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Lead Stories: Tuesday, October 7, 2008

IAAF Announces Venues for 2009 Half-Marathon Champs, World Athletics Final

Posted April 3rd, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field

Birmingham, England, will host the 2009 World Half-Marathon Championships, the IAAF announced yesterday after its two-day Council meeting in London.

The 21.1 km event, the only global championship set aside solely for road running, returns to Great Britain for the third time. In 1992, Tyneside played host before returning in 2001 to Bristol. This year’s edition will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in October.
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2 Mile World Best for Bekele in Birmingham

Posted February 16th, 2008 at 3:09 PM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

kenenisa bekele winning 10,000m gold medal at 2007 iaaf world championships in athletics Kenenisa Bekele set a new world best over 2 miles at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham, England, today, clocking 8:04.35.

His performance knocked 0.34 seconds from the previous mark of 8:04.69 set by his compatriot Haile Gebrselassie in 2003 on the same track at the National Indoor Arena. Bekele, the world record holder outdoors in the 5000 and 10,000m, now owns the world record or world best indoors at 2000m, 2 miles and 5000m. Only Daniel Komen’s indoor mark of 7:24.90 in the 3000m, considered the strongest of indoor world records on the track, has eluded the 25-year-old Ethiopian.
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Birmingham most watched European Indoor Champs

Posted May 15th, 2007 at 4:00 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results

Birmingham 2007 The European Indoor Championships last March was the most watched ever, European Athletics reported earlier this week.

A total of 262 hours was broadcast, a dramatic increase over the past three editions. The 2002 edition in Vienna received 186 total hours, while Madrid three years later received 206. According to figures cited by the European governing body, the total audience figures for this year’s Birmingham edition was 194 million, up from 180 million in 2005.
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Don Kern breaks record by running marathons on seven continents in 35 days

Posted March 22nd, 2007 at 9:57 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: News & Results, Marathons

On 18 February 2007, “Marathon” Don Kern completed his attempt to break the Guinness World Record “Marathon on each continent - Shortest duration to complete (Men)”.

He succeeded in this feat by running in organized marathons on each of the seven continents in 35 days. The attempt began on 11 February 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama.

The marathons included in the “world tour” were: Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham Alabama (North America), Egyptian International Marathon in Luxor, Egypt (Africa), Maraton Popular de Valencia in Valencia, Spain (Europe),
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Podcast 30: Follow-up with Don Kern on his Guinness WR-setting marathon journey

Posted March 21st, 2007 at 10:24 AM by Adam Jacobs

Section: Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts

Episode 30 of The Final Sprint Podcast features my follow-up interview with Don Kern; an avid adventure runner and race director for the Grand Rapids Marathons, who just completed an incredible, around-the-world marathon journey.

By completing his quest in a mere 35 days, Don was able set a new Guinness World Record for running a marathon on each continent in the shortest duration of time. The previous record was 99 days.

Don is now back home in Michigan after running more than 183 miles and traveling on a plane for over 84 hours (not to mention all of the time he spent in airports and traveling within each country). Fresh off setting a new WR, Don will hit another milestone in April when he runs the Boston Marathon; marking the 50th consecutive month that he will run race of at least marathon distance!

Download the podcast to hear Don describe his adventure, the physical wear-and-tear of the feat, eating “raw fish and beer” the night before his final marathon in South Korea, the warm reception by fans around the world, and some possibilities for future, endurance running adventures!

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[PLAY] (To Download: Right click and select “save as”)

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Host: Adam Jacobs
Guest: Don Kern
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 11.7 MB
Length: 00:17:10

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U.S. Olympic Team to be based in Birmingham in 2012

Posted March 4th, 2007 at 8:00 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: News & Results, Olympics

In a joint press conference here today, the Birmingham City Council and USA Track & Field (USATF) announced that the American athletics team for the 2012 Olympic Games in London would be based in this Midlands city of approximately 1,000,000 people.

“We’ve had a wonderful experience here,” said Stephanie Hightower, the chair of USATF women’s track & field executive committee, who said that the U.S. training base would be at Alexander Stadium.

She said that the U.S. team would begin arriving here three or four days after the conclusion of the U.S. Olympic Trials which will be held in July, 2012. Hightower envisioned approximately 150 athletes, coaches, officials and other support personnel coming to Birmingham.
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Despite fall, Farah advances to 3000m Euro Champs

Posted March 2nd, 2007 at 7:51 AM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

One of Britain’s top medal hopes at these 29th European Indoor Championships, Mo Farah, survived a big scare today when he was tripped and fell during the first heat of the 3000m.

Farah, the reigning European cross country champion, was accidentally tripped from behind by Austria’s Günther Weidlinger in the seventh lap of the 15-lap race. Tumbling hard to the track, Farah became disoriented and actually began to run in the opposite direction after getting up, before turning around to rejoin the race.

“This guy clipped my leg and I went down,” said Farah after the race. “When I went down the Spanish guy (European 5000m champion Jesus España) picked up the pace.” He added: “I don’t know what happened, personally.”

España won the heat in 7:52.50, with Weidlinger second in 7:53.04 and defending champion Alistair Cragg of Ireland in third in 7:53.18. Farah, lifted by the cheers of the British crowd in the National Indoor Arena, fought his way back to finish sixth in 7:55.36, getting the second of four time qualifiers (the first four in each heat advanced automatically). He was relieved to advance to tomorrow’s final, but his come-from-behind effort today had taken its toll, physically.
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Cragg faces big challenges in 3,000 meter title defense

Posted March 2nd, 2007 at 2:53 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

At the last European Indoor Championships in Madrid in 2005, Irishman Alistair Cragg romped to victory in the 3000m, beating his nearest opponent, Briton John Mayock, by more than five seconds.

But here in Birmingham, as the 29th European Indoor Championships opens this morning, he is admittedly not sharp, and will be facing strong challenges from European Cross Country champion Mo Farah of Britain; European 5000m champion, Jesus España of Spain; and one of the continent’s top steeplechasers, Bob Bahri of France.
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Podcast 12: Interview with Don Kern on his record-setting attempt to run a marathon on each continent in 35 days

Posted February 11th, 2007 at 2:30 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts

Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing Don Kern; the adventure marathon runner who is attempting to break the Guinness World Record for running a marathon on each continent in the shortest duration of time. The current record is 99 days and he hopes to shatter it by completing the feat in a mere 35 days.

Don, who is also the race director of the Grand Rapids Marathon, ran the Mercedes Marathon today in Birmingham, Alabama; the first of the seven marathons he intends to complete. His “world tour” will also include marathons in Egypt, Spain, Antarctica, Argentine, Australia and South Korea.

Download the podcast to hear Don discuss his record-breaking feat, the affiliated charities, his past adventures (such as running in the inaugural marathon on the South Pole with Dean Karnazes) and much more!

Listen In
[MP3] Direct Download (Right click, select “save as”).
[RSS] Add The Final Sprint Podcast RSS feed to your RSS reader to have the show delivered to you

Host: Adam Jacobs
Guest: Don Kern
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 14.8MB
Length: 00:21:38