IAAF World Road Relay Championships

The IAAF World Road Relay Championships was a biennial international athletics competition in long-distance relay running. First organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in 1992, the championship ran for four editions, with its last one occurring in 1998.^[1][2]

The relay format was based on the ekiden races native to Japan, where six runners team up for legs of varying length to cover the classic 42.195 km marathon distance. The first, third and fifth legs were of 5 km each, the second and fourth legs were 10 km each, and the final leg covered the remaining 7.195 km.^[3]

The first edition saw the Kenyan men's team break the world record for the ekiden relay with a run of 2:00:02 hours. The Moroccan team at the following edition improved this further with a world and championship record time of 1:57:56 hours. The Ethiopian women's team set the championship record of 2:16:04 hours in 1996 and retained their title the following year. Kenya and Ethiopia were the most successful nations at the event – Kenya took three men's titles, as well as a women's silver and a men's bronze, while Ethiopia had two women's titles, three silver medals and one bronze medal.^[1]

The competition was preceded by the IAAF World Challenge Road Relay – a one-off race held in 1986 in Hiroshima.^[4]

Editions

  Edition in gold was held as the IAAF World Challenge Road Relay

Edition	Year	Location	Date	Men's teams	Women's teams	Athletes
–	1986	Hiroshima, Japan	30 November[5]
1st	1992	Funchal, Portugal	9–10 May			138
2nd	1994	Litochoro, Greece	16–17 April			240
3rd	1996	Copenhagen, Denmark	13–14 April	25	12	210
4th	1998	Manaus, Brazil	18–19 April	25	12	222

Medallists

Men

Year	Gold		Silver		Bronze
1986[6]	Ethiopia Wodajo Bulti Debebe Demisse Bekele Debele Feyisa Melese Abebe Mekonnen	1:59:11	Great Britain Carl Thackery Jon Solly Mark Scrutton David Clarke Karl Harrison	1:59:14	Oceania Steve Moneghetti David Burridge Andrew Lloyd Chris Tobin Adam Hoyle	2:00:12
1992	Kenya Eliud Barngetuny William Koech Ezekiel Bitok William Sigei Richard Tum William Mutwol	2:00:02 WR	Portugal Carlos Patrício Dionísio Castro Alberto Maravilha Juvenal Ribeiro Juan Carlos Montero Domingos Castro	2:01:34	United Kingdom Carl Udall David Clarke John Mayock Colin Walker John Sherban David Lewis	2:02:34
1994	Morocco Brahim Jabbour El-Arbi Khattabi Hicham El Guerrouj Salah Hissou Brahim Boutayeb Khalid Skah	1:57:56 WR CR	Ethiopia Worku Bikila Badilu Kibret Abraham Assefa Fita Bayisa Chala Kelele Haile Gebrselassie	1:58:51	Kenya Peter Ndirangu Joseph Kibor Clement Kiprotich Paul Yego John Kiprono Simon Rono	2:00:51
1996	Kenya Simon Rono Joseph Kimani Mark Yatich Stephen Kirwa David Kipruto William Kiptum	2:00:40	Brazil Wander Moura Vanderlei de Lima Edgar de Oliveira Delmir dos Santos Tomix da Costa Ronaldo da Costa	2:01:24	Ethiopia Lemi Erpassa Kidane Gebremichael Sisay Bezebah Abraham Assefa Tegenu Abebe Worku Bikila	2:01:50
1998	Kenya John Kibowen Paul Koech Benjamin Limo Thomas Nyariki John Kosgei Paul Kosgei	2:01:13	Ethiopia Million Wolde Ayele Mezgebu Berhanu Aldane Tesfaye Tola Fita Bayisa Alene Emire	2:03:47	Brazil Elenilson da Silva Tomix da Costa Ronaldo da Costa Daniel Ferreira Leonardo Guedes Sergio da Silva	2:04:50

Women

Year	Gold		Silver		Bronze
1986	New Zealand Lorraine Moller Hazel Stewart Mary O'Connor Susan Bruce Anne Audain Ann Hare	2:18:18	Soviet Union Tatyana Kazankina Marina Rodchenkova Lyudmila Matveyeva Svetlana Guskova Olga Bondarenko Tatyana Samolenko	2:18:33	United States Martha Cooksey Francie Smith Lisa Brady Charly Haversat Diane Brewer Judy McCreery	2:19:11
1992	Portugal Fernanda Marques Aurora Cunha Felicidade Sena Conceição Ferreira Fátima Neves Fernanda Ribeiro	2:20:14	Denmark Berit Worm Dorthe Rasmussen Anita Palshøj Aino Slej Nina Christiansen Bettina Andersen	2:24:42	Spain Begoña Herraez Carmen Brunet Cristina Nogue Ana Isabel Alonso Rocío Ríos Rosa Perez	2:25:06
1994	Russia Tatyana Pentukova Nadezhda Galliamova Elena Kavaklioglu Natalya Sorokivaskaya Yelena Romanova Olga Churbanova	2:17:19	Ethiopia Askale Bereda Derartu Tulu Leila Aman Gadissie Edato Birhan Dagne Asha Gigi	2:19:09	Romania Daniela Bran Alina Tecuţa Mariana Chirila Anuța Cătună Florina Pană Iulia Negură	2:19:18
1996	Ethiopia Genet Gebregiorgis Birhane Adere Ayelech Worku Gete Wami Getenesh Urge Luchia Yishak	2:16:04 CR	Romania Iulia Ionescu Mariana Chirila Lelia Deselnecu Iulia Negură Luminita Gogârlea Elena Fidatov	2:18:41	Japan Yukiko Okamoto Naomi Sakashita Ai Fukuchi Ikuyo Goto Noriko Ura Eri Yamaguchi	2:18:58
1998	Ethiopia Yimenashu Taye Gete Wami Genet Gebregiorgis Asha Gigi Ayelech Worku Merima Denboba	2:21:15	Kenya Jackline Maranga Jane Omoro Leah Malot Susan Chepkemei Naomi Mugo Sally Barsosio	2:21:49	Romania Stela Olteanu Alina Tecuţa Mariana Chirila Cristina Pomacu Constantina Diţă Luminita Gogârlea	2:24:13

Medal table

• NB: Excludes World Challenge Road Relay medals

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Kenya (KEN)	3	1	1	5
2	Ethiopia (ETH)	2	3	1	6
3	Portugal (POR)	1	1	0	2
4	Morocco (MAR)	1	0	0	1
	Russia (RUS)	1	0	0	1
6	Romania (ROM)	0	1	2	3
7	Brazil (BRA)	0	1	1	2
8	Denmark (DEN)	0	1	0	1
9	Great Britain (GBR)	0	0	1	1
	Japan (JPN)	0	0	1	1
	Spain (ESP)	0	0	1	1
Totals (11 entries)		8	8	8	24