UPDATE: Newport Half Marathon chiefs 'double-check' course distance, but are 'confident' race was correct

Emma Saysell, chief executive of St David’s Hospice Care, said: “We have accreditation from the International Association of Athletic Federation (IAAF) to prove that officially we are a half marathon.

“The issue now seems to be with GPS as they are running it’s taking the mileage but the problem is as the course measurer has commented that the GPS takes readings at intervals of several seconds. The GPS is in a straight line between a lot of tall buildings and that can make quite a difference.

“There are a number of satellites in place which all have an effect.

“The course has several long curves along route which may affect the measurements.”

The organisers say the GPS signal could have been affected by runners going under the motorway three times and under the SDR.

Ms Saysell said: “The reason possibly a high number of people have had personal best is that the course has long straights and downhill sections.

“We have total faith in the course measurer.”

She added: “As far as we are concerned it was accurate – there were a couple tweets which of course we have passed that on.”

She said the feedback from the half marathon been positive.

The charity have not received any complaints about the length of the course.

Runners were posting on social media that GPS devices were reading 12.85 miles.

More than 1,800 runners took part.

UPDATE: 11.49am
Monday 3 March

AMID some claims that the course for yesterday's Newport Half Marathon was short of the required 13.1 miles, race officials said they are double-checking the distance, but are "confident" their measurements are correct.

A St David’s Hospice Care spokeswoman said they were reviewing the course with the UK Athletic accredited measurers who officially measured the course.

She said the team would double check that the route was the same route measured out by the Association of Course Measurers.

Christine Vorres, events director at St David’s Hospice Care, said: “We decided to review as there were so many comments on twitter - no actual complaints have been received – no one has telephoned me or emailed me. There were comments on Facebook on other people’s pages.

“Lots of people were talking about beating their personal best and commenting if the course was okay. That many comments shared have to review it.”

“We will wait to see form the UK Athletics course measures what they want to do – we are guided by them.

"You can’t rely on GPS when you’re going under the motorway three times and under the SDR - there is no signal there. GPS signal takes a straight line the runners route was curvy.”

She added that they hadn't had any "direct complaints."

Some runners on Twitter had claimed their GPS devices calculated the distance as 12.84 miles.