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Lead Stories: Friday, August 29, 2008

Kenyan Athletes Trying to Cope With Unrest

Posted January 5th, 2008 at 2:00 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

kenya.map While the horrifying death of Kenyan Olympian Lucas Sang and the wounding of world marathon champion Luke Kibet have made headlines, much of the information coming out of Kenya from the athletics community is that most athletes remain safe, but training and travel has been curtailed due to the obvious dangers.

Agent Lisa Buster reports that world marathon champion Catherine Ndereba and her husband Anthony Maina are safe, but housebound in Nairobi. Road runner Linus Maiyo, who lives in Eldoret, is unable to train and is staying indoors.

Tom Ratcliffe, who manages marathoners Stephen Kiogora, Evans Rutto and Ben Maiyo says that his athletes are fine, but hesitant to go out for training. “Most guys are staying in their home areas, as they want to stay close to their families and do not want to travel,” he wrote in an e-mail message.
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Video: Preview the Highly-Anticipated Third Season of chasingKIMbia

Posted September 20th, 2007 at 6:30 AM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics

40K at Magnolia. Ugali and Chicken. Table Mountain. CNN and Fox News. Trips to Wal*Mart. Yep, it’s that time of year again. Welcome to Season Three of chasingKIMBIA; a video blogumentary detailing the lifestyle and training of some of the world’s best marathoners.

The Chicago and New York City Marathons are fast approaching, and the athletes have been getting fast. Season Three kicks off next Monday from Boulder. You’ll meet some new athletes this season, like Christopher Cheboiboch, who has a PR of 2:08 and has finished second in both New York and Boston. You’ll also see some old faces, like Baba (New York) and James Koskei (Chicago).

But the biggest change this year will be the addition of an American to the group. Fasil Bizuneh is an up-and-coming American marathoner. His half-marathon PR of 1:02:20 came in the US Championships where he finished second to Ryan Hall, and ahead of Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi and he’s been training with the guys in Boulder since the end of August in preparation for the November 3rd US Olympic Marathon Trials in NYC.

Play the video trailer below for a sneak-peak of chasingKIMBIA’s highly-anticipated third season!

Click To Play

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New ‘Chasing Glory’ Pre-Marathon Trials Video

Posted September 20th, 2007 at 5:07 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics

As part of the New York Road Runners’ unprecedented promotional and media build-up to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon race on Saturday, November 3, “Chasing Glory,” a seven-week series of web videos offering exclusive athlete and coach interviews and insight will premiere today on the NYRR website, it was announced by NYRR president and CEO Mary Wittenberg.

Leading Olympic Trials contenders Dathan Ritzenhein, Abdi Abdirahman, Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi, Brian Sell, and Ryan Hall, along with top coaches Brad Hudson, Keith and Kevin Hanson, and Terrence Mahon will be among those featured in the weekly videos. Other segments will highlight behind-the-scenes footage of the challenging Olympic Trials course in Central Park, facts and figures about the race, and a glimpse of how the USA’s runners compare with those of the rest of the world.

The five- to seven-minute videos will be launched every Tuesday and Thursday from September 17 to October 26. The videos are produced by videographer Matt Taylor, whose other credits include “Chasing Kimbia” and “Chasing Tradition.” The videos will be supplemented by three text-based commentaries each week, written in conjunction with television analyst Toni Reavis.
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Note on the News:
“Chasing Glory” Series Debuts

Posted September 18th, 2007 at 2:12 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics

The New York Road Runners, who are hosting the USA Olympic Team Trials - Men’s Marathon on Saturday, Nov. 3, have co-produced a web documentary series entitled “Chasing Glory” about the men who hope to place in the top-3 of that race and make the USA Olympic Team.

A trailer for the series is now posted at www.nyrr.com and regular updates will begin tomorrow, posted every Tuesday and Thursday.

The series, which is narrated by Toni Reavis and shot and edited by Matt Taylor and Tessa Olson, features both top athletes and their coaches and was shot on-site where the athletes train.

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Support chasingKIMBIA’s “Auction for Education”

Posted March 28th, 2007 at 2:23 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: Columns, SPOTLIGHT

chasingKIMBIA is excited to announce the Auction for Education and to formally introduce The KIMbia Foundation.

The hope is to raise awareness about the current state of education in Kenya and to offer people an opportunity to support education-related projects there. (Click here to see a video about this initiative!)

The Auction for Education
Up for bid is a custom pair of KIMbia racing flats signed by Ben Maiyo and Stephen “Baba” Kiogora. This New Balance RC205 racing flat has been customized specifically for the KIMbia athletes. On the front is the KIMbia Athletics logo and on the back is the Kenyan shield. This is the same shoe that Ben and Baba will wear during the 2007 Boston Marathon.

The auction has officially opened with a starting bid of $100. It will close at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on April 7th. The winning bid will go to support one of three education-related projects in Kenya (the winner’s choice).

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“chasingKIMBIA” to begin it’s second season

Posted February 16th, 2007 at 8:30 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

“chasingKIMBIA”, the web-based documentary series which chronicled the training and racing of a small group of mostly Kenyan athletes, has opened its second season.

In 2006 the documentary followed seven athletes as they prepared to run in the World Marathon Majors events in Chicago and New York. Most of the footage was shot in Boulder, Colo., where they were training at the time under coach Dieter Hogen.

For the 2007 season, the focus shifts to Iten, Kenya, as the athletes prepare for their spring marathons, including Boston, London and Rotterdam.

“The goal of ‘chasingKIMBIA’ is to promote the elite athletes in our sport,” said Tom Ratcliffe, the athlete agent who runs the project. “Running fans know the Kenyans are successful, but most can’t name more than a handful of athletes. At the major marathons the spectators clap idly as the lead pack runs by. With this project we’re hoping to connect the athletes with the fans.”
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