ROTTERDAM HALF-MARATHON DISCONTINUED
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved (used by permission)

One of the world's fastest half-marathons will no longer be held.

The Half Marathon Rotterdam, originally scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 12, in the Netherlands will not be contested this year, organizers announced this morning. 

"The Half Marathon Rotterdam will be disappearing from the calendar," read a statement from spokesperson Merel Saura.  "These [sic] sporting event will no longer be organised as it don't receive the required level of support."

The flat, record-quality course combined with strong elite fields and pacemaking helped produce reliably fast times at the race.  In 2009, six of the top-10 half-marathon times in the world were run in Rotterdam, including the #2 time of 58:57.8 by Kenyan Sammy Kitwara which was also the course record.  Moreover, six of the top-20 times in history were recorded in Rotterdam.

The race had been sponsored by the Dutch banking company Fortis, which also sponsors the Fortis Marathon Rotterdam.  Founded in 2004, the Half Marathon Rotterdam was held six times.  Last year's race had 2312 finishers, although there were more runners in a companion 10-K and "Business Runs."