An article from running times online…
A World Full of Half Marathons
A look at the rising popularity of half marathons
By Jim Gerweck
As featured in the JulyAugust 2010 issue of Running Times Magazine
Consider the following sequence of events: On March 21, the New York City Half Marathon drew more than 11,000 runners to follow a field of elites, led early on by Haile Gebrselassie and Deena Kastor through the streets of Manhattan. The following Saturday, 8,500 braved the cobblestones of Prague to race 21.1K through the Czech Republic's capital. And the next day, the biggest field of the three, 21,000-plus, assembled in Berlin for a fast half over that city's pancake-flat course. While Berlin was celebrating its 30th anniversary, the other two are relatively new events--New York is only in its fifth year, Prague its 12th. And while Berlin race director Mark Milde, who also heads up the city's world-record marathon in the fall, says, "The half marathon will never have the mystique and draw the media attention that the marathon does," he and his fellow organizers realize the half may be where the biggest future potential lies.
"We think the half can be as big, or bigger, than the ING New York City Marathon," says Mary Wittenberg, director of both Big Apple events and president of the New York Road Runners. The numbers would seem to bear her out; 21,000 applied for this year's race, making it almost as popular as the five-borough run on a per capita basis. And Prague saw a 35 percent increase in its numbers for 2010. "Tell me what other industry had that kind of growth this year," says Carlo Capalbo, the irrepressible Italian director of that race.
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