THE route of this year's Newport Half Marathon is to be re-measured following claims it was short of the required 13.1 miles.

The course is to be re-measured following claims from some runners on Twitter that their GPS devices calculated the distance as 12.84 miles, and that some of them better race times than expected last Sunday.

Phil Cook, secretary of the Association of UK Course Measurers (UKCM) in Wales, previously issued the course with its certificate of accuracy.

He confirmed yesterday that he will now re-measure the route next weekend however, by using a Jones Counter, which is the accepted way of measuring races by the International Athletics Association Federation (IAAF).

He estimates it will take him two hours to measure the route by using this method, which involves him riding a bike with a counter attached.

The number of turns of the wheel will be calibrated to each kilometre.

The original measurer of the course will also measure the route on the day, and the pair will then compare their findings.

Contrary to previous reports, Mr Cook 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.”

A statement on the St David’s Hospice Care Facebook page said: “In view of all the comments about the half marathon route, we are re-visiting the course measurements with UKCM.

“We can state that the route run was correct. Our wonderful volunteer marshals did an excellent job ensuring everyone was safe and following the right paths.

“It will take time, but we will post an update as soon as we have one.”

More than 1,800 runners competed in this year’s Newport Half Marathon, which started in the city centre for the first time.

This year’s quickest runner was Harry Jones, who ran the route in 1 hour and 11 minutes, and the fastest woman was Emma Wookey of Lliswerry Runners, who ran it in 1 hour and 16 minutes.