Posted: December 21, 2004

Athletics: IAAF Approve Marathon Route for Helsinki World Championships

The International Association of Athletics Federations IAAF showed the green light for the plans of the 10th IAAF World Championships Organising Committee. At the beginning of December during its meeting in Helsinki, the IAAF Council approved the marathon route and the Local Organising Committee’s proposals for the disabled athletes’ events as well as the exceptional concept for the Opening Ceremony.

The marathon course will begin in the heart of Helsinki, at the market place and end at the Olympic Stadium. The marathon will be run in the streets of Helsinki along a 10 km loop which will be run 3.5 times. The Men’s marathon will be run on August 13th and the women’s competition on August 14th.

- The course will show the runners and the TV audience the most beautiful parts of Helsinki. The aim was to build an interesting competition route serving both the public on location and in front of televisions, says Competition Director Pekka Paakkanen.

- The marathon is easy to follow on location when you see the runners several times. TV viewers have time to see the sights of Helsinki along with the competition.

The IAAF Council also approved the proposed events for disabled athletes which will be included in the actual competition programme at the Olympic Stadium.

The events will be Men’s 100m and 200m Wheelchair racing (T54), which will see the participation of the Finnish Olympic Winner Leo-Pekka Tähti, Men’s Javelin (F54) and Women’s 200m (T11).

The IAAF Council also approved the concept for the Opening Ceremony: on Saturday August 6th, the official Opening Ceremony will be held before the start of the evening session and the second part of the ceremony offering a show will start right after the last event of the day.

For more information, please visit www.helsinki2005.fi.