WATCH THE 2016 PRAGUE HALF MARATHON LIVE APRIL 2nd!

If last week’s World Half Marathon Championships left you hungry for some more 13.1 action, you need not wait much longer to satisfy your craving. 

For the first time in our history, FloTrack will bring you LIVE coverage of the Prague Half Marathon this Saturday in the Czech capital. For all you distance-crazed fans out there, you can stay up late watching the end of the Stanford Invitational on Friday night, catch a quick hour or so nap, then tune-in to what promises to be a great morning of road racing in Europe. The distance between Palo Alto and Prague is nearly 6,000 miles, but we’re bringing both cities to your computer screen within a matter of hours. Go technology!

The famed event will mark the first in a series of seven RunCzech races LIVE on Flo in 2016, and the opening act promises to be a doozy. 

As shown by Geoffrey Kamworor’s slip and fall, trampling, and subsequent domination in Cardiff, anything and everything can and will happen in an elite road race. Whether any such viral moment will occur in three days in the Czech capital I can’t be sure, but with rain in the forecast over the next few days and 15 men with sub-61 minute PRs in the field, lets just say things could get interesting. Or at the very least, we’re in store for a damn good race between some really fast East Africans.

Here are highlights from last year's race:



Two Kenyans will have Prague Half history on the brain when they line up on Saturday. No man has ever won the event twice, but Daniel Wanjiru and Peter Kirui will each take a crack. The 28-year-old Kirui would seem to be more of a long shot as he hasn’t run under 61 minutes since his 2014 victory, but Wanjiru— the defending champ— appears to be more of a viable option here as his last two halves have been 60:06 and 59:51. But skepticism is certainly warranted for the 23-year-old as well, as he has not raced since his victory in Prague more than a year ago.

Abraham Cheroben should make it brutally tough for either Wanjiru or Kirui to etch their names as Prague royalty. Not only does his 58:48 PR stand as eighth best in all of mankind (and tops in the field by a sizable margin), but most impressively, the 23-year-old has cracked the hour barrier five times in the last year and a half. Saturday will be his Prague debut, but my money, if I was a betting man, would be on Cheroben. The course record of 58:47 figures to be on alert if he is on his game.

While Cheroben has earned the right to be called the favorite, the reality is that deep road races like this one can, and often will, produce wildly surprising winners. Kenyan Geoffrey Ronoh was on pacer duty two years ago at the Olomouc Half when he decided to finish the race, beating Dennis Kimetto (who would go on to set the marathon World record later that year) and Wilson Kipsang (the marathon World record holder at the time). The best advice I can give you heading into this race is the tired cliche— expect the unexpected.

Here's the complete elite men's field:

Abraham Cheroben (KEN) 58:48
Peter Kirui (KEN) 59:22
Geoffrey Ronoh (KEN) 59:45
Daniel Chebii (KEN) 59:49
Daniel Wanjiru (KEN) 59:51
Abraham Kipyatich (KEN) 1:00:03
James Rungaru (KEN) 1:00:12
Adugna Takele (ETH) 1:00:15
Goitom Kifle (ERI) 1:00:20
Josphat Kiptis (KEN) 1:00:21
Nobert Kigen (KEN) 1:00:32
Tebalu Zawude (ETH) 1:00:33
Felix Kandie (KEN) 1:00:42
Benard Bett (KEN) 1:00:43
Barselius Kipyego (KEN) 1:00:46
Jan Kreisinger (CZE) 1:03:38
Jiří Homoláč (CZE) 1:05:41
Milan Kocourek (CZE) 1:05:47

For the women’s race, however, you should expect one thing to happen— Ethiopian Worknesh Degafa to win. Not only is her PR (67:08) a monstrous minute and a half quicker than the next best competitor, the gap in ability is much larger seeing that Kenya’s Isabella Ochichi’s 68:38 best is nearly 15 years (yes, years) old. Outside of that, no other woman has run faster than 69:18. 

Since Degafa just ran that PR of hers two weeks ago, I think it’s safe to say expect the expected here.


Worknesh Degafa at the 2015 Sportisimo Prague Half, ©PhotoRun

Worknesh Degefa (ETH) 1:07:08
Isabella Ochichi (KEN) 1:08:38
Sara Moreira (POR) 1:09:18
Violah Jepchumba (KEN) 1:09:29
Margaret Agai (KEN) 1:09:57
Afera Godfay (ETH) 1:09:51
Misato Horie (JPN) 1:10:26
Susan Partridge (GBR) 1:10:32
Risper Chebet (KEN) 1:10:43
Alessandra Aguilar (ESP) 1:10:56
Lucy Karimi (KEN) 1:11:23
Katerina Kowalska (POL) 1:11:27
Anežka Drahotová (CZE) 1:14:25

The 2016 Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon— an IAAF Gold Label Road Race— starts Saturday at 10:00am local time. That’s 3:00am CT for all you U.S.-based viewers. We'll have on-site coverage from the Czech Republic, including pre- and post-race interviews as well as a written recap.