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97th ING Bay to Breakers Returns on Sunday in San Francisco
Posted May 14th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Road Racing
Part parade, part fashion show, and part road race, the 97th ING Bay to Breakers returns to the streets of San Francisco on Sunday, and organizers expect some 70,000 runners and walkers (about half of them unregistered) to take part.
Up front, the race is serious business. Elite athlete coordinator Josh Muxen has assembled a strong field to chase a $74,000 prize money purse, including a special $25,000 ING Battle to the Breakers bonus which will be awarded to the first athlete to cross the finish line. That could be a man or it could be a woman; women are given a four minute and 40 second headstart based on the difference between the male (33:42) and female (38:22) course records.
In addition, there is a $5000 bonus for the first man and first woman to reach the top of Hayes Street Hill, a beast of a climb which begins at the two mile mark on Franklin Street, rises 201 feet, and covers a distance of 0.69 miles. Athletes can pocket the bonus as long as they also finish in the top-20.
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Planning Ahead, Utrecht Hopes for 10,000m World Record in 2009
Posted April 15th, 2008 at 11:17 AM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Event organizer Arjan Pathmamanoharan is hoping to bring the women’s world record for 10,000m to the Dutch city of Utrecht in 2009. Pathmamanoharan has secured financial the backing to offer a 100,000 Euro (USD 158,000) bonus to the women who can beat the 15 year-old standard of China’s Wang Junxia set in Beijing in 1993: 29:31.78. Wang’s mark remains the only sub-30:00 10,000m clocking by a woman.
“The organization will invite the best athletes as Lornah Kiplagat, Tirunesh Dibaba, Ejegayehu Dibaba, Meseret Defar, Paula Radcliffe and Vivian Cheruiyot for this spectacular event, in which they can win the bonus of 100,000 Euro,” Pathmamanoharan explained in a press release.
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Gold Medalists Defar & Dibaba to Both Race in Boston on Saturday
Posted January 22nd, 2008 at 3:27 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
The gold medalists of the women’s 5000m and 10,000m at last summer’s IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Meseret Defar [Pictured] and Tirunesh Dibaba, will both compete at Saturday’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games (RBIG), organizers have confirmed. Although the two athletes will run similar distances, the two Ethiopian stars will not be running head-to-head; Defar will run two miles and Dibaba 3000m.
“Defar and Dibaba did not want to race each other in the first meet of the year, and a 5000 didn’t fit into the training of either one right now,” explained Mark Wetmore of Global Athletics & Marketing, the Boston-based athlete management firm which manages the meet and represents the two athletes. “This was a way to get them both into the event, and that was our priority.”
Both athletes have enjoyed record-breaking performances –and disappointments– at the RBIG which is held at the Reggie Lewis Track Facility at Roxbury Community College.
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Gebrselassie Hoping for Perfect Race in Dubai
Posted January 16th, 2008 at 8:00 AM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Setting a world record is never easy, but it’s particularly difficult in the marathon. Not only must an athlete spend three to four injury-free months training for a single competitive effort, he must have near-perfect conditions: a flat course, excellent pacemaking, ideal weather, and a well-marked and measured course. A little luck doesn’t hurt, either.
Heading into Friday’s Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon,
Haile Gebrselassie is hoping that all of these factors will line up in his favor so he can break his own world standard of 2:04:26 set in Berlin last September. In short, he’s looking for the perfect race.
“The top priority is not the money,” Gebrselassie said referring to the $1 million bonus for a new world record race organizers have on offer. “It’s the race. But the marathon is not an easy event, you cannot predict. Everything is perfect, I hope it will be more perfect for the race.”
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Rome Marathon Offers Generous Bonuses,
Prize Money
Posted November 16th, 2007 at 11:45 AM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Marathons
The 14th edition of the Maratona della Città di Roma, set for Mar. 16, 2008, will not only offer runners a beautiful course through one of the 
world’s most historic cities, but a chance to win sizable bonuses and prize money.
While it is unlikely that a new world record would be set in Rome, there is a €250,000 ($366,000) world record bonus for the first man to break 2:04:26 or the first woman to break 2:15:25. Perhaps more realistic are the €50,000 ($73,000) bonuses for a new Italian all-comers record for either men (2:07:45) or women (2:24:59).
Furthermore, Italian citizens can earn a €75,000 ($110,000) bonus for breaking either their male (2:07:22) or female (2:23:47) national records. Finally, there are €25,000 ($37,000) bonuses for new male or female course records (2:08:02 and 2:25:07, respectively).
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Significant Bonuses on the Line at ScotiaBank Toronto Waterfront Marathon
Posted September 10th, 2007 at 7:00 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Race director Alan Brookes had better have his checkbook handy when the top men and women break the tape at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon set for Sunday, Sept. 30. That’s because his event is offering bonuses of Cn$20,000 (USD 18,992) to the first man and first woman who break the Canadian all-comers records of 2:09:55 and 2:26:01, respectively.
Last year’s men’s champion, Daniel Rono, came within striking distance of Waldemar Cierpinski’s 31 year-old mark set at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Rono, a Kenyan, clocked a course record and career best 2:10:15 after a spirited battle with Moroccan Abderrahim Bouramdane who clocked 2:10:41. Brooke’s thinks this year’s field has an even better chance to take the bonus.
“We have a strong, evenly matched men’s field this year,” Brookes said in a prepared statement. “I sure hope we get a good day and several of the guys go under 2:10, to put that 2:09:55 bogey to rest. It’s been along time coming. We’ve had quite a rivalry with Ottawa in chasing it!”
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Who had the more impressive Boston Marathon debut?
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On March 15, 2010
SDrunner said:
Great review, I wrote one on the Ironman Road Trainer HRM, which is similar to this one, without the...