Valencia Half Marathon

The event was initially founded as a race of 20 km (12 mi), called the "20 kilómetros Adidas", with the inaugural race taking place in 1988.[1] From 1993 to 1995, the race was not contested for reasons beyond the organizer's control.[1]

The race was later lengthened to a half marathon, beginning with the 2006 edition of the race.[1][2][5] The change coincided with a growth in the number of participants and a higher standard of elite level competition. A record 9328 runners from over 10,300 entrants finished the race in October 2013.[6]

On 30 July 2020, the race organizer announced the cancellation of the 2020 in-person edition of the race due to the coronavirus pandemic, with all registrants given the option of transferring their entry to 2021 or obtaining a full refund.[7] About a month later, on 10 September, the organizer announced that the Valencia Marathon (which it also organized and whose mass race was just cancelled days earlier) would hold an "Elite Edition" of the race on 6 December, and that it would also include a half marathon race that year.[8][9] On the day of the race, four half marathon runners broke the previous world record of 58:01, with Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie setting a new world record of 57:32.[10][11]

External image
Course map of half marathon in 2019[12]

The half marathon starts and finishes on Carrer d'Antonio Ferrandis about 1 km (0.62 mi) southwest of the City of Arts and Sciences.[12]

The course first crosses the City of Arts and Sciences before making a loop around the Camins al Grau and Algirós districts for the first third of the race.[12] The half marathon then largely follows the roads along the Garden of the Turia as it makes its way northwest to Ciutat Vella and then back to the start.[12]

2005 winner Ethiopian Ashu Kasim (pictured here at a 5K in Albany)

2009 winner Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai (pictured here at the NYC Marathon)

The course records for the half marathon are 58:33 for the men's race (set by Jemal Yimer in 2018) and 64:51 minutes for the women's race (also a world record at the time, set by Joyciline Jepkosgei in 2017).[13] The latter time is the women's all-comers record for the event in Spain.[14]

Key:    Course record (in bold)

20K

Ed.	Year	Men's winner	Time[lower-alpha 1]	Women's winner	Time[lower-alpha 1]	Rf.
—	—	not held from 1993 to 1995				[1]
10	2000	Enock Keter (KEN)	1:00:44	Margaret Ngadi (TZA)	1:13:19	[15][16]
11	2001	Julio Rey (ESP)	1:01:43	Teresa Gracia (ESP)	1:25:36
12	2002	Julio Rey (ESP)	59:46	Margareth Iro (TAN)	1:11:08
13	2003	El Houssine Essemaali (MAR)	1:02:39	Sandra Ruales (ECU)	1:11:09
14	2004	Sawel Kalia (KEN)	1:01:33	Gladys Cherono (KEN)	1:10:28
15	2005	Abdellatif Meftah (MAR)	1:00:46	Ashu Kasim (ETH)	1:09:30

Half marathon

Ed.	Year	Men's winner	Time[lower-alpha 1]	Women's winner	Time[lower-alpha 1]	Rf.
16	2006	Edwin Koech (KEN)	1:02:48	Joan Aiyabei (KEN)	1:12:48
17	2007	Peter Korir (KEN)	1:02:24	Joan Aiyabei (KEN)	1:11:16
18	2008	Jacob Yator (KEN)	1:01:32	Sarah Kerubo (KEN)	1:15:18
19	2009	Geoffrey Mutai (KEN)	59:30	Beatrice Jepchumba (KEN)	1:15:31
20	2010	John Mwangangi (KEN)	1:01:10	Joyce Chepkirui (KEN)	1:09:25
21	2011	John Mwangangi (KEN)	59:45	Malika Asahssah (MAR)	1:10:26
22	2012	Joel Kimurer (KEN)	59:36	Alice Mogire (KEN)	1:09:57
23	2013	Jacob Kendagor (KEN)	59:58	Joyce Chepkirui (KEN)	1:08:15
24	2014	Abraham Cheroben (KEN)	58:48	Emily Chebet (KEN)	1:08:01
25	2015	Abraham Cheroben (KEN)	59:10	Netsanet Gudeta (ETH)	1:07:31
26	2016	Stephen Kibet (KEN)	59:27	Peres Jepchirchir (KEN)	1:07:09
27	2017	Abraham Cheroben (BHR)	59:11	Joyciline Jepkosgei (KEN)	1:04:51 WR
28	2018	Jemal Yimer (ETH)[lower-alpha 2]	58:33	Gelete Burka (ETH)	1:06:11	[13][19][20]
29	2019	Yomif Kejelcha (ETH)	59:05	Senbere Teferi (ETH)	1:05:32
	2020	cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic				[7]

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