Have you ever dreamt of lining up alongside the elite in a major road running championship? If so, you could break that precognitive dream thanks to a new initiative by European Athletics that will see the masses joining the elite for a road running festival on 12-13 April 2025.

European Athletics is delighted to announce that the first edition of the European Running Championships will take place in Leuven and Brussels in Belgium next spring. The inaugural event will see road races taking centre stage at a bespoke European Championships, with three races over two days: 10K, half marathon, and marathon. Europe’s top distance runners will race alongside the masses, bringing the stars of the sport and their fans closer than ever before.

The European Championships 10K and Half Marathon will take place in Leuven. Meanwhile, the marathon course will run from Brussels to Leuven, with a spectacular start at the Royal Palace in the Belgian capital city (pictured above) and a heroic finish at Parkpoort in the historic heart of Leuven.

Previously, the European marathon champion was crowned at the European Athletics Championships. For the first time, the classic distance and its finest exponents will take the spotlight at a dedicated running festival, with medals awarded for individual and team honours at all three distances. Mass-race participants will also compete for medals in a brand-new ‘country ranking’ competition, with the best 25 athletes (elite and mass, male and female) scoring points for their nations.

“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 10K 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.”

European Athletics CEO Christian Milz said: "This will be a unique championships as every runner will be an athlete and every athlete can be a champion. It gives everyone in our sport the chance to experience that unique championships feeling. Welcome to the European Running Championships.”

For more information visit the European Running Championships website here and you can register for the event here.

Photo of Brussels city from Mont des Arts by Ank Kumar on Wikipedia