- Already 7000 participants through pre-registrations
- Registrations are open to everyone now
- The start of the marathon will be at the Royal Palace in Brussels, all distances will finish at Parkpoort in Leuven, location of the finish of the Road World Championships Cycling in 2021
The first European Running Championships will take place in Brussels and Leuven on 12 and 13 April 2025. The biggest ever running festival in our country will see professional and recreational athletes appear together at the start of the European Championships Marathon, Half Marathon and 10 km. More than 7,000 runners have already registered through pre-registrations. From now on, registrations are open to everyone.
Join Belgian and other top European runners at the start of the European Championships, now is your chance! Moreover, the Championships will be given a new look: recreational runners will appear side by side with professional athletes at the start and compete together for European medals in their national classification.
The chance to start in the wake of Europe’s top athletes clearly appeals to lots of sports enthusiasts. During pre-registrations over the past two weeks, more than 7,000 runners have already registered, including almost 5,000 for the marathon. This makes the European Championships already the biggest marathon ever held on Belgian soil.
“The European Championships will get masses of Flemish people moving. This is exactly the reason why we have been bringing a growing number of top sporting events to Flanders in recent years. Watching sport, makes you do sport. Running has always been an easily accessible sport and has become even more attractive now. You will be able to cross the province of Flemish Brabant together with top runners. I am extremely delighted that the biggest marathon in our country’s history will soon take place in my very own province”, said Ben Weyts, Flemish Minister for Sport.
“I will take part too and I invite all inhabitants of Leuven to appear at the start with me,” says Mohamed Ridouani, Mayor of the city of Leuven. “These European Running Championships in our city will allow us to present our city as a European city of sport again. It will undoubtedly be a high day of sport and as far as I’m concerned, the beginning of a marathon tradition in Leuven.”
“We are almost exactly a year away from the European Championships, but it is already starting to live in the minds and legs of the people of Leuven. A marathon finishing in your own city is a unique concept for which many seasoned endurance runners, but also beginners harbour sporting ambitions. Not just for the marathon itself, but also for the half marathon and 10 kilometres, which will be run almost entirely on Leuven territory”, adds Leuven’s Councillor for Sport Johan Geleyns. “And that is precisely the aim of the city of Leuven and Golazo: a sizeable sporting firecracker, that as many people as possible want to be a part of. So, the European Running Championships bear a Leuven hallmark: it is not only a top sport but also bring everyone together and creates a great ambiance.”
The European Running Championships symbolises my vision of a sport that really is for everyone,” said European Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov. “Young and old, male and female, fast and slow, big and small, elite and amateur will all compete together and simultaneously in mass marathon, half marathon and 10km races, with global and national ranking places on offer.”
Karamarinov added: “For too long, athletics has been seen as a rarefied activity, the preserve of only the super-fit and the super-gifted. All children, and a growing number of adults across our continent, take part in athletics, in the form of recreational running, every day. Yet many of them do not think of themselves as athletes. I am determined to bridge this gap.”
Registrations open to all today, 11 April. If you want to be sure of an entry ticket for your favourite distance do not wait too long to enter as there is a lot of interest.
Start at the Royal Palace
In addition to the unique concept, the European Championships will also feature an attractive course. The marathon will be a one-off point-to-point race starting at the Royal Palace in Brussels. After passages through the rue de la Loi and the European quarter, a beautiful course will lead the runners in a straight line to Leuven. After a 10 km city loop, participants will finish at Parkpoort, the same location as the finish of the Road World Championships in 2021.
The European Championships half marathon and the European Championships 10 km will start in Leuven and will be completed almost entirely on Leuven soil.
