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Lead Stories: Sunday, October 12, 2008

Radcliffe to Contest Great South Run

Posted October 9th, 2008 at 9:00 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

Britain’s Paula Radcliffe will test the progress of her marathon training by competing in the BUPA Great South Run in Portsmouth, England, on October 26, organizers Nova International announced today.

“It is excellent news Paula’s first appearance since the Olympics will be on British soil,” commented David Hart, the communications director of the ten mile race where the fastest-ever women’s time was 51:00 set by Irishwoman Sonia O’Sullivan in 2002.

Although widely regarded as one of the world’s best-ever road runners, Radcliffe has not contested a ten mile race during her professional career. As a teenager in 1990 she recalled running a U.K. championship race over the distance and “squeezed under the hour,” she said. However, when she ran her career best over the half-marathon distance in the BUPA Great North Run in 2002, she passed the ten mile mark in an unofficial 50:01, according to records kept by BBC statistician Mark Butler, one of the fastest ten mile times ever recorded by a woman.
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BUPA Great Manchester Run Set for Sunday

Posted May 13th, 2008 at 10:30 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

The BUPA Great Manchester Run boasts the fastest 10-K course in Great Britain and organizers have assembled a top-flight field of athletes to take advantage of it. Elite athletes manager Andy Caine has invited world marathon champion, Luke Kibet of Kenya; seven-time European cross country champion, Sergey Lebid of Ukraine; and former European 10,000m champion, Chema Martinez of Spain, to lead the men’s field.

The women’s field is just as strong, featuring three-time European Cup medalist and defending champion Jo Pavey of Great Britain; two-time world marathon champion, Catherine Ndereba of Kenya; two-time Olympic gold medalist Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia; and road running ace Anikó Kálovics of Hungary, who finished second in Manchester last year.
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Marathon World Champions Headed for Manchester

Posted May 7th, 2008 at 1:30 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

Organizers of the BUPA Great Manchester Run on May 18 announced today that reigning world marathon champions Luke Kibet and Catherine Ndereba (Pictured) will headline their fields.

The two Kenyans earned their world titles in the steamy conditions of Osaka last August. Kibet overwhelmed the men’s field by one minute and 19 seconds, while Ndereba had to beat back a formidable challenge from China’s Zhou Chunxiu in the final kilometers to win by a much narrower eight seconds.

Most recently, Kibet raced the Flora London Marathon, finishing 11th. His training was curtailed by the post-election violence in Kenya where he was assaulted, sustaining a head wound from a thrown rock. Ndereba did not run a spring marathon, but has run several road races. She won the Scotia Bank Semi-Marathon de Montreal on April 20 and was most recently second at the Lilac Bloomsday 12-K in Spokane, Wash., last Sunday.
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London Marathon Champions Return for BUPA London 10,000

Posted May 7th, 2008 at 10:28 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Britain’s two leading organizers of road races have joined forces to launch a new event slated for Monday, May 26. Dubbed the BUPA London 10,000, the event will be jointly produced by the Flora London Marathon and Nova International and will feature Martin Lel (Pictured) and Irina Mikitenko, the 2008 Flora London Marathon champions.

“We are delighted to have such strong elite fields for the first ever BUPA London 10,000,” said David Bedford, race director of the Flora London Marathon. “To have our current Flora London Marathon champions on the start line is a great boost for us in our first year.”
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Pavey To Defend Great Manchester Run Title

Posted April 15th, 2008 at 2:45 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

Briton Jo Pavey plans to defend her title at the BUPA Great Manchester Run set for Sunday, May 18, in Manchester, England, organizers announced today.

Pavey, fourth over 10,000m at last summer’s IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, will again face road running specialist Anikó Kálovics of Hungary, whom she beat by just one second at last year’s Great Manchester Run, 31:47 to 31:48. Pavey is currently warm weather training in Dullstroom, South Africa, and will come down from altitude several days before the Manchester race.

Race organizer, Nova International, reported that two-time world marathon champion, Catherine Ndereba, would also compete.
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Great North Run Poised to Join One Million Entries Club

Posted January 23rd, 2008 at 9:16 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Road Racing

The BUPA Great North Run, the world’s largest half-marathon, is poised to join the exclusive one million entries club, the handful of running events which have recorded one million race registrations over the life of the race. The event is easily the largest running race in Great Britain, and is run on a point-to-point course from Newcastle to South Shields. The 2007 edition saw 35,719 runners gather on the starting line.

Founded in 1981, the Great North Run will accept 52,000 entrants this year, putting the event over the 1,000,000 barrier, according to Brendan Foster of Nova International, the race chairman.
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Baldini set for inaugural BUPA Great Wales Run

Posted June 26th, 2007 at 10:00 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Reigning Olympic Marathon gold medalist, Stefano Baldini of Italy, will test his legs of a distance less than one fourth as long at the inaugural BUPA Great Wales Run in Cardiff on Sunday, July 29, organizers announced today.

Baldini, who is also the reigning European champion in the marathon, will bypass the IAAF World Championships this summer, making sure his recovery from the Flora London Marathon –where he dropped out because of the flu– is complete. He has said that preparing to defend his title in Beijing is is most important goal.
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