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Lead Stories: Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Philly Distance Run Joins
ING Family of Races

Posted February 7th, 2008 at 11:10 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

The Philadelphia Distance Run has become the latest event to join the ING family of road races, organizers announced today. This classic September half-marathon, which goes up and down the Schuylkill River, will now be known as the ING Philadelphia Distance Run.

“Elite Racing assumed management of the Philadelphia Distance Run in 2005 and has since worked hard to uphold its high standards and increase its visibility on the world’s stage, said Adam Zocks who manages the race for San Diego-based Elite Racing, Inc., a division of Competitor Group, Inc. “Our partnership with ING only adds to the prestige of the event.”

The race is consistently one of the fastest half-marathons in the United States. According to the independent Association of Road Racing Statisticians, the ING Philadelphia Distance Run has played host to three men’s world records (1982, 1985 and 1990) and two women’s world records (1983 and 1984).
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Soi, Kiplagat Top
Running Times 2007
Road Racer Rankings

Posted December 12th, 2007 at 11:15 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Edwin Soi of Kenya and Lornah Kiplagat (Pictured) of the Netherlands were given the #1 road racer rankings for 2007 by the editors of Running Times magazine.

Assisted by statistician Ken Young of the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, the magazine compiled their rankings for the period Oct. 15, 2006, to Oct. 14, 2007, based on head-to-head competition between the world’s top-20 runners.

Soi, 21, got the top ranking over compatriot, Micah Kogo. In an ironic twist, neither athlete ran in many road races during the ranking period.
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Philadelphia Distance Run Celebrates 30th Edition on Sunday

Posted September 13th, 2007 at 1:30 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Hugging the banks of the Schuykill River for most of its 21.1 kilometers, the Philadelphia Distance Run has for 30 years been consistently the fastest half-marathon in the United States.

According to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, the Distance Run has three times been the scene of the men’s half-marathon world record, and twice the venue for the women’s. The first occasion was in 1982 when Kenyan Michael Musyoki ran 1:01:36. Three years later, American Marc Curp ran 1:00:55 which was until just last January the North American half-marathon record (broke by Ryan Hall). In 1990 Mexican Dionicio Ceron lowered the mark to 1:00:46. On the women’s side, Joan Benoit Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic Marathon gold medalist, set third half-marathon world record in Philadelphia with a 1:09:10 clocking in 1983. She followed up the next year with an even better mark of 1:08:34.

But it’s the sheer volume of fast times in Philadelphia which has given this race its well-earned reputation for speed. In the 29 previous editions men have broken 61 minutes five times and 61:30 20 times. On the women’s side, 69 minutes has been broken three times and 70 minutes ten times. The list of previous winners include some of the sport’s best-ever athletes: Deena Kastor (2005), Catherine Ndereba (1996, ‘98, ‘99, 2000, ‘01 and ‘02), Benoit Samuelson (1983, ‘84, and ‘85), Khalid Khannouchi (1997, ‘99, and 2000), Steve Jones (1988), and Rod Dixon (1980, ‘81) to name a few.
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Japan’s Norimi Sakurai Sets Women’s World 100-K Record

Posted September 10th, 2007 at 9:15 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field

At last Saturday’s Stichting Ultraloop Winschoten in Holland, host of the IAU World Cup 100-K Championships, Norimi Sakurai of Japan came tantalizingly close to breaking the seven hour barrier, recording a new world road record for the distance of 7:00:27.

According to records kept by the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS), the previous record was 7:00:48 by American Ann Trason set on the same 10 km, ten-loop course in Winschoten back in 1995. Tomoe Abe of Japan ran faster on a point-to-point course in Yubetsu, Japan, in 2000 (6:33:11), but that mark is not recognized as a world record because of the possible aid of wind or gravity.
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Kogo smokes Parelloop 10-K; nearly sets world record

Posted April 1st, 2007 at 3:57 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Micah Kogo, the Kenyan who ran a world leading 26:35.63 for 10,000m at Brussels last September at age 20, smoked the flat course at the Parelloop 10-K today in Brunssum, Netherlands, recording the third-fastest certified 10-K ever on the roads: 27:07.

On record-standard courses (no net elevation loss and start/finish separation less than 5 km) his mark is second all-time only to the IAAF-ratified record of 27:02 set by Haile Gebrselassie at Doha in 2002.

“I felt strong today but the wind in the last kilometer was too much,” said Kogo in a statement released by his manager, Ricky Simms, of PACE Sports Management in Teddington, England. “I knew I was inside 27:00 mins pace at 9 km but I lost seven seconds in the final km with a 2:49 split.”
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