More than 13,000 runners from over 60 countries have registered for the fifth edition of OMV Petrom Bucharest Half Marathon. The event will take place on May 14-15, the start/finish point being the Constitution Square, in front of the Parliament's Palace.

“We had 3,000 runners back in 2012 when we started the Bucharest Half Marathon, and last year we’ve reached over 12,000 runners, adults and children. In just five editions, the Bucharest Half Marathon has reached the same size the Bucharest Marathon reached in nine editions,” said Oana Nastase, Director Bucharest Running Club, the event's organizer.

The stars of this year’s edition are Kenyan Cosmas Jairus Kipchoge Birech and Ethiopia’s Dire Tune Arissi. Moreover, other elite runners from Kenya, Morocco, and Ethiopia will also run the Bucharest Half Marathon.

The Romanian Athletics Federation will also organize the first Half Marathon National Championship, for seniors, youth, and juniors, men and women. Marius Ionescu, the athlete who will represent Romania at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, will team up with Alexandru Corneschi and Ionut Zaizan for the relay. The Bucharest Running Club relay team will be composed of Iulian Danciu, Daniel Attila, and Cosmin Trofin.

OMV Petrom, Vodafone, and Hilton will also have teams present at the half marathon.

Children aged 5-12 will start the McDonald’s Children’s Race on May 14, 10:30. The participation kits for this race can be picked up from the Sport Expo in Constitutiei Square starting 07:00.

The Teenagers’ Race and the 10km Individual Volkswagen are scheduled for May 15, 08:30, and will be followed by the Mega Image Popular Race at 08:33. The Half Marathon and Vodafone Relay races will start an hour later, at 09:30.

The half marathon will also bring traffic restrictions in the area this weekend. The competition’s map can be found here.

The event will be broadcasted live on the competition’s website - bucuresti21km.ro/live and on the event’s Facebook page - facebook.com/Bucharest21km/.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Bucharest Half Marathon on Facebook)