LONDON (AFP) - Birmingham, in the English Midlands, has been chosen as the venue for next year's World Half-Marathon Championships on October 11, a meeting of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the sport's world governing body, announced here Wednesday.

Birmingham will be the third British venue to host the championships first held during the Great North Run on Tyneside, north-east England, in 1982 and then Bristol, a major city in England's south-west, in 2001.

The Greek city of Thessaloniki will stage next year's IAAF World Athletics final after being chosen ahead of Polish rival Bydgoszcz.

IAAF president Lamine Diack said: "Birmingham organised one of the best ever editions of the IAAF World Indoor Championships a few years ago and this (last) weekend we also enjoyed an excellent edition of the World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh.

"The World Half-Marathon Championships is the only IAAF World Championships specifically for road runners, and we are very keen to reach out to this thriving community of our sport."

Diack added: "We believe that Thessaloniki will offer an excellent stage for the world's best athletes for the climax of the 2009 track season."