As a cornerstone of Running for All, European Athletics has developed a set of safety and quality standards for public road races.

Key factors include administration and finance, the course, environmental and social responsibilities, measurement, medical facilities, results service, safety measures, services and timing equipment.

"With the number of people taking part in organised running activities growing rapidly, we see the need for a system to assess and publicise the quality of mass participation races," said European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen.

"Every runner has their own reason for taking part, and their own hopes and expectations for the quality and safety of the public mass participation races they enjoy. Every race organiser wants to show they have the same concerns for quality and safety so they can attract the entrants they need to make the event worthwhile. At present, only limited regulations exist in some European countries, and they are not always universally understood.

"Our aim is to encourage and endorse as many races as possible. And we need to engage with a participant group that is by far the largest in our sport but one that is not always clearly linked to athletics. That’s what we mean by Running for All."

The initiative has been endorsed by, among others, Foster – founder of the Great North Run – and Coe, who will contest the Presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations with Sergey Bubka in August.

“To be confirmed as a quality road race by European Athletics should be a goal for all road race organisers on the continent,” said Foster.

“Running activities are ever-increasing, and there is a need for a Europe-wide system that ensures runners are able to make well-informed choices when deciding on an event by ensuring its legitimacy and credibility. We are pleased to be an active supporter of Running for All.”

Coe commented: “With road running more popular than ever, it is very important that runners can enter races with full confidence that they will be guaranteed a safe and high quality experience. European Athletics Running for All will give athletes across Europe a platform from which they can select events. This will allow them to be the best that they can be and provide race organisers with clear standards of quality for their events to meet.”

These standards are intended to offer an ideal framework for competition, and will receive support from the athletics federations of all European countries.

European Athletics will promote and administer the standards system at european-running4all.org, with the intention of encouraging positive partnerships and relationships between everyone involved in running – runners, clubs, organisers, European Athletics, national athletics federations, local authorities, service providers and the media.