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Lead Stories: Saturday, September 6, 2008

DFMC Team: A Worthy Challenge for the Fleet of Foot

Posted January 30th, 2008 at 11:09 AM by Jeremy Sussman

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Columns, SPOTLIGHT

Training for the Boston Marathon certainly provides runners with the experience of a lifetime and countless health benefits. Some even run fast enough to help improve the health of others.

The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) team is looking for qualified runners who want to add a new dimension to their training by running for others as well as themselves. Runners who have run a qualifying time at a certified marathon after Sept. 23, 2006, can join the DFMC team and run to raise money that supports researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. These researchers have taken on another type of challenge: Curing Cancer.

Each Challenge runner agrees to raise at least $3000 by May 21, 2008, a sum that is easier to raise than most think. The average amount raised per runner in 2007 was more than $7000 and 100 percent of the money goes to the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
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Elite Fields Announced For Boston Half-Marathon

Posted October 1st, 2007 at 10:15 AM by Martha Jones

Section: News & Results, Marathons

For the seventh consecutive October thousands of runners will be racing through the streets of Boston and Brookline in the B.A.A. Half Marathon presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. The race is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 7 at Roberto Clemente Field in Boston’s Back Bay Fens neighborhood. The route will take runners out to the Franklin Park Zoo, and back again, along Boston’s Emerald Necklace park system. Leading the pack will be a field of elite men and women, competing for a total prize purse of $30,000.

Defending champion Samuel Ndereba (KEN), 30, headlines a men’s field that will be chasing Luke Metto’s 3-year-old course record of 1:02:57. After placing second here in 2005, Ndereba seized control of the 2006 B.A.A. Half Marathon at the 11-mile mark. He crossed the finish line in 1:03:03, tying the fourth fastest time ever run on the course, and falling just short of a new course record. Ndereba made his marathon debut in Boston this past spring, placing ninth in 2:17:04. With that time, he and his sister, four-time Boston Marathon champion and former world-record holder (2:18:47) Catherine, set a unique record: they now own the fastest combined brother/sister marathon time in history at 4:35:51.

Celedonio Rodriguez (Alamosa, CO), 26, the man who beat Ndereba two years ago, and placed fifth last year, will be looking to regain the top spot. Rodriguez took the entire elite field by surprise in 2005, seizing the lead in the first mile and never looking back en route to a 12-second win.

Challenging the two past champions will be Richard Kiplagat (KEN), 26, runner-up in 2006. In his half marathon debut, Kiplagat was the only man who could keep pace with Ndereba. He ultimately finished just 12 seconds back, in 1:03:15, the seventh fastest time ever run on the course. Joining these B.A.A. Half Marathon veterans will be Tom Nyariki (KEN), 36, who boasts a 5,000m best of 12:55.94, won the 2006 New York City Half Marathon with a time of 1:01:22.

Edna Kiplagat (KEN), 28, one of the year’s hottest road racers, headlines the women’s field. Kiplagat comes to Boston for the first time having already captured three major road racing titles in 2007, winning the Lilac Bloomsday 12K, Bay to Breakers 12K, and Bolder Boulder 10K earlier this year. Though she’s a relative newcomer to the half marathon distance, Kiplagat already owns a personal best of 1:09:32.
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Falmouth Road Race Generates $1.05M for Charities

Posted September 25th, 2007 at 6:22 PM by Martha Jones

Section: News & Results

The CIGNA Falmouth Road Race shattered its fund-raising record at last month’s 35th running, raising $1.05 million for the 42 non-profit groups it supports with its “numbers-for-nonprofits” program. Each year the race directors provide guaranteed entries, exempt from the lottery and with an extended deadline, to selected charities.

The charities then offer the entries to runners, who solicit donations for the non-profit. More than 600 people participated in the program this year. Runners in the 2006 race raised $861,318 and the total for the past five years is more than $3.5 million.

This year’s top fundraiser was Falmouth-based Compassionate Care ALS, which received over $119,000. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of Boston was a close second, with $118,925.

For more information: Click Here
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