Looking ahead | 9 May 2021 EDP Lisbon Half Marathon, Portugal
A half marathon with a rich history, in a city with even more heritage
Take it to the bridge The first Lisbon Half Marathon in 1991 had 3973 finishers. Thirty years later the number of participants is almost 20,000, half of them foreign runners. The flat course along the banks of the Tagus makes the race one of the fastest half marathons in the world and also takes runners on a tour of the city’s best sights and views. The race offers participants the unique opportunity to run on the emblematic 25 de Abril Bridge. The course follows the riverside road towards Alcântara passing by the famously busy street of Avenida 24 de Julho. The race goes by one of Lisbon’s oldest and busiest railway stations, Cais de Sodré.. After that athletes make the turn and and run back towards the finish line at Belem, right in front of one of the most famous landmarks in the country, the Jerónimos Monastery. For dedicated runners the race offers the opportunity of a new personal best time. For casual participants it affords the chance to run in a joyful environment with the guarantee of breathtaking views. Runners come from 90
nations and the event has an economic impact of more than four million euro (4.7m USD) for the city. The race is broadcast live to more than 200 million people all over the world. Since the second edition a fun run has taken place simultaneously. This year it was intended to make it into a timed 10km race but because of COVID-19 this new “Vodafone 10K” and the main 30th anniversary competition were both postponed to 2021. A special “spinning medal” was ready to reward athletes on 22 March but will now be handed out on the new date of 9 May 2021. The Briton Paul Evans (1:01:44) and home favourite Rosa Mota (1:09:53) won the first race in 1990. Rosa remains the only Portuguese (female) winner of the competition – not too surprising because the world’s best runners are invited. In 1998 Antonio Pinto finished in 59:43 and in 2000 Paul Tergat improved the course record to 59:05 but at that time the course was not record-eligible.
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Distance Running | 2020 Edition 4
