Prague, November 4th, 2009: Prague International Marathon (PIM) has announced today that it has received the very prestigious IAAF Road Race Gold Label 2010 for the Hervis Prague Half Marathon, one of the three main races in the PIM Running Circuit. The receipt of the IAAF Gold Label is the ultimate accolade for any road race, and only a very few races worldwide have such recognition.

PIM is already one of the few race organizers that already holds an IAAF Silver Label for each of its main races; the Hervis Prague Half Marathon, the Volkswagen Prague Marathon and the METRO Men's Race 10km (a part of the TESCO Prague Grand Prix), and this latest award means that at today's date PIM is the only race organizer in the world to hold such a group of awards. This latest IAAF Gold Label confirms PIMs place on the leader-board of the top race organizers in the world and is a sign that the City of Prague is well and truly one of the world's leading sporting cities.

Talking about the award, Carlo Capalbo, the President of PIM, said:

"It fills us with enormous pride to have received the coveted IAAF Gold Label for one of our races. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes of a race and we are honored that the IAAF has taken note, not only of the organization of the Hervis Half Marathon itself, but also of the safety procedures, planning and logistics that comes with it. When I look back at the last 15 years, I'm amazed to see how the PIM Running Circuit has grown and improved and our first Gold Label is a greatly appreciated testament to the fruits of all of our efforts."

The IAAF Gold Label is attributed to races that satisfy a number of important criteria concerning the organizational standard of the race, course measurement, safety and medical standards and media services. Most important for the awarding of a Gold Label is the number of elite athletes involved in the race and the level of international TV coverage, but there is also the need for a race to have a really great atmosphere, something that is not easily measured but that can certainly be said of the PIM Running Circuit events.

This year's Hervis Half Marathon will take place on the 27th of March, 2010 and entries are now open. For more information, go to www.praguemarathon.com
For further information on this news release please contact:

Prague International Marathon
Dagmar Langová
Zahoranskeho 3, 120 00 Prague 2
Tel: +420 603 269 209, +420 224 919 209, Fax: +420 224 923 355
langova@pim.cz