FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Vienna City Marathon (24th April):
Prater Hauptallee becomes World Athletics Heritage site
- Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig accepts "World Athletics Heritage Plaque".
- Prater Hauptallee is a World Athletics Heritage Site.
- World Heritage Award at the initiative of the Vienna City Marathon
- Great anniversary 200 years of running in the Prater
It is a great celebration for the sport of running in Vienna and Austria:
The Prater Hauptallee has been acknowledged by World Athletics Heritage as
a global "landmark". Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig received the "World
Athletics Heritage Plaque" at a ceremony in Vienna's City Hall.
Austria's most popular place for running was recognized as "Home to runners
and running events since 1822". This is because the first organised race on
the Prater Hauptallee, the "Vienna Runners' Festival", took place on 1 May
200 years ago. Millions of kilometres and billions of steps have been run
on the 4.3-kilometre straight between Praterstern and Lusthaus since then.
By joggers, in organised training sessions, during the Vienna City
Marathon, the Austrian Women's Run and many other smaller and larger events
right up to the INEOS 1:59 Challenge with Eliud Kipchoge.
The World Athletics Heritage Plaque is something rare. Previous recipients
include sporting greats such as Jesse Owens, Emil Zatopek and Grete Waitz,
as well as outstanding venues and events such as the Letzigrund Meeting in
Zurich and the ISTAF in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. A panel of experts
from World Athletics awards the plaque for an "outstanding contribution to
the global history and development of world athletics". The idea and
impetus for the "World Heritage Hauptallee" to be recognized had come from
the Vienna City Marathon.
"The City of Vienna is proud to be the recipient of the World Athletics
Heritage Plaque for the Prater Hauptallee. This international award makes
us aware of what a globally outstanding place the Prater Hauptallee is for
running and running events. Sports history up to the present are linked
here in a large, urban green space. I thank the Vienna City Marathon for
its initiative and hope that the World Athletics Heritage designation for
the Hauptallee will motivate even more people than before to enjoy running
and being active here", said Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig, who received the
plaque from World Athletics Heritage member, historian and athletics expert
Olaf Brockmann.
"World Athletics is delighted to celebrate 200 years of Vienna’s Prater
Hauptallee with the award of the World Athletics Heritage Plaque in the
category of landmarks. We are proud to recognize the Prater Hauptallee’s
outstanding contribution to the history and development of running," said
Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics, in a video message.
Mayor Ludwig passed the plaque on to Wolfgang Konrad, the Race Director of
the Vienna City Marathon. The World Athletics Heritage Plaque will be
presented on 19 April in the Prater Hauptallee and then permanently
displayed there.
"The World Athletics Heritage Plaque is a great recognition and enhancement
for Austrian running. It is a motivation and a gift for the whole running
community, for all those who run and organise competitions in the
Hauptallee," says Wolfgang Konrad. Five days before the Vienna City
Marathon the plaque will get its permanent place directly in the avenue.
The plaque will also be a new highlight on the course for the runners of
Austria's biggest sports event. Wolfgang Konrad said: "There are more than
30,000 registrations for the upcoming Vienna City Marathon, including many
guests from all over Austria and a total of 125 countries. For the second
time, the VCM is the biggest tourist event in Vienna since the beginning of
the pandemic. The World Athletics Heritage designation also strengthens our
position internationally because Vienna's profile as a running city is
rising overall."
Ernst Woller, First President of the Vienna Parliament, emphasises the
extraordinary position of Vienna as a multiple World Heritage City: "We are
very pleased that Vienna has been included in the World Athletics Heritage
in addition to the UNESCO World Heritage. It is my aim to spread and raise
awareness of this outstanding history. We are accompanying the World
Heritage plaque and the 200th anniversary with an open-air exhibition in
the Prater Hauptallee and a high-quality print magazine."
From 19 April, a World Heritage exhibition will present the running history
of the Prater Hauptallee and Vienna as a running city. Nine display cases
will be put up along the Prater Hauptallee. Additionally Echo Medienhaus
Managing Director Christian Pöttler presented a brand new magazine with
over 100 pages. Exciting stories and pictures tell the stories and
highlights from 200 years of running in Vienna.
www.vienna-marathon.com/heritage
About the World Athletics Heritage Plaque
The World Athletics Heritage Plaque is 23 centimetres in diameter and was
handmade in the Bertoni workshop in Milan, also the manufacturer of the
FIFA World Cup. World Athletics Heritage has so far only awarded 79 of
these plaques according to strict criteria. As the "Home to runners and
running events since 1822", the Hauptallee met the conditions of making an
"outstanding contribution to the history and development of world
athletics". Vienna received the plaque in the category "Landmarks" - for a
very special venue in the history of athletics.
Significant athletes, coaches, sports venues, careers and cultural
achievements can be honoured. Austrian bearers of the plaque next to the P
rater Hauptallee are the Götzis combined events meeting, where among other
achievements the first decathlon over 9,000 points was celebrated, and
coaching legend Franz Stampfl, who guided Roger Bannister to the first mile
under four minutes.
Time Travel Hauptallee 1822-2022
1822-1847: Runners' Festival on 1 May
1919-1966: Relay race "Quer durch Wien" (Right across Vienna) with up to
1,500 participants and the final part on Hauptallee and the finish at
WAC-Platz. Held intermittently until 1966. Other historical competitions:
"Praterpreis" 1921-1925, "Rund um das Heustadlwasser" 1933-1943, 25 km run
Spenadlwiese, Marathon Championships.
From 1971: National Fit Run and Fit Walk on 26 October
From 1977: Numerous Prater runs organised by three-time Olympic marathon
participant "Dolfi" Gruber
1978: 10,000 m world record by Henry Rono in 27:22.47 minutes at today's
"Leichtathletik Zentrum" within sight of the Hauptallee
1984: First Vienna Spring Marathon, today Vienna City Marathon. Around a
quarter of the marathon route leads through the Prater.
1992: The Austrian Women's Run, founded in 1988, takes place in the Prater
for the first time.
2001: Start for the Wien Energie Business Run, the big running event for
corporate teams.
2019: Eliud Kipchoge runs marathon under two hours.
2020: Despite the pandemic, numerous small running events are staged in the
Prater Hauptallee.
2021: Comeback of major events: Vienna City Marathon, Austrian Women's Run
and Wien Energie Business Run.
2022: World Athletics Heritage Plaque for the Prater Hauptallee
Spotlight Prater Hauptallee
The Straight
4.3 kilometres from Praterstern to Lusthaus
3-metre elevation: watch out, don't trip!
Created in 1537/38 by tree cutting in the floodplain forest as access to
the imperial hunting grounds.
Formerly also called the "Long Corridor" (Langer Gang)
Josef II opened the entrance to all social classes in 1766. Coffee houses
and amusements established.
Traffic-free since 1964
Sun and wind sheltered by the avenue trees and the surrounding forest
Illuminated at night
Accessible around the clock every day
Prater Nature Oasis
Former floodplain of the Danube
First documented as "Pratum" in 1162
513 hectares of protected landscape
One of the largest urban parks in the world
2,500 chestnut trees in the Hauptallee in four to six rows
15 large meadows
7 standing waters - remnants of former arms of the Danube
Habitat for ducks, beavers, kingfishers, dragonflies, wild bees, raccoons,
etc.
Events
Prater Battle 1848 between National Guard and workers
World Expo 1873 in the Prater
Workers' Olympics 1931
Forced walk of Jews across the Hauptallee and into internment in the
stadium 1939
Destruction by bombings of Wurstelprater 1945
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