Poděbrady Walking
The Poděbrady Walking is an annual racewalking competition held in Poděbrady, Czech Republic., it is a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold level meeting – the highest-level circuit of international race walking competitions.
The meeting is organized by the Czech Athletics Federation, and it is typically held in April.
History
The first Poděbrady Walking was held in 1894, hosted by the Královské Vinohrady Pedestrian Club and borne out of pedestrianism two years before the first Modern Olympic Games. It was held over the 50 kilometres race walk distance, from Karlín to Poděbrady. After the first two editions, the race was organized by Pepa Černý starting in 1929. With the exception of four years during World War II, the race has been held on an annual basis since then.The race began to attract international participation in 1947. The first women's race was added in 1990, originally over the 10 kilometres race walk distance while the men still walked 50 km. In 1991, the course was changed to 50 times around a 1 km road lap in Spa Park to be compliant with new IAAF world record regulations and due to car traffic on the old course's roads. It would not be until 2001 that the women's race distance was increased to 20 km, and from 2003 to the present both men's and women's races were held over the 20 km distance. The course has played host to several international championships, beginning with the 1997 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, and more recently the 2017 European Race Walking Cup, 2021 European Race Walking Team Championships, and 2023 European Race Walking Team Championships.