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Plans for a full marathon that will take place in Wales next April have been unveiled as thousands of runners cross the finish line in the Cardiff Half Marathon today.

Matt Newman, chief executive of organisers Run 4 Wales, said full details of the event will be announced in the next two weeks.

But he did say that it would happen in April ahead of the London Marathon and it is thought that the venue will include Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.

The chief executive said the decision to hold a full marathon came because of a demand from runners for longer distances.

(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

He said: "Our aspiration is to keep growing the Cardiff Half Marathon to make the elite side of it as strong as possible. We really want to strengthen that and to get more and more club runners involved.

"We also want to keep it growing from a community perspective.

"I am more than happy to talk about our future plans as it is important we don't just rest on our laurels and what I think we have recognised more and more is that there is a demand for longer distances.

"Which is why we are looking to launch details of a full marathon in Wales in the next two weeks. It will take place in April as a precursor to the London Marathon.

"It recognises that Wales at the moment uses the London Marathon as its Welsh championship, which is crazy. There is huge demand. There are 250,000 people apply for the London Marathon every year and 35,000 get places so the demand is there.

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"There are people all the time asking me and our staff members why we are not putting on a marathon so we are going to do that. We have got plans in place. They are almost finalised so we are delighted to announce today that we will be putting on a full marathon in the next six months.

“We are currently in discussions with local authorities and stakeholders and will release more details when plans have been finalised."

On Sunday, around 20,000 runners took to the streets of the capital for annual event that grows every year.