Organisation
The city of Birmingham was selected by the IAAF Council after a presentation by UK Athletics and the Birmingham City Council. It was the third time the championships were held in Great Britain, after the 1992 event on Tyneside and the 2001 edition in Bristol. A number of events were scheduled to coincide with the Championships: a three day convention for Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, as well as an IAAF press conference to discuss the future and progression of the sport.
In addition to the main World Championship races, the Birmingham Half Marathon started thirty minutes after the women's World Championship race. Organised by Birmingham City Council and sponsored by EDF Energy, it was the second edition of the mass race which attracted over 9000 runners in 2008. A total of 12,068 people signed up to run the Birmingham Half Marathon.
A total of 47 IAAF member federations sent athletes to the championships, the highest number since the 2002 edition.
Read more about this topic: 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships
Famous quotes containing the word organisation:
“It is because the body is a machine that education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial organisation upon the natural organisation of the body.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)