Almost 30 thousand athletes took part in the Moscow half marathon

The participants of the 11th Moscow Half Marathon, despite the cold and not at all April weather, started running from the Moscow State University building at 9 a.m. As the Izvestia correspondent said on April 27, a record number of participants went to the most massive launch this year, and he himself is taking a completely new route.

Both experienced athletes and beginners gathered to run a distance of 21 km. This year, 28 thousand participants took part in the launch. Athletes came to run the marathon not only from all over Russia, but even those who wanted to from abroad.

"This year, for the first time, the participants of the half marathon will start and finish in different places. The start is on University Square, opposite the main building of Moscow State University, but the finish will be at the Large Luzhniki Sports Arena. The route itself has also changed and somewhat resembles an anchor," said correspondent Andrey Titov.

Last year, Rinas Akhmadeev set the Moscow Half Marathon record by running 21 km in 1:02:39. This year, the athletes have even more ambitious plans, especially since the prize pool has been increased to 3.5 million rubles. On the eve of the short 5-kilometer race, a new bar had already been set: Evgeny Volkov covered the distance in 14.5 minutes.

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On April 19, China hosted the first half marathon, in which humanoid robots took part together with humans. Two dozen robot teams from research companies and institutes covered the 21 km distance. One organization even boasted a model that was particularly close to a human, which has not only feminine features, but also the functions of a smile and a wink.