Birmingham Half Marathon,passes 5,000 entries

The third annual EDF Birmingham Half Marathon on is on course to beat last year’s figure of 12,000 runners with entries already past the 5,000 mark.

And six amateur runners who completed the 13.1-mile course last year have joined forces urging more people than ever to sign-up for the October 24 event.

With over 90 days to go before the 2010 event, runners are signing up at a rate of over 100-a-day and organisers rare confident last year’s total will be surpassed. Cllr Martin Mullaney, Birmingham City Council’s Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture, said: “The EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon has quickly become a fixture on the running calendar and there’s a real buzz about this year’s event.

“Hopefully, like our ambassadors (see below), people who took part in the first two years are now encouraging friends and relatives to join them in this year’s event.

“We had 8,000 runners in 2008, 12,000 last year and this time around the entries are coming in thick and fast. We’re ahead of where we were at this stage last year, so hopefully we’ll set a new record this time around.

“I’d like to encourage people from across the city and region to come and be part of this event either as runners and volunteers or just by lining the route and cheering on the thousands of entrants as they take on this challenge.” Last year, Sam and Keith Portman, Manjit Uppal, Geoff Coleman, Jenny Turner and Sally Tanski were among 12,000 entrants for the race and they have agreed to share their stories in a bid to encourage more runners than ever to enter the EDF Birmingham Half Marathon. Click on the following link: http://birminghamnewsroom.com/?page_id=11680

The event will once again be sponsored by EDF Energy, one of the UK’s largest energy companies, and will be known as the Race Against Climate Change. Anyone interested in running in the 2010 event can sign-up via the official website www.birminghamhalfmarathon.com.

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Thank you for those have now signed up to raise funds for local communities by taking part in the2010 EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathonwhich takes place on Sunday 24th October 2010.

Funds raised will be distributed by Birmingham Community Foundation to support local grassroots projects in Birmingham and the Black Country.

If you know someone who has already signed up to the half marathon (via the official website: http://birminghamhalfmarathon.com) but hasn't yet decided to run for a local cause then there is still time! 

Simply notify suzanne@bhamfoundation.co.uk or tenika@bhamfoundation.co.uk that you would like to run as part of the Birmingham Community Foundation team to raise much needed funds for local grassroots projects and we will supply you with hard copy sponsorship forms and the link to the JustGiving online fundraising website.