The RunCzech organizers announced today that U.S. runners Jared Ward and Sara Hall will run the Mattoni Usti nad Labem Half Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label road race, on Saturday September 15. The two Americans add to an increasing interest and participation from some of the finest U.S. distance runners in recent RunCzech events. 

At the 2017 Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon the organizers were proud to host the two time Olympic medalist, Galen Rupp and the very popular and talented Jordan Hasay, both of whom were preparing for the Boston Marathon. In Prague Hasay achieved a significant personal best of 1:07:55 which prepared her for a big marathon breakthrough in Boston 16 days later. Although Rupp ran a very respectable 1:01:59 he was disappointed that foot problems kept him from being more competitive, but he did bounce back with a strong second place in Boston. 

This year after the very difficult weather conditions in Boston and his own respiratory problems forced Galen to drop out of the Boston Marathon. Since his training had gone so well and he didn’t want to waste the opportunity to run a fast marathon he decided to join in the Volkswagen Prague Marathon. With the approval of the Boston officials Galen was able to come to Prague and win while improving his personal best by more than three minute to 2:06:07 on May 6, 2018. 

Continuing with this U.S. relationship Sara and Jared are looking to follow in the footsteps of their compatriots with successful races and personal records in the Czech Republic. Ward is the 2015 U.S. Marathon Champion and the sixth place finisher in the 2016 Rio Olympic Marathon and Hall, who won a gold medal at the 2011 Pan American games in the 3000 meter steeplechase, has increasingly moved to longer races and improved her PBs this year to 1:09:27 for the half marathon and 2:26:20 in the full marathon. 

Carlo Capalbo, the President of the RunCzech organizing committee and Chairman of the IAAF Road Running Commission stated “We are pleased that these talented American runners have become aware of the quality of our events, and our hospitality, and hopeful that this increased interest from top U.S. runners will attract an increasing number of runners from America to join us in the beautiful Czech Republic at our many events in 2019 and beyond.” 

The entire elite runner list for the 2018 Mattoni Usti nad Labem Half Marathon will be released later this week. The race will be streamed live at www.runczech.com on Saturday, September 15 at 2:50 p.m. CEST.

--Press release --