the most common names are Jana, Petra and Lucie
- a total of nine men and fourteen women will celebrate their birthdays on race day
- the oldest male participant is Milan Procházka (CZE): 75 years of age
- the oldest female participant is Šárka Kolková (CZE): 69 years of age
- the adidas Women’s Run 5 km
- here the gender of participants is pretty obvious – it’s 100 percent made up of women
- the average age of women taking part is 35.8
- on average women manage to complete it in 0:32:49
- the most common names appearing at the start line are Jana, Lenka and Petra
- a total of five women will be celebrating their birthday on race day
- the oldest runner is Pavla Jechová (CZE): 72 years
- The vast majority of long-distance runners comprise university educated people (58 %), with a further 34 % of college educated individuals and the remaining 8 % made up of those with high school education
- A total of 715 volunteers will be helping out at the race
- Over twenty thousand runners from all over the world will visit www.runczech.com on race day (21 733 in 2015)
- Almost one hundred and fifty users will receive messages from RunCzech social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) on race day (145,706 in 2015)
- Used during the race:
- 289 traffic signs
- 42 550 safety pins
- 42,000 cups
- 26,000 water soaked sponges
- 10,000 thermal sheets
- 10,000 medals
- 3,821 m of fencing
- 93 mobile toilets
- Liquids consumed:
- 21,750 litres of Mattoni water
- 4,125 litres of hypotonic drinks
- Food consumed:
- 1,055 kg bananas
- 1,276 kg oranges
- 23 kg salt
- 16 kg sugar
Records
- Race record – men: 0:27:28 (2014), Geoffrey Ronoh (KEN)
- Race record – women: 0:30:55 (2015), Peres Jepchirchir (KEN)
- Fastest Czech man: 0:29:26 (1999), Pavel Fashingbauer
- Fastest Czech woman: 0:33:07 (2015), Eva Vrabcová
- World record – men: 0:26:44 (2010), Leonard Komon (KEN)
- World record – women: 0:30:21 (2003), Paula Radcliffe (GBR)
- Czech record – men: Not listed by the Czech Athletic Association
- Czech record – women: Not listed by the Czech Athletic Association