12 cities express interest in hosting first Road Running Championship, are African cities on the list?

Will an African city host Road Running champs?

JOHANNESBURG, March 18 (ANA) – World Athletics announced on Wednesday that 12 cities expressed interest in hosting the first Road Running Championships in 2023, but are there any African cities on that list?

With the Under-20 World Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in Nairobi in July, the global athletics body has already shown faith in Africa’s ability to host top events during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 12 cities which have expressed interest in hosting, however, have not yet been named.

World Athletics said there has been strong international interest in hosting this new event, which will combine elite and mass races in a unique format, which is “a ringing endorsement of a festival concept designed to unite the international road running community”.

The creation of the World Athletics Road Running Championships, incorporating the World Half Marathon Championships, was approved by the Council in December, and cities around the world were asked to indicate their interest in hosting the event.

The 2023 event will include elite races over both 5km and the half marathon, accompanying mass races, and a week-long festival of supporting events, including parkrun events across the host city, a global running conference, health and fitness expos and clinics.

Potential hosts will have to submit formal bids by June 1 and the World Athletics Council will select the host city in July.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said: “We wouldn’t have chosen to launch a new global athletics tour on the eve of a pandemic, but the Continental Tour proved to be such a strong concept that it thrived even in these adverse circumstances.

“The tour has expanded substantially in 2021, and we’re delighted that it has been embraced so enthusiastically across the world. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman