Charleville International Half-Marathon Awarded Prestiguous  5 Star European Athletics Race Quality and Safety Label

                Charleville International Half-Marathon - European Athletics Running4All 5 Star Label       

The Charleville International Half-Marathon, now in its 5th year has been awarded the prestiguous 5 Star Label, by European Athletics, under it's Running4All Road Race Quality and Safety Standards scheme.  The 5 Star Label, was granted after the organisers had applied online, with Athletics Ireland endorsing that the event meets the standards.

Entries for Charleville International Half-Marathon 2015 - 10:00, Sunday, September 20th
On-line Registration remains open for this year's event, closing on Saturday, the day before the race.  Late entries will be taken, in The Charleville Park Hotel, on Saturday, between 12:00 and 18:00pm.  No enties are being taken on Sunday.

European Athletics Race Safety and Quality Standard

The European Athletics Race Safety and Quality Standard is open to all accredited events in each European Athletics Member Federation.
Operating under the European Athletics Running4All mass participation banner, the scheme aims to recognise excellence in race organisation.  It is not intended as a reflection of the quality of the field participating in a particular event, however one would hope that organisers who strive for improved organisational and safety standards, in their particular events, would, in turn, be recognised and rewarded by the athletes voting with their feet.

Race Organisers can Register on the European Athletics Running4All website

Race organisers must register (Free) first, then there are Four simple steps to Event Registration:
  1. Explanation of Certification
  2. Event Registration
  3. Completion of Questionnaire
  4. Review
Athletics Ireland will receive automatic notification when an Irish event registers.
Applications for 3 Star and 5 Star status will receive strict vetting, while 1 Star applications will be scrutinised to ensure that the minimum criteria are, at least, met.

It is hoped that the standards system will be embraced by progressive race organisers, and participants, both as a recognition of the quality of their event safety and organisation, and also to differentiate from events that fall short of those criteria.

An Irish observer summed things up very well:
"This is the difference between a race and a run"

Standards

European Athletics Race Standards Classifications
There are three categories:
5 Star - Significant events of high quality
3 Star - Large events
1 Star - Primarily Races with small numbers of participants

There are 54 primary topics, under 7 Headings;, which must be satisfied for 5 Star rating, while 3 Star and 1 Star must satisfy 44 and 36 criteria respectively. 5 Star and 3 Star events must be fully accredited by the respective National Federation.  The vast majority of events accredited under the new system will be 1 Star races and will be self accredited, with oversight by their National Federation.  Events that fail to meet the basic criteria will not be given any rating.

The 7 Primary Headings are:

Category Number in Category 1 Star 3 Star 5 Star
Safety 14 Criteria 10 apply 11 apply All apply
Medical 5 Criteria All apply All apply All apply
Administration & Finance 5 Criteria 4 apply 5 apply All apply
Course 9 Criteria 7 apply All apply All apply
Timing 2 Criteria 2 apply All apply All apply
Measurement 3 Critria 1 applies 2 apply All apply
Results 2 Criteria 1 applies 1 applies All apply
Environmental & Social Responsibilities 6 Criteria 5 apply 5 apply All apply
Services 7 Criteria 1 applies 4 apply All apply

Website

European Athletics Race Standards - Website Questionnaire

European |Athletics - James Mulligan, Head of Communications
James Mulligan, Head of Communications, European Athletics, speaking at the workshop

The intention is that race safety and quality will be comparable right across Europe, i.e. a race in Ireland should be comparable to a similarly rated race in Estonia, the Czech Republic, Turkey, or elsewhere within the 50 Member Federations of European Athletics. Race organisers will apply directly via the website, but their application will be reviewed by the relevant European Athletics Member Federation, Athletics ireland, in our case.  The Member Federation has 30 days in which to approve or reject the application.  Failure to review within the 30 day time period will result in automatic approval.  Rejection, if made must be based on valid grounds.

If an event is rejected, it is expected that the Federation and the Race Organisers will engage in dialogue/discussions to resolved the issues and bring the event up to the required standards

IAAF Label Road Races

The IAAF already have a Race Labelling system in place, comprising of Gold, Silver and Bronze races, however these are based on the quality of the race field, and are far beyond the reach of the vast majority of "ordinary" races, while the European Athletics syatem is open to all races, from larger city Marathons to the smallest race.
IAAF Road Race Label Regulations 2015 (PDF file)

Benefits

Benefits for Runners

European Athletics Race Standards - Benefits for runners

Benefits for Race Organisers

European Athletics Race Standards - Benefits for Race Organisers

A valuable benefit to approved events will the the added credibility with institutions like Gardai, Insurance Companies, Local Authorities and Emergency Services.

Benefits for Member Federations

European Athletics Race Standards - Benefits for Member Federations

Benefits for European Athletics

European Athletics Race Standards - Benefits for European Athletics

Timeline for Implementation

European Athletics Race Standards - Implementation Timeline

Mass participation Race

The Mass Participation Race will be a 10k, to be held in Amsterdam, in June 2016. The race will immediately follow the European Half-marathon Championships and will be held over the same course, but only covering 10k.  This will give the runners the "buzz" of the championships and also introduce the Championship spectators to  mass participation event. 

European Athletic's Top Priorites

1   European Championships
2   Accreditation of Road Races

Athletics Ireland was represented at the workshop by John Holian, Dermot Nagle and John Quigley.

European Athletics President Wirz, Dec 2014
Health and Fitness Presentation (PDF file), by Jean Gracia, European Athletics Vice-President, European Athletics Leaders Forum, Baku, Oct2014
Presentation to European Athletics Health and Well-Being Conference (PDF file), Marseille, Jan 2014
European Athletics article, Sept 2013