UPDATE: Newport half marathon was 636 metres short

In a statement, a spokesman for St David’s Hospice Care said: "Course measurers do their very best but on this occasion an error was made. We remain very grateful to all those concerned for their help with the initial measuring and the subsequent re-measuring.

Kris Broome, Director of St David’s Hospice Care, added: “We sincerely hope that this news will not detract from the many positive aspects of the event including the community spirit generated in the City of Newport and the vital funds, in the region of £75,000, raised to support hospice care for so many patients and their families in our community. We hope to make the 2016 City of Newport Half Marathon even bigger and brighter.”

The Association of UK Course Measurers, in a statement, said: “Finding a large measurement error in a certified course is an extremely rare occurrence; over 400 new courses are measured by our measurers each year.

“At present, when we get complaints of a short (or long) course, we first try to verify that the correct course was followed using any GPS tracks, photos and videos which may be available. In nearly every case we find that the measured course has not been properly followed on race day.

“But if we don’t find indications of such a course layout error, a re-measurement of the course can normally be arranged if the evidence for an incorrect measurement justifies it, as was the case for the Newport Half Marathon 2015.”

The spokesman said during the re-measurement the reported measured course was followed. There is no clear indication as to where the error occurred, so the only conclusion that can be made is that an error occurred when making an adjustment to the course between the initial measurement and finalising the course pre-event.

The outcome of the course investigation is that the course was short by 636.50m and that the error occurred during the measurement process.

Kris Broome, added: “We have had such fantastic feedback from people that took part in the event and attended as spectators and supporters on the day and we are now very much looking forward to staging next year’s event.”

UPDATE: 11.29am

THE route of this year's Newport Half Marathon, held on March 1, was short by 636 metres it has been revealed.

The course was re-measured following claims from some runners on Twitter that their GPS devices calculated the distance as 12.84 miles, not the required 13.1 miles.

Phil Cook, secretary of the Association of UK Course Measurers (UKCM) in Wales, confirmed the shortfall saying: “That is what we came up with. There was an adjustment trying to get it right and there was an error made there. It just seems an adjustment was made."

He had previously issued the course with its certificate of accuracy.

When questions were raised about the distance of the race, he said that the route would be measured using a Jones Counter, which is the accepted way of measuring races by the International Athletics Association Federation (IAAF).

He said the measurement would involves him riding a bike with a counter attached, with the number of turns of the wheel to be calibrated to each kilometre.

The original measurer of the course was also set to measure the route on the day, with the pair  comparing their findings.

After the race, Mr Cook had said that the paperwork of the original measurement and the GPS data of the course did, in fact, match up.

He said: “The paper work looks fine and there’s no quick, easy answer. Nothing jumps out at present and it was only since it was run that there were question marks.

“It’s not common, but things happen and the 2010 Cardiff Half Marathon was short. It won’t be the first time and it won’t be the last time.

“We’ll have to start from scratch with the measurement alongside the original measurer. Once done, we’ll compare and any errors will be highlighted.”