Barkat makes announcement at pre-race pasta evening for participants of Thursday's 18th annual half-marathon.
By JEREMY LASTbarakat marathon shirt 311(photo credit: Jerusalem Municipality)
The first ever Jerusalem marathon will be held on March 25, 2011, the city's Mayor Nir Barkat revealed on Wednesday.Barkat made the announcement at the pre-race pasta evening for participants of Thursday's 18th annual Jerusalem half-marathon.Some 3,500 runners from around the globe are expected to turn out for the half-marathon, which will begin at Givat Ram Stadium at 9am and weave through different sections of the capital."This is going to be the largest half-marathon Jerusalem has ever held and is consistent with the scalability of culture and sports in the city," Barkat told The Jerusalem Post. "More and more people are recognizing something good is happening in the city."The 21 kilometer (13 mile) course will take runners through Givat Ram and into the National Quarter, where participants will run past the Knesset and Supreme Court buildings before heading towards Sderot Herzl. From there, runners make their way through the Kiryat Hayovel neighborhood, before circling back to Givat Ram.Mayor Barkat, himself an accomplished marathon runner, will take part in the event's quarter-marathon, which is a 10 kilometer (6.2 mile) course that will set out from the Givat Ram Stadium at 10am.Barkat was particularly excited with the plans for next year's fullmarathon. "It is going to be a very special holy beautiful marathonnext year," he said. "I'm very excited. It will be an outstandingchallenge."Traffic changes will be in effect during the run,which is scheduled to end at noon, and a full list of updated roadclosings along with all applicable half-marathon information can befound on the municipality's website: www.hmarathon.jerusalem.muni.il Abe Selig contributed to this report
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