The Rwanda Athletics Federation has applied to upgrade the Kigali International Peace Marathon's status from elite to gold. The 21st edition of the event was held over the weekend of Saturday, June 13-14.
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The peace marathon currently functions as an Elite Label competition. This year, the event strengthened its organisation, broadcasting and professionalism to highlight its candidacy for reclassification. The change would further elevate Rwanda’s global profile.
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World Athletics Label Road Races are the world’s leading road running competitions. The events are divided into four competition subgroups: label, elite, gold and platinum. These races denote high organisational expectations, superior runner experience and a strong financial commitment to anti-doping.
World Athletics (WA) highlights the defining features of the Elite, Gold and Platinum Labels through participation requirements, prize money and global reach. Two consecutive years of the given event are required for upgrade applications.
The participation of Elite Label athletes, qualified by the Scoring Table of Athletics published by WA, is mandatory for Elite, Gold and Platinum Label events. The standings of elite athletes improve with each road race tier.
The Scoring Table of Athletics requires the minimum marathon times for Elite Label women and men to be 2:30:17 and 2:10:52, respectively. Gold Status and Platinum Status athletes are determined by their performance in competitions over the year. Three assessment phases determine runners’ final titles.
Events applying for an Elite Label require at least five Elite Label athletes per sex. Gold Label events require at least four athletes per sex with Gold Status, and Platinum Label races need at least three Platinum Status and four Gold Status athletes per sex. These numbers must be reported in the edition of the race in the year of its application for reclassification.
For a marathon to be an Elite Label event, the minimum prize money for the first-place winners is $15,000. Gold Label marathons require a minimum first-place prize of $50,000. Platinum Label marathons have no prize minimum.
The basic tier World Athletics Label races have no elite athlete participation or prize money requirements.
Another differentiation between the categories is the Label Fee. This money is dedicated to the anti-doping programme set forth by WA and includes tests, case management, education and investigations.
Platinum Label marathon fees are $50,000. Gold, Elite and Label marathon fees are $25,000, $9,000 and $5,000, respectively.
Other qualifications for Gold and Platinum Label marathons include the medical director's participation in at least one race emergency medicine course every three years and a fully functional English website.
There is a maximum of 27 Gold Label and 13 Platinum Label marathons worldwide.
The Kigali International Peace Marathon could join a selective group of internationally known Gold Label marathons, including the Valencia Marathon, Bank of China Beijing Marathon and Copenhagen Marathon.
This change would heighten the status of the peace marathon and increase tourism in Rwanda.