On 5th October, 40 teams of children across the world will compete in a challenging simultaneous relay race in support of Save the Children.
Children aged 11-13 will race around a track in teams of 31. Each child will run a 200m stretch six or seven times each, passing a baton to their team-mates. Each team covers a total of 26.2 miles – a full Olympic marathon. Their aim: to beat Patrick Makau's brand new world record marathon time of 2 hrs 3 mins and 38 seconds.
UK events will take place in Bedford, Birmingham, Exeter, Liverpool, Kirklees, Leeds, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Sittingbourne, Twickenham-London, West Dunbartonshire and the Wirral.
British children will compete against teams from France, Ireland, Spain, Canada, China, Kenya, Mali, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway and Tibet. Over a thousand children will compete altogether.
Their times will be shared online and on Twitter @WorldMarathon to create an exciting global competition!
In the UK this event is sponsored by the AAA and is supported by England Athletics.
Chris Carter, AAA Chairman, commented: “The AAA are very pleased to be supporting this event once again. It has been very successful over the past few years and has proved inspirational to the children taking part. We very much hope that together with our partners we can help build this into one of the world’s biggest children’s sporting events bringing youngsters across the world together in friendship and sport.”
Plans are already in hand for future years with a view to enable any school from any country in the world to join in. It is also hoped to introduce shorter distance relays for the younger age groups.
For more information please contact
George Bunner
Tel: 01928 732 228
Email george@teamathletics.net