More than 7,000 now signed up for first-ever Birmingham International Marathon
Aston mum Shah Begum will be making her marathon debut at the Birmingham International Marathon
With less than six months to go until the first ever Birmingham International Marathon, organisers have revealed the number of people signed up to take part has now passed 7,000.
The inaugural Birmingham International Marathon takes place on Sunday, October 15; the same day as the Simplyhealth Great Birmingham Run half marathon, which means more than 25,000 people could be running in Birmingham that day.
And to make the Great Birmingham Run weekend a true family festival of running, entries are now open for the Junior and Mini Great Birmingham Runs, taking place at Alexander Stadium, the home of UK Athletics, on Saturday, October 14.
The Mini Run is open to children of all abilities aged 3-8 and the Junior Run is open to 9-15 year-olds.
This month’s Simplyhealth Great Birmingham 10K is the ideal training run for anyone taking part in the marathon later this year. The Great Birmingham 10K takes place on Sunday, April 30 and a limited number of entries are still open.
Gareth Turnbull, Great Run Company Business Development Manager, and former middle-distance runner for Ireland, said: “The long summer nights were made for more than just your barbeque!
“The wonderful atmosphere of our 10k run will inspire you to train through the coming months and gradually help you build up to an amazing marathon experience.”
Starting at Alexander Stadium, the marathon will take in iconic city sights like Villa Park, Selfridges, Edgbaston Cricket Ground and picturesque Cannon Hill Park before finishing at Millennium Point in front of thousands of cheering spectators.
One of the world’s leading multi-marathon athletes is still on track to break a running record when he takes on the Birmingham International Marathon later this year.
Coventry-born Steve Edwards is aiming to break the world record for running 800 official marathon races in the fastest average finish time at the first-ever Birmingham International Marathon.
Conversely, Aston mum Shah Begum is planning to tackle her first marathon in Birmingham. Since taking up running just two years ago, she shed six stone and now inspires other running first-timers through inspirational social media messages.
The Birmingham International Marathon will also feature on the schedule of extraordinary fundraiser ‘Blind’ Dave Heeley.
The endurance athlete is marking his 60th year by taking on the Great Run series’ entire 2017 events calendar, in aid of the Albion Foundation, which it is understood will be a world first for a blind pairing.
Birmingham is widely regarded as the birthplace of mass participation long-distance running events and the Birmingham International Marathon will cement the city’s position as the European Capital of Running.
Birmingham staged one of the country’s first open-to-all marathons, the People’s Marathon, which ran from 1980-85 and was organised by late Solihull-based elite runner John Walker.
Sign up for the Birmingham International Marathon at https://www.greatrun.org/birmingham-international-marathon
Entries are now open for the Great Birmingham Run 2017. Sign up at https://www.greatrun.org/great-birmingham-run
Sign up for the Junior and Mini Great Birmingham Runs at http://www.greatrun.org/great-birmingham-run/juniorandminibirmingham
