The EuroHeroes challenge drew to a conclusion in September with the Mattoni Ústí and Labem Half Marathon (22) and has seen victories for Germany’s Sebastien Hendel in the men’s category and Ukrainian Maryna Nemchenko taking the women’s title.
A total of 45 elite runners from 16 countries participated in this year's challenge across four Half Marathons of the RunCzech series. Hendel defended his crown he won last year and Nemchenko defeated last year's champion Tereza Hrochová in a nail-biting finish.
Promoting talent
The EuroHeroes challenge is a RunCzech project to help and promote the biggest endurance running talents in Europe. Runners have to participate in at least two of the four races to be eligible to fight for the championship.
The two best times count to the final standings according to the Hungarian scoring system used by World Athletics. Hendel dominated the race in České Budějovice on 1 June and was second in Olomouc on 15 June.
That was enough for him to win even though he did not compete in the last race in Ústí nad Labem (22 September) due to his preparation for the marathon in Berlin.
Second place went to Daniele D’Onofrio from Italy who won in Olomouc and was third in České Budějovice. The men’s EuroHeroes overall podium was completed by Mykola Mevsha from Ukraine, partner of Nemchenko, who capitalised on his consistency, and it is safe to say that 2024 was a season of his life.
Mevsha improved his personal best twice in the EuroHeroes races this year. His partner Nemchenko made the biggest step in České Budějovice where she won with a huge margin. Nemchenko then added third place in Olomouc and second place in the season final in Ústí nad Labem.
Spectacular finale
The season finished in a spectacular way with a thrilling fight between Nemchenko and last year’s winner Tereza Hrochová. The Czech needed to win in Ústí nad Labem by at least 42 seconds. Hrochová dropped her opponent approximately 1k before the finish line but was not able to gain enough time.
After victories in Karlovy Vary on 18 May and Ústí nad Labem together with second place in Olomouc, Hrochová had to settle for silver.
The final step on the overall podium was taken by Nóra Szabó, the runner-up from Karlovy Vary and winner in Olomouc. EuroHeroes challenge was originally created in 2019, but was delayed by covid so the project is getting back on track since last year.
The main purpose of EuroHeroes is to find, develop and promote the most talented runners from Europe.