Prague - The two bomb attacks at the Boston marathon in the USA that killed three people and injured 144 persons on Monday 15 April will influence the security at Prague's running event planned on May 12.
After talking to the Prague City Council and city police, the RunCzech running league's emergency committee decided to increase the security measures at the May marathon.
The 2013 Prague International Marathon is already sold-out. There will be approximately 9,000 runners.
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"At this moment we are working at adjusting the model of security management at our events," said RunCzech director Vaclav Skrivanek, adding that his organization will draw inspiration from the upcoming London marathon and other running events.
Skrivanek said that the security personnel at the event will focus above all on checking bags and trash bins.
"Our competitions already have the highest security possible," said Prague International Marathon spokeswoman Veronika Honsova. She said that the annual event is patrolled by 600 security and medical personnel as well as more than 1,100 volunteers. "If there is any trouble, we are immediately prepared to react," said Honsova, adding that special attention is always paid to places with a high concentration of people, such as the start and finish lines.
But it will not be possible to control everything. "The course is 42 kilometers long, so we cannot check every trash bin," said Honsova.
Czech police said that there is currently no increased threat to the Prague marathon. "I spite of this, we have adopted certain measures in order to increase the protection of the facilities of the US embassy in Prague," said Police Presidium spokeswoman Stepanka Zatloukalova. If the security risk increases, more measures will be adopted, she said.
Former military intelligence service chief Andor Sandor is convinced that there is no threat to the Prague marathon. "The bomb attacks carried out at the Boston marathon have no relation to other competitions. It is certainly not an act of the enemies of mass running events," said Sandor.
