The Volkswagen Prague Marathon has been moved to May 2022
Due to the current pandemic restrictions and the overall health situation in the country, RunCzech decided to cancel the Volkswagen Prague Marathon scheduled for October 10, 2021. The decision was consulted with the management of the Capital City of Prague and the Czech Athletic Association. Subsequently, all necessary institutions and partners of the event were informed.
“Since June 2020, we have successfully implemented the most demanding and original ways to organize mass events as safely as possible,” said Carlo Capalbo, president of the RunCzech organizing committee, in a press release to the media. “We gave professional and hobby runners the opportunity to run at airports all over the country, in the oldest brewery in the country or in the national nature park in Liberec. We transformed the long-distance track into a track, specifically an oval, and we set a world record there. In order to be able to organize the Volkswagen Prague Marathon dedicated to professional athletes, which also hosted the Czech Republic Marathon Championship and allowed our best long-distance runners to fly to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, “says Capalbo.
“We also introduced ‘The Battle of the Teams,’ a revolutionary concept aimed at creating a popular marathon format. We created several digital platforms that kept motivation and help all runners at a time when everything was closed. Including the launch of the digital version of the Volkswagen Prague Marathon. To date, we have organized 3 “EuroHeroes” races, which brought together more than 10,000 participants in three different cities and dates, “says the president of the organizing committee RunCzech.
“Despite all our previous successes, we cannot honestly guarantee that the RunCzech team can guarantee good quality, safety and trouble-free race delivery with more than 3,000 runners at this time.” concludes the Capalbo report.
At an event such as the Volkswagen Prague Marathon and the dm Family Run, which numbers 16,000 people, with current restrictions due to a pandemic (start in waves, safe distance, limited technical facilities, control of testing and vaccinations, limited Expo, etc.) and without the possibility of timely planning of production and service infrastructure, it is not possible to guarantee action at the level expected from RunCzech stands in the said report.
For all registered runners who have paid the entry fee, the organizers provide the opportunity to either transfer their registration to 2022, or get a voucher of the same value in the All Runners Are Beautiful e-shop or their main amount of the social project “Away from the chair!” For students, who help motivate young people and improve sports facilities in secondary schools.
Vít Šimral, Councilor of the City of Prague, responsible for education and sports, made the following statement on the whole issue. “Failure to organize the Volkswagen Prague Marathon severely affects not only the organizers, but also the overall effort to keep our company in a healthy condition. The capital city of Prague supports the entire RunCzech community and special support for the physical and mental fitness of our next generation. We all wish to see Prague’s streets full of active people as soon as possible, “says the councilor.
Libor Varhaník, President of the Czech Athletic Association, also expressed his support. “Many times I can’t do what it can be for human health. Sport brings us a lot of joy, emotions and personal success. Especially when people regularly attend these events. And this is the reason why this running race needs to be organized, for example, it has a social overlap across other age groups. With the RunCzech organization, we share the same challenges of today, and that is why we stand side by side in an effort to bring the beauty of athletic sport where it belongs, among the people, “states Varhaník.
Meanwhile, in September and October, RunCzech is fully committed to organizing two more “EuroHeroes” half marathons in Ústí nad Labem and České Budějovice and the Nature Run in Liberec, each with an extension of up to 3,000 runners.
The restart of all Prague races is planned for their traditional race dates in 2022, when at that time a higher vaccination rate finally enables the organization of mass events.