Paco Borao (SD Correcaminos from Half Marathon and Valencia Marathon), Raúl Chapado (Spanish Athletics Federation), Elena Tejedor (Trinidad Alfonso Foundation), Rafa Blanquer (15K Nocturna) and Alex Aparicio (10K Valencia Ibercaja)
In a year in which it hosted the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, Valencia has confirmed its strategic concept as a ‘city of running’ by earning its fifth IAAF label for road races in the Spanish city.
The IAAF certifies the standard of the world’s best road races with gold, silver and bronze labels, which take into account various sport and organisational aspects of the events.
Achieving bronze labels for the 10-kilometre Valencia Ibercaja Race and the 15-kilometre Valencia Banco Mediolanum Night Race in June has brought the number of IAAF labels held by the city’s races to five.
The two latest IAAF labels come in addition to the bronze label held by the 10-kilometre Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Race and the gold labels held by both the Valencia-Trinidad Alfonso EDP Marathon and Half-Marathon since 2016.
With five label road races in total, no other city in the world holds so many international distinctions.
“The journey started with the Valencia Half-Marathon and Marathon being the first road races in Spain to be awarded an IAAF gold label,” said Paco Borao, President of SD Correcaminos running club. “They are now joined by other IAAF label events in the city, further strengthening Valencia’s positioning as a top world destination for road-running.”
The awarding of the two new IAAF labels was achieved thanks to the support of Fundación Trinidad Alfonso. The foundation backed Valencia’s ‘The Running City’ brand and helped in getting the Spanish Athletics Federation to include the two races in its national calendar.
“Having vision and dreams is important, but the most important thing is making things happen and this is what Valencia City of Running is achieving,” said Spanish Athletics Federation President Raúl Chapado.
