This Sunday there will be around 30 elite runners on the start line looking to achieve the course record in Madrid. Spanish athletes Javi Guerra, Yago Rojo and Clara Simal will be lined up amongst a great group of African athletes.The half marathon course has undergone slight improvements to make it faster and more comfortable.
The twenty-second edition of the Movistar Madrid Half Marathon and the seventh Carrera
ProFuturo, which will be held this Sunday 26 March, was officially presented today, with
around 19,000 participants between both races. The impact that the race will have on the
city is very high in economic terms, as in addition to the 17% of registered foreigners, of 90
different nationalities, almost 30% of the total runners come from outside the Madrid
region. Female participation is around 23% of the total number of registered participants.
This edition will also be the most inclusive in its history, with around 70 runners with some
kind of functional, physical or intellectual diversity.
The African "armada" will try to break the current course records in both the men's and
women's categories. Three men have sub-one-hour personal best over the distance:
Kenyan athlete Hillary Kipkoech, Ethiopian Tadese Takele Bikila and Eritrean Abrar
Osman, are the main favourites to fight for the victory at the finish line, although other top
athletes such as Kenyan athletes Enos Kales, Edwin Kipruto, Albert Rop or Edwin
Kipkemoi, Jackson Kipleting, and Ethiopian debutant Tesema Mokenin, make up a large
group of aspirants for the first places and to try to improve the best historical records
achieved in the capital of Spain in these last editions. Spanish long distance athlete Javi
Guerra (1h01:21) comes to the race in one of his best moments, after running recently the
second best 10km road race in his long career and hopes to confirm his good form this
Sunday. Yago Rojo's is one of the most expected comebacks. The athlete from Madrid is
still training and improving after overcoming an injury that has kept him out for a long time
and he will also try to find the best possible sensations on the asphalt of his home city to
return to the national elite. Jorge González will also be in the starting line.
In the women's category, Spaniard athlete Clara Simal, who has just finished a great
marathon in Seville (2h30), will be the main rival of the African athletes. She is enjoying a
second youth and will be looking for her best half marathon time in the streets that she
knows so well in the centre of Madrid. Up to three of the favourites for the victory already
know what it is like to run and achieve their personal bests in this same race: the Kenyan
Sharon Kemboi, second in 2022 with 1h07:28, and the Ethiopians Alemitu Tariku Olana
and Ayinadis Teshome Birle, second and third, respectively, in the 2021 edition. Zewditu
Aderaw Gelaw, also from Ethiopia, is the runner with the fastest personal best with
1h07:25 achieved this year. The start list is completed by athletes such as Roselidah
Jepketer, Mesekerem Molla Moges, Caroline Chepkemoi or Lilian Jepkorir, among others.
France's Marie Bouchard (1h12:19) will make it difficult for Clara Simal in the duel to see
who will be the first European at the finish line.
The renovated course has shown that it is also possible to run very fast in Madrid, as the
historic records of the race have been broken here, with spectacular records by Ronald
Kiprotich with 59:38 in 2021 (with seven runners running under the hour), and Winfridah
Moraa with 1h07:22 in 2022.
In the ProFuture Race (5.8km), the main favourite is the Moroccan athlete Hicham
Sigueni, two-time Olympian in the 3000m steeplechase and winner of the Diamond
League in Stockholm 2015.
IMPROVED COURSE
The Movistar Madrid Half Marathon 2023, has slightly modified its successful course of
recent years to make it faster and more comfortable for the participants. Although the
location of the start (Paseo de La Castella) and finish line (Paseo de Recoletos) remains
practically the same as in 2022, there will be some changes in the area between the
Quevedo roundabout and the Ruiz Jiménez roundabout, which will be significantly
improved with the passage through wider and straighter streets and avenues. There is
also another small modification, as from calle Velázquez to calle Príncipe de Vergara the
race will run along calle Ortega y Gasset, instead of calle Juan Bravo, avoiding a climb of
some 300 metres which will soften the elevation profile a little more.
What will be added to the course to compensate for these two zones that will be removed
will go from Plaza de Castilla, along the side of Paseo de la Castellana, to Avenida de
Monforte de Lemos.
The authentic half marathon of Madrid has a fast course, but it is also particularly attractive
and of tourist interest for the runners, who value it very positively: Paseo de La Castellana,
the Bernabéu, Plaza de Castilla, Calle Serrano, Puerta de Alcalá, Atocha, Paseo del
Prado (declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco), Neptuno, Cibeles or Colón.
The 5.8 km ProFuturo charity race will not change its course.
PROFUTURO CHARITY RACE
The ProFuturo Race is celebrating its 7th edition on March 26 th in the centre of Madrid.
The 5.8 km charity race for education will once again take place within the framework of
the Movistar Madrid Half Marathon and is aimed at the ProFuturo digital education
programme, promoted by Fundación Telefónica and the "la Caixa" Foundation, to reduce
the educational gap for children in the world's most vulnerable environments.
The Movistar Madrid Half Marathon continues to maintain the "Road Race Label" of the
international federation World Athletics, and was awarded by the Madrid City Council as
an "event of general interest for the city", as it is one of the most emblematic and
traditional races in the country. It will celebrate its 22nd edition on 26 March (and the
seventh edition of the ProFuturo Race). On the renovated course, the race's all-time
records have been broken, with Ronald Kiprotich clocking 59:38 in 2021 and Winfridah
Moraa clocking 1h07:22 in 2022.
It will be broadcasted on #Vamos TV, a Movistar channel.
The race is organised by Agrupación Deportiva Marathon, Atresmedia and Sport Life
Ibérica, with the main sponsorship of Movistar and with the institutional support of the
Ayuntamiento de Madrid and the Comunidad de Madrid. Joma Sport is the technical
sponsor and AhorraMás, Rafaelhoteles, Alquiber, Deloitte, Gourmet Latino, Physiorelax,
Science in Sports SiS, Garmin, Olympia Quironsalud and Breathe Right are collaborating.
Links: MovistarMediomaratonMadrid.es, Carrerafundacionprofuturo.com.
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