The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and The London Marathon Ltd are pleased to announce a four-year contract extension for the IPC Marathon World Cup.
The move will see the world's best marathon para-athletes continue to compete in the Virgin Money London Marathon until at least 2017, following a highly a highly successful debut this April in London, when more than 70 para-athletes covering a range of impairment groups - visually impaired, arm and leg amputees and wheelchair racers - took to the streets of the British capital in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators.
The four-year contract is the latest addition to an ever-growing programme of events for elite athletes on the world stage, which in 2013 alone includes the recent World Championships in Lyon, France, seven IPC Athletics Grand Prix events in Europe, Asia and the Americas and the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games at London's Olympic Stadium.
Ed Warner, Chairman of the IPC Athletics Sport Technical Committee, said: "Our strategic aim is to give the world's best athletes greater high level competition opportunities ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and this deal helps to provide this for marathon racers.
"We are delighted to agree this deal with the London Marathon, as this year's event was a great success and the feedback from the athletes who took part has been tremendous.
Hugh Brasher, Race Director of the Virgin Money London Marathon, said: "Following the spectacular performances of IPC athletes in the London Marathon this year, we are naturally very pleased to continue working with the IPC within our event to develop and raise the profile of the para-athletes in all categories, particularly over the next four years in the run-up to the 2017 World Championships in London.
"We feel that we can continue to work with IPC Athletics to improve standards, ultimately developing the sport of elite marathon running within these classes. We strongly believe this is a natural progression from the work we have already done within elite wheelchair marathon racing."
The 2013 IPC Marathon World Cup winners were as follows:
- Men's wheelchair race - Kurt Fearnley (AUS) 1:31.29
- Women's wheelchair race - Tatyana McFadden (USA) 1:46.02
- Men's T11-13 - El Amin Chentouf (MAR) 2:24:00
- Women T11-13 - Maria Carman Paredes (ESP) 3:17:10
- Men's T42 - Richard Whitehead (GBR) 3:15:53
- Men's T44-46 - Alessandro Di Lello (ITA) 2:32:06
The qualifying criteria for next year's IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup will be published shortly.
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