The 34th edition of the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks sets the participation record at more than 28,000 runners and goes down in history

• Barcelona’s Half-Marathon has become the most popular half-marathon  in Spain and the second most popular in Europe.
• This 2024 will be the Barcelona’s half-marathon with the highest number of international participants and the highest number of women running in it.
• This 2024 will be the Barcelona’s half-marathon with the highest number of international participants and the highest number of women running in it.
  In order to better canalize this edition high participation, the race will have a new start, but the finish line will remain the same.

The eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks 2024 will be held next 11th of February, with a new record number of participants with more than 28,000 runners. A figure that makes the Barcelona’s half-marathon the most crowded 21.097 kilometres’ race in Spain and the second biggest in Europe, as well as continuing to be one of the few half-marathons in the world that is Gold Label.

Moreover, this 34th edition will also be the one with the highest percentage of international participation in the history of the race, 40%, with 98 nationalities represented. At the same time, there will be more women than ever before, because, despite the fact that 35% of the participants will be women, as in the last two editions, the absolute number of women runners has risen to more than 9,800.

These figures are added to the youthful atmosphere that characterizes this race, with a fast and urban circuit, ideal for achieving a personal best over this distance. In fact, 62.4% of the participants of this 2024 will be under 45 years old and one out of every three runners will be between 25 and 34 years old.

“This year, Barcelona will have the biggest Half-Marathon in its history, but we will also be the biggest in Spain and the second biggest in Europe. We are very proud of this edition that will be a sporting festival in our city and the first great running event of the 2024 calendar”, explains David Escudé, Barcelona City Council’s Sports Councillor.

Mauro Llorens, director of the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks, explains that “now that we have achieved the participation record in the history of the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks, we want to promote the sporting part. We will be looking for the circuit record, both for men and women. We have a great line-up of international athletes, where we can highlight the presence of the Kenyan athlete, Kibiwott Kandie, who holds the second-best time in the world in half-marathon (57:32′), and that of his compatriot, Ruth Chepngetich, world champion in the Doha Marathon 2019 and who has the third-best half-marathon time in the world for women (01:04:02h). We aspire to be the best half-marathon in the world, where any runner will feel that the great city of Barcelona is the ideal setting to achieve their goals”.

A NEW START LINE AND A NEW SOLIDARITY INITIATIVE

In order to offer a better service to the participants and to channel the high participation this year, the start line of the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks 2024 will be moved to Passeig Picasso, the vertical street compared to the start of previous editions. Even so, the finish line will remain at Passeig Pujades. Therefore, it will no longer be a circular circuit, but a semi-circular one, as the finish line and start line will be only 500 metres apart. In addition, the new solidarity initiative this year is that Zurich will donate 1 euro for each finisher and the amount raised will be donated to the Institut Guttmann.

NEW NAMES FOR THE STAR LIST LOOKING FOR NEW RECORDS
After Kenyans Charles Kipkkurui Langat and Irine Jepchumba set the best male (58:53′) and female (01:04:37h) times of the race respectively in 2023, for the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks 2024 there will be new names that will try to beat these times. 14 men and nine women will make up the elite list for the coming 11th of February.

In the men’s field, the favorite to win will be the Kenyan athlete, Kibiwott Kandie, who holds the second-best time in the world in half-marathon (57:32′) and who has won the 2020, 2022 and 2023 editions of the Valencia half-marathon. Likewise, four more athletes from Kenya and one from Tanzania, all with times under one hour, are aiming for the podium. Kandie’s direct competitor will be his compatriot Philemon Kiplimo, with a fifth position and personal best of 58:11′ in the Valencia Half-Marathon 2020, who will also participate in the Zurich Marató Barcelona 2024. He will be closely followed by his compatriots Mathew Kimeli, with a best time of 58:43′ at the Valencia 2021 Half-Marathon, Hillary Kipkoech, ninth at the last edition of the Valencian half-marathon, where he achieved his best time over this distance (59:22′) and Peter Mwaniki, third at the 10K of Valencia this January (26:59’). As well, it will come the Tanzanian Gabriel Gerald Geay, who achieved his personal best in the Houston half-marathon in 2020 (59:42), and the Swedish Andreas Almgren, who got the national record also at the 10K of Valencia last month (27:20’).

For their part, in the women’s category, there will be an athlete who will fight to get back on the podium, but this time she will try to climb the highest stage: Joyciline Jepkosgei. This athlete, also from Kenya, was second in the Barcelona’s Half Marathon in 2023 (01:04:46h), followed by the Kenyan Gladys Chepkurui, fourth in the Barcelona’s Half Marathon in 2023 (01:05:46h) and the Ethiopian Senbere Teferi, winner of the Valencia’s Half Marathon in 2019 (01:05:32h). It is also worth mentioning England’s Jessica Warner-Judd, who will prepare in Barcelona for her participation in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

THE GOOD MOMENT OF THE HALF-MARATHON SPREADS TO THE ZURICH MARATÓ BARCELONA

The sold out that has taken place in the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks 2024 has been translated into a very good rhythm of registrations for the Zurich Marató Barcelona 2024, which has already sold more than 17,000 numbers and its near to 18,000. In this sense, the organisation of the Marathon aims to continue growing until 10th of March at a pace that will allow it to reach 19,000 registrations, remembering that the current record of participation of the race was set in 2016 with 20,385 runners.