Munich: The start times for the European championship marathon races on Monday will not be moved forward from mid-morning despite warm temperatures in Munich, reports suggest.
Some 50 athletes from several countries had in an open letter called on organisers to change the start time to earlier in the morning to have cooler temperatures and avoid any health risks for the participants.
But the original start times of 10.30am (0830 GMT) for the women and11.30am (0930 GMT) for the men have now been confirmed, the German athletics federation (DLV) website said on its website, citing European Athletics (EA).
Temperatures are not forecast to be as high as originally feared but still to reach 24 to 26 degrees Celsius during the race.
DLV doctor Karsten Hollander said that EA had pledged in March to decide in the athletes' favour in the case of warm weather and also spoke of a heat protocol of which details were however never communicated.
"There was only a statement that Munich weather data would be included in the deliberations on the start times," Hollander said. - dpa
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