2016 World Half Marathon: Cardiff course confirmed by IAAF

Wales' biggest road race course has been revealed after the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) approved Cardiff's 2016 World Half Marathon Championships route.

Around 200 of the world's best athletes and up to 25,000 amateur runners will race 13.1 miles on Saturday, 26 March.

The route will start outside Cardiff Castle and finish on King Edward VII Avenue in the city centre.

"It's a great course," said ex-10,000m world record holder Dave Bedford.

"It's a flat course and it shows off Cardiff at its best. It shows old Cardiff and now the wonderful new Cardiff."

The route passes the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff City Stadium, Penarth Marina, the Cardiff Bay Barrage, the Wales Millennium Centre and Roath Park Lake before a grandstand finish in the heart of the capital.

The 2016 championships will be the first time the race has been held in Wales.

The 2016 World Half Marathon route will finish in the civic centre, unlike the 2014 Cardiff Half Marathon course which ended outside the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Cardiff has hosted an annual half marathon since 2003 and it is hoped the World Half Marathon will provide another boost for the city's racing reputation, particularly with double Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah being a potential competitor.

"Cardiff has the benefit of a course which has been used for their annual half marathon for a number of years, so they've built up a lot of skills and a lot of local knowledge," said former London Marathon race director Bedford, now IAAF technical delegate.

"The success of the Cardiff Half Marathon is a major factor in why Cardiff has been selected to host the World Half Marathon Championships.

"Not only the large numbers of people that take part but also the expertise that have been picked up by local organisers in dealing with those numbers.

"Cardiff has got the opportunity to be synonymous with mass participation events and the more events you have here the more comfortable local people will be around the road closures and things like that.

"Instead of seeing it as a negative, they'll say 'Let's go and support it'."