IAAF World Road Relay Championships
The IAAF World Road Relay Championships was a biennial international athletics competition in long-distance relay running. First organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in 1992, the championship ran for four editions, with its last one occurring in 1998.[1][2]
The relay format was based on the ekiden races native to Japan, where six runners team up for legs of varying length to cover the classic 42.195 km marathon distance. The first, third and fifth legs were of 5 km each, the second and fourth legs were 10 km each, and the final leg covered the remaining 7.195 km.[3]
The first edition saw the Kenyan men's team break the world record for the ekiden relay with a run of 2:00:02 hours. The Moroccan team at the following edition improved this further with a world and championship record time of 1:57:56 hours. The Ethiopian women's team set the championship record of 2:16:04 hours in 1996 and retained their title the following year. Kenya and Ethiopia were the most successful nations at the event – Kenya took three men's titles, as well as a women's silver and a men's bronze, while Ethiopia had two women's titles, three silver medals and one bronze medal.[1]
The competition was preceded by the IAAF World Challenge Road Relay – a one-off race held in 1986 in Hiroshima.[4]
Editions[]
| Edition | Year | Location | Date | Men's teams | Women's teams | Athletes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | 1986 | Hiroshima, Japan | 30 November[5] | |||
| 1st | 1992 | Funchal, Portugal | 9–10 May | 138 | ||
| 2nd | 1994 | Litochoro, Greece | 16–17 April | 240 | ||
| 3rd | 1996 | Copenhagen, Denmark | 13–14 April | 25 | 12 | 210 |
| 4th | 1998 | Manaus, Brazil | 18–19 April | 25 | 12 | 222 |
Medallists[]
Men[]
| Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986[6] |  EthiopiaWodajo Bulti Debebe Demisse Bekele Debele Abebe Mekonnen |
1:59:11 |  Great BritainCarl Thackery Jon Solly David Clarke |
1:59:14 | Oceania Steve Moneghetti Andrew Lloyd |
2:00:12 |
| 1992 |  KenyaEliud Barngetuny William Koech Ezekiel Bitok William Sigei William Mutwol |
2:00:02 WR |  PortugalCarlos Patrício Dionísio Castro Domingos Castro |
2:01:34 | United Kingdom David Clarke John Mayock Colin Walker |
2:02:34 |
| 1994 |  MoroccoBrahim Jabbour El-Arbi Khattabi Hicham El Guerrouj Salah Hissou Brahim Boutayeb Khalid Skah |
1:57:56 WR CR | Ethiopia Worku Bikila Abraham Assefa Fita Bayisa Chala Kelele Haile Gebrselassie |
1:58:51 | Kenya Joseph Kibor Paul Yego |
2:00:51 |
| 1996 | Kenya Joseph Kimani |
2:00:40 |  BrazilWander Moura Vanderlei de Lima Edgar de Oliveira Ronaldo da Costa |
2:01:24 | Ethiopia Abraham Assefa Worku Bikila |
2:01:50 |
| 1998 | Kenya John Kibowen Paul Koech Benjamin Limo Thomas Nyariki John Kosgei Paul Kosgei |
2:01:13 | Ethiopia Million Wolde Ayele Mezgebu Tesfaye Tola Fita Bayisa |
2:03:47 | Brazil Elenilson da Silva Ronaldo da Costa |
2:04:50 |
Women[]
| Year | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 |  New ZealandLorraine Moller Mary O'Connor Susan Bruce Anne Audain Ann Hare |
2:18:18 |  Soviet UnionTatyana Kazankina Lyudmila Matveyeva Svetlana Guskova Olga Bondarenko Tatyana Samolenko |
2:18:33 |  United StatesMartha Cooksey Francie Smith |
2:19:11 |
| 1992 | Portugal Fernanda Marques Aurora Cunha Conceição Ferreira Fernanda Ribeiro |
2:20:14 |  DenmarkDorthe Rasmussen Nina Christiansen |
2:24:42 |  SpainAna Isabel Alonso Rocío Ríos |
2:25:06 |
| 1994 |  RussiaNadezhda Galliamova Elena Kavaklioglu Natalya Sorokivaskaya Yelena Romanova |
2:17:19 | Ethiopia Derartu Tulu Leila Aman Gadissie Edato Birhan Dagne Asha Gigi |
2:19:09 |  RomaniaDaniela Bran Alina Tecuţa Mariana Chirila Anuța Cătună Florina Pană Iulia Negură |
2:19:18 |
| 1996 | Ethiopia Genet Gebregiorgis Birhane Adere Ayelech Worku Gete Wami Getenesh Urge Luchia Yishak |
2:16:04 CR | Romania Mariana Chirila Iulia Negură Elena Fidatov |
2:18:41 |  JapanYukiko Okamoto Naomi Sakashita Eri Yamaguchi |
2:18:58 |
| 1998 | Ethiopia Yimenashu Taye Gete Wami Genet Gebregiorgis Asha Gigi Ayelech Worku Merima Denboba |
2:21:15 | Kenya Jackline Maranga Jane Omoro Leah Malot Susan Chepkemei Naomi Mugo Sally Barsosio |
2:21:49 | Romania Stela Olteanu Alina Tecuţa Mariana Chirila Cristina Pomacu Constantina Diţă |
2:24:13 |
Medal table[]
- NB: Excludes World Challenge Road Relay medals
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenya (KEN) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | Ethiopia (ETH) | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Portugal (POR) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Morocco (MAR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Russia (RUS) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 6 | Romania (ROM) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 7 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Denmark (DEN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Japan (JPN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Spain (ESP) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (11 nations) | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 | |
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b IAAF World Road Relay Championships. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2004-03-27). Retrieved on 2013-09-30.
- ^ Istanbul 2012 (pg. 195). IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-09-30.
- ^ 4th IAAF World Road Relay Championships - highlights of the event to be broadcast world-wide from the heart of Amazonia Archived 2012-08-19 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF (1998-04-08). Retrieved on 2013-09-30.
- ^ IAAF World Road Relay Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2013-09-30.
- ^ UNITED KINGDOM NATIONAL RECORDS AND BEST PERFORMANCES. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
- ^ L'Ethiopie à Hiroshima (in French). La Liberté (1986-12-03). Retrieved 2020-06-17.
- List of medallists
- IAAF World Road Relay Championships. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2004-03-27). Retrieved on 2013-09-30.
External links[]
- IAAF World Road Relay Championships
- Athletics world championships
- Defunct athletics competitions
- World Athletics competitions
- Long-distance relay races
- Recurring sporting events established in 1992
- Recurring events disestablished in 1998
- Biennial athletics competitions