IT is the landmark race where athletes will battle every inch to snatch victory.

Now ABP Southampton Half Marathon organisers have breathed a sigh of relief after an official verdict that the race has measured up to be a success.

National sporting chiefs have announced that the 13.1-mile route and its 10km course accurately meet national distance standards.

It follows official course measurer Colin Goater covering every inch of the route to ensure that it meets UK Athletics regulations.

It comes just four days before more than 12,000 people take to the streets to support 6,000 runners setting off from Hoglands Park and passing some of the city’s most famous landmarks, including the Bargate, the QE2 Anchor, St Mary’s Stadium and over the Itchen Bridge before a grandstand finish at Guildhall Square.

Mr Goater scoured the entire route of each course armed with a special Jones Counter distance measurer attached to the bicycle he was riding.

He calculated that the road running events meet the 13.1094-mile and 10km required standards.

Mr Goater was also in charge of measuring the city’s last mass running event – the Great South Run – which launched in Southampton in 1990.

That run eventually moved to Portsmouth, where he is still its race director.

Now he is pleased that a rival event has returned to Southampton and said: “The organisers have done a great job in putting the event together and they are on course to hold a fantastic event. Southampton is a great city to run an event like this.”

The race is organised by Marafun UK with Associated British Ports as prime sponsors and the Daily Echo as media partners.