World Road Running Championships in Latvian capital will now be staged on Sunday October 1 only

The inaugural World Road Running Championships in Riga will no longer be a two-day meeting with World Athletics president Seb Coe saying: “The event will work better as a single-day event.”

It was originally scheduled to straddle September and October with races on September 30 and October 1, but with three months to go organisers have decided to put everything on to one day.

Coe said: “As preparations for the World Road Running Championships have evolved it has become apparent that the event will work better as a single-day event in Riga, both for local organisers and for broadcast. It will also give recreational runners the opportunity to be fully immersed in the day, running before and after our elite runners, and will create the festival atmosphere that we want to see to celebrate road running at every level.”

The new timetable begins on the morning of October 1 with the mass races over 5km at 10am and the road mile to be followed by the elite races over the same distances. Then attention will turn to the half marathon distance with the elite races to be followed by the mass race.

This unique global running festival will not only crown the world road mile, 5km and half marathon champions, but is also expected to feature thousands of amateur runners, kids and families from up to 100 countries participating alongside elite runners.

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Aigars Nords, head of the local organising committee, said: “We have already attracted recreational runners from more than 50 countries all over the world. Saturday September 30, will see thousands of kids and families warm up the Championships during Kids’ Day, while Sunday October 1 will provide a unique opportunity for everyone to earn their mass race medals not only in the road mile, 5km, and half marathon, but also in the half marathon relay, a new mass race, aimed at recreational runners not yet ready for the challenges of a half  marathon.”

Any recreational runner who is ready for a challenge can register for any of the official mass races of the World Championships in Riga and earn a unique medal from the World Athletics Road Running Championships.