Haile Chooses Berlin Over Beijing
Haile Gebrselassie will run in the Berlin Marathon, not the Olympic Marathon in Beijing. The reason? He wants to run a sub 2:04 and “no athlete has ever broken a world record for the marathon at the Olympics.”
Read more at: [Xinhua, China]
The Long Green Line Wins Award
The documentary The Long Green Line was awarded the best feature documentary award at the Lake Forest Film Festival. The film documents a season in the life of the York High School Cross Country team - the most successful cross country team in history. Head Coach Joe Newton is coaching in his 50th season, and his team is going for their 25th state title.
Read more at: [LongGreenLineMovie.com]
Gaffigan Ready To “Re-calibrate Some Gauges”
Ann Gaffigan, in her new blog entry on Steeplechics.com, discusses the effort that gained her entry into the Olympic Trials. After a long, mysterious illness that has wreaked havoc on her confidence, the former American record holder is ready “to do it over again after re-calibrating some gauges” and wants to “take more risks to test my limits without paying so dearly for it.”
Read more at: [Steeplechics.com]
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The marathon promises to be one of the marquee events in women’s track and field in 2008. Among the highlights will be an epic showdown in London, a thrilling U.S. Olympic Trials, and Paula Radcliffe’s last chance at Olympic glory in Beijing. These and a few other huge races should provide many memorable moments and will define many careers. I will again try to make predictions based on as much hearsay, personal bias, and circumstantial data as I can gather.
The first big event on the 2008 women’s marathon calendar is the Flora London Marathon, which will be held on April 13. This race feature’s several of the world’s top female marathoners including World Record holder Radcliffe, World Marathon Majors Champ Gete Wami, Dubai Marathon champ Berhane Adere, Svetlana Zakharova, Constantina Tomescu-Dita, and Benita Johnson.
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Race Results Weekly, the wire service of distance running, announced today that Ethiopian Gete Wami and Kenyan Martin Lel were the top-ranked marathon runners of 2007. RRW produced for the third time an annual top-10 marathoner ranking based on key victories, head-to-head competition, fast times, consistent performances in multiple races and, in some cases, heroic efforts.
“Lel was a clear choice for us by winning both London and New York, a feat no man had ever accomplished” said Editor & Publisher, David Monti. “However, it was much closer on the women’ side between Wami and China’s Zhou Chunxia.”
The events comprising the World Marathon Majors (WMM) confirmed their 2008 schedule today, which includes next August’s Olympic Games.
The first WMM event for 2008 will be the Flora London Marathon, slated for Sunday, April 13. The Boston Marathon follows eight days later on Monday, April 21, then the series goes dark until the women’s and men’s Olympic Marathons in Beijing on consecutive Sundays, August 17 and 24, respectively. The final three events in 2008 will be the real,- Berlin Marathon on Sunday, September 28, followed by the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 12, and the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 2.
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World, national and course records, thrilling finishes, more than 300,000 participants, and a championship race that went down to the final day highlighted the inaugural 2006-2007 World Marathon Majors Series, and ushered in a brand new era of growth and excitement in the sport.
After a six month break, the excitement will continue at the 2008 Flora London Marathon on April 13, followed eight days later by the 112th Boston Marathon on April 21.
Here is a look back at some of the many highlights from the 2006-2007 World Marathon Majors Series:
Record Breakers:
* 2006: Robert K. Cheruiyot (KEN) sets a course record of 2:07:14 at the 110th Boston Marathon.
* Deena Kastor (USA) sets a new American record of 2:19:36 in winning the 2006 Flora London Marathon, becoming the eighth woman to break 2:20:00.
* Ethiopians Haile Gebrselassie (2:05:56) and Gete Wami (2:21:34) each set national records in victory at the 2006 real,-BERLIN-MARATHON.
* Gebrselassie sets a new world record of 2:04:26 at the 2007 real,-BERLIN-MARATHON.
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Former world record holder in the marathon, Paul Tergat, has abruptly withdrawn from Sunday’s Fukuoka Marathon, according to a published report on the website of Japan’s largest English language newspaper, The Daily Yomiuri.
According to the report, Tergat was called to attend a special Kenyan armed forces training camp. The report said that the information came from the organizers of the marathon itself.
Tergat, 38, was the headline athlete for what is widely regarded as Japan’s most competitive men’s marathon. The race will be held for the 61st time on Sunday. Organizers have used a time-honored formula of inviting a handlful of top overseas athletes, combining them with a group of Japanese stars, and leading them along the course through 30 km with pacemakers who try to help the top runners to a sub-2:07 finish time. In a typical year, only about 300 athletes compete at Fukuoka, and it was to be Tergat’s Fukuoka debut.
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Despite World Record holder Paula Radcliffe’s best efforts to tear up the tarmac in New York, the Amsterdam Marathon remains at the top of the World rankings of fastest marathon cities of 2007.
Frankfurt was fast enough to challenge the all-time fastest city Berlin, but Amsterdam has shaken off it’s laid back image to hold on to it’s dominant 1.83 minute lead at the top of the rankings.
The course that saw Kenyan winner Emmanuel Mutai smash his personal best from 2:13.06 to 2:06.29, also brought national success for Kamiel Maase, who bettered his own Dutch record by 10 seconds as the first European home in ninth place at 2:08.21.
2007 Rankings:
(Average times for the World rankings of fastest Marathon cities are calculated by the average of the 10 fastest finishers.)
1. Amsterdam 2.07.52
2. Frankfurt 2.09.35
3. Berlin 2.09.38
4. Hamburg 2.09.41
5. London 2.09.55
6. Paris 2.10.34
7. Eindhoven 2.11.51
8. New York 2.12.25
9. Rotterdam 2.12.28
10. Lake Biwa/Otsu 2.13.02
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The men’s race at the 2007 ING New York Marathon will be a battle between several major marathon champions hoping to emerge triumphant in the Big Apple. The competitors will traverse a course with three major hills and overall rolling terrain in front of one of the largest spectator groups in sports. The weather for the event is supposed to be cool and dry, further adding to the possibility of another classic New York finish.
Leading the way on the men’s side will be 2006 New York champion Marilson Gomes dos Santos (BRA), who won last year’s race with a tactically brilliant move in the 18th mile. None of the better known competitors covered Santos’ surge, choosing to wait until later to reel him in. This never happened and Santos ran unchallenged to the finish, winning in 2:09:58.
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Nearly two years have passed since organizers of the Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City marathons announced the formation of the World Marathon Majors (WMM), and 10 events, including the IAAF World Championships, have been run since the WMM Series was launched at the 2006 Boston Marathon. Just one race – the 2007 ING New York City Marathon – remains before the inaugural WMM Series champions will be presented with their share of the $1 million jackpot at a special luncheon on November 5.
Remarkably, after 10 events – and 262 miles of racing – the women’s WMM Series champion has yet to be decided. Of the 32 women who have earned WMM points, just two remain in contention for the title: Gete Wami (ETH) and Jelena Prokopcuka (LAT). With $500,000 at stake, in addition to the ING New York City Marathon prize purse, the two women will race head-to-head through the streets of New York. A win for either would clinch the title, but anything less than victory opens up an intriguing number of potential results.
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USOC seeks medals from Jones’ relay-mates
Now that Marion Jones has returned her Olympic medals in the wake of her doping admission, the United States Olympic Committee has also asked Marion Jones’ relay teammates to return their medals and promised a “completely clean” U.S. squad in 2008. The USOC request, Jones’ admission and the IOC’s pending decision on how to redistribute the medals has caused a fury of editorials, objections and controversy.
Here is a sampling of related articles and opinion pieces:
Jones’ relay teammate wants to keep bronze medal — Canadian Press
Time to target coaches, doctors and agents — Guardian (Steve Cram)
Ottey to pick up extra medal — Yahoo! Sports
Jones could’ve broken open sports scam — Seattle Times
Culpepper aims to repeat at U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials
Alan Culpepper, a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Team, is looking to replicate his success at the Nov. 3 Trials in NYC. In regards to the new loop-course, Culpepper said, “I was fairly shocked when I saw the course; it (the hilly Central Park course) is going to be hard. I am doing more race-pace effort on hilly terrain this time.”
Read more at: [Daily Camera]
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At 13K, the trail pack of about 15 men was on pace for a 2:06:30. That time would be a huge PB for most, if not all, of them. They were certain to have to back off from it further in the race. The weather conditions were ideal, however, so they were going for it.
Up […]
Gete Wami started the 34th Real,-Berlin Marathon on Sunday, September 30th, 2007 knowing that she would run way back in the pack, as most women do in marathons, while all eyes were on Haile Gebrselassie up at the front.
The weather conditions at the start were as follows:
54°F
Mostly Cloudy
Wind: S at 8 mph
Humidity: 82%
She had […]
The 2007 Berlin Marathon will feature several of the world’s finest distance runners racing on a historic downtown route through the German capital. The lightning fast course has produced two men’s world records in the last 9 years, Brazilian Ronaldo da Costa’s 2:06:05 in 1998 and Kenyan Paul Tergat’s still standing 2:04:55 in 2003. […]
The Women’s Race at the 2007 Berlin Marathon promises to bring great excitement to the German capital and the approximately one million spectators who will line the downtown course. This event has been the site of two women’s marathon world records in the last 8 years, Kenyan Tegla Loroupe’s 2:20:43 in 1999 and the […]
There will be live video coverage on the Internet this weekend of two prominent marathons, both on Sunday.
First up will be the real,- Berlin Marathon which will be available by subscription at WCSN. The cost is USD $4.95 or, if you purchase an annual subscription of $49.95, it will be covered under that plan […]
During a largely solo run a year ago at the real,-Berlin Marathon, Haile Gebrselassie challenged Paul Tergat’s world record for just over 35 kilometers. But with the winds battering and temperatures rising over the final few kilometer, he was reminded again how truly challenging Tergat’s performance is to surpass. Building upon that experience, Gebreselassie will […]
Haile’s Goal: 2:03 Marathon
Haile Gebrselassie’s goal for the Berlin Marathon this coming Sunday is 2:03:00, which would be an almost inconceivable 4:41 per mile pace. That would be a minute and 55 seconds faster than Paul Tergat’s world record of 2:04:55. Gebrselassie, the world record holder in the 20000m (56:26.0), the 20K (55:48) and the […]
This year the Institute of Meteorology of the Free University Berlin, the society Berliner Wetterkarte e.V. and three grammar schools in Berlin will be recording the meteorological conditions along the route of the real,- BERLIN - MARATHON for the first time.
Five mobile measuring instruments, which have been purchased in the course of a project sponsored […]
Gete Wami already has three Olympic medals, but the 32 year-old Ethiopian is facing a unique challenge this fall which rivals winning an Olympic title: winning the first World Marathon Majors (WMM) series and the $500,000 prize which goes with it.
Wami will be lining up at the start of the real,- Berlin Marathon on Sept. […]
With the conclusion of last week’s IAAF World Track & Field Championships in Osaka, Japan, three races remain in the inaugural World Marathon Majors Series: the real,- Berlin Marathon on September 30; The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on October 7; and the ING New York City Marathon on November 4.
Jelena Prokopcuka, of Latvia, leads the […]
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