TheFinalSprint.com - Track & Field, Marathons, Racing News, Training Advice, Elite Athlete Blogs, Interviews, Podcasts, Videos and More! - TheFinalSprint.com is the Premier Destination for Track & Field, Marathon, Cross Country, Olympic and Road Racing Enthusiasts.
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
Khannouchi set to lead Meb-less American bid at
Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon
Posted October 10th, 2007 at 6:23 PM by Martin Kennedy
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Former world and current American record holder in the marathon Khalid Khannouchi has never made an Olympic team in his historic career. Now, at the age of 35, Khannouchi leads the American bid at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon San Jose, Sunday, October 14, 2007, in preparation for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Men’s Marathon in New York City next month.
Without the 2006 women’s champion Silvia Skvortsova in this year’s field, Kenyan Edna Kiplagat returns to San Jose to better her second place finish from a year ago in the event’s inaugural running.
Khannouchi’s list of career accomplishments are impressive. He has won the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon four times. Twice he has set world records at the marathon, once in Chicago 1999 (2:05:42), and again in London 2002 (2:05:38) in what many in the running world believe to be the greatest marathon ever run.
Read the rest of this entry »
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
2004 Olympic Silver Medalists Keflezighi, Ndereba to Race at 35th Falmouth Road Race
Posted August 9th, 2007 at 9:30 AM by Martin Kennedy
Section: News & Results, Marathons
2004 Olympic Marathon silver medalists Meb Keflezighi of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. and Catherine Ndereba of Kenya are set to run at the 35th CIGNA Falmouth Road Race on Sunday morning, August 12.
The scenic waterfront seven-mile course winds from Woods Hole to Falmouth Heights. A field of 10,000 is expected, and prize money totaling $90,300 will be paid to the top international and U.S. finishers including $10,000 to each race champion.
Keflezighi will be challenged by the world’s top ranked 10,000 meter runner, Micah Kogo of Kenya, and three-time Falmouth champion John Korir, also of Kenya. Kogo, 21-years-old, ran a 2006 10,000m best of 26:35.63. This year, he also ranks first on the 10K road list (27:07).
Read the rest of this entry »
29th Annual Bolder Boulder: A Record Setting Day
Posted May 30th, 2007 at 7:00 AM by Courtney Albon
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Women from Kenya and Ethiopia set the pace in Sunday’s 29th annual Bolder Boulder 10K Memorial Day race. The rivals started strong, earning the top two spots in the individual women’s professional race. Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat was the first to cross the finish line with a time of 33:42 and Amane Gobena of Ethiopia finished second with a time of 33:59.
While Ethiopia took hold of the first place slot in the women’s international team challenge, the U.S. managed to follow them in second place with runners Elva Dryer, Kate O’Neill, and Sara Slattery placing third, sixth, and thirteenth respectively. Slattery, an Olympic hopeful who won the race last year, was disappointed with her performance.
“Sometimes it’s just not there,” Slattery said. “Every time someone would come up on me, I’d try to accelerate with them, but I didn’t have the gas today. I think the combination of a fast (first) mile and the heat might have done it.”
Read the rest of this entry »
VIDEO: Kiplagat, Harroufi reflect on their Boulder Boulder professional victories
Posted May 29th, 2007 at 7:15 PM by Martin Kennedy
Section: News & Results, Special Features, Interviews
Who was America's most-valuable male runner in 2008?
Recent Comments
Page 2 Articles
The Final Sprint
On January 9, 2009
Vry Disgusted said:
Why are you flogging this junk? What will be next - first we have flavored water - now jazzed...