EDF ENERGY birmingham
half marathon
Birmingham - A Global City with a Local Heart
The regional capital of the West Midlands, Birmingham is the UK’s second largest city with a population of one million. It is a cosmopolitan business and leisure tourism destination with everything you would expect from a major international city.
A Stunning Transformation
Birmingham was at the heart of the industrial revolution and this entrepreneurial spirit has lived on to see the city reinvent itself in recent years as a dynamic multicultural city for business, tourism, conferences, professional services and of course sport. This renaissance has been matched by a physical transformation of Birmingham city centre which is now home to civic squares and fountains, award winning canal side developments and designer retail outlets.
City of Culture
Birmingham has one of the most dynamic and wide-ranging cultural scenes in the country. Listen to jazz by the canals, rock and pop in the parks, or classical music in one of the world’s finest concert halls. The Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is also home to Renaissance masterpieces and boasts the world’s largest collection of pre-raphaelite paintings and drawings. The city also has four theatres with a diverse range of plays and productions and is home to the widely acclaimed Birmingham Royal Ballet.
City of Fun
The city’s visitor attractions are plentiful and varied and include the Sea Life Centre in Brindleyplace, Cadbury World in Bournville, the historic Jewellery Quarter, which is the centre of the jewellery trade in Britain, producing over one third of all the jewellery made in the UK, and Millennium Point which is home to Thinktank, Birmingham’s museum of science and discovery and the IMAX cinema.
City of Style
In recent years Birmingham has reinvented itself as a shopping mecca and city of style. Recent surveys have placed the city second only to London’s West End when it comes to shopping and this is thanks in part to major investments in the city’s shops and department stores. This includes the opening of the £500 million Bullring which has over 160 of the most desirable shops to explore.
Birmingham has four department stores including Selfridges and Debenhams at the Bullring, a recently refurbished House of Fraser and the fabulous Harvey Nichols store at the Mailbox. Well known brands such as Louis Vuitton, DKNY and Emporio Armani have also chosen to make the city their home.
City of Food
Whether you have a taste for the Orient or a passion for the Italian life or if you are looking to spice things up in the Balti Triangle, lovers of international cuisine can taste the whole world in one city with a diverse range of award winning restaurants.
The Birmingham Half Marathon will finish on Broad Street near Centenary Square and this area of the city in particular has a great selection of bars and restaurants on both Broad Street and in Brindleyplace, an awarding winning canalside development, which is just a short walk from Centenary Square.
Accommodation
Birmingham has accommodation for every taste and every budget. The city is used to welcoming visitors from all over the world and meeting the demands of major events, conferences and exhibitions and with around 50,000 bed spaces in the city centre and the surrounding region there is accommodation to suit everyone.
To find out more about the city of Birmingham and to book accommodation or restaurants go to www.visitbirmingham.com
Birmingham - Sport
Birmingham is a city which is passionate about sport. The city is an International City of Sport, A European City of Sport for all, has some of the finest sports facilities in Britain and has staged a huge number of national, European and World Championships, in fact more than any other UK city.
But the city’s passion for sport is not new as the city has a strong sporting heritage which stretches back for decades. The city was the birthplace of lawn tennis in 1858, the world’s oldest soccer league was started in the city in 1888 and Birmingham’s world famous Edgbaston Cricket Ground has been staging matches since 1902.
This strong sporting history also extends to the West Midlands region which is steeped in the history of the modern Olympic Games and organised sport. The Olympic festival staged in Much Wenlock in Shropshire, just outside Birmingham, is acknowledged to have been among the inspirations for Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s vision for resurrecting the Olympic Games in 1896.
In more recent years Birmingham has become well known across the globe for its superb staging of major sports events and in the last five years alone the city has hosted the 9th IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships, the 13th World Badminton Championships, the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Final, the World Junior Wheelchair Basketball Championships, the FIG Trampoline and Tumbling World Cup Final and the 29th European Athletics Indoor Championships.
Because of these recent successes, Birmingham has now been selected to stage the following events in the next few years:
• 2009 – IAAF World Half Marathon Championships
• 2010 – European Artistic Gymnastics Championships
• 2010 – World Wheelchair Basketball Championships
• 2011 – World Trampoline and Tumbling Championships
In 2008 Birmingham has already staged a selection of sports events but there is still more to come as well as organising it’s first ever EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon, Birmingham will host the following sports events in the next few months:
Aviva National Championships
11-13 July
Birmingham Alexander Stadium
www.ukathletics.net
ParalympicsGB Team Celebration
26 July
Brindleyplace
www.paralympics.org.uk
Urban Beach Volleyball Tour
14 -18 August
Centenary Square
www.urbanbeachtour.co.uk
Adidas Women’s Challenge
7 September
City Centre
www.womenschallenge.co.uk
GB Basketball International v Bosnia and Herzegovina
10 September
NIA
www.theticketfactory.com
GB Judo World Cup
20-21 September
NIA
www.theticketfactory.com
Horse of the Year Show
8-12 October
NEC
www.hoys.co.uk
