UPDATED: 12:05, December 16, an additional quote from Andrea Lee was added.

A new route covering Pyongyang’s major sites has been confirmed for the upcoming 2017 Pyongyang Marathon, to be held on April 9 next year, a bulletin uploaded on the race website showed on Thursday.

Compared to the previous route of the marathon, which looped around a 10km downtown section, the 28th Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon will stretch across a major part of the city and include cash prizes of up to 10,000 USD for both male and female winners, official information indicates.

“This time it’s an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) certified ‘bronze’ course,” Simon Cockerell, General