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.

Lead Stories: Thursday, August 28, 2008

Cheruiyot, Wami Lead Galaxy of Stars at World Marathon Majors Races This Month

Posted April 1st, 2008 at 10:49 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Marathons

The new era in long distance running continues with a galaxy of the sport’s brightest stars back in action this month as the World Marathon Majors series resumes at the Flora London Marathon and the 112th running of the Boston Marathon.

More than $850,000 in prize money, prestige and all important points in the race to crown the 2007-2008 WMM champions will be on the line in the British capital on Sunday, April 13 followed eight days later at the celebrated Hopkinton to Boston course on Monday, April 21.

Reigning women’s WMM champion Gete Wami of Ethopia leads the field in London while the WMM men’s champion Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot of Kenya tops the field in Boston.

In London, United States sensation Ryan Hall makes his first start since winning the US Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon race last fall in New York. It will be his second consecutive appearance in London, following his breakthrough seventh place finish last year in his 26.2-mile debut.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Philly Distance Run Joins
ING Family of Races

Posted February 7th, 2008 at 11:10 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

The Philadelphia Distance Run has become the latest event to join the ING family of road races, organizers announced today. This classic September half-marathon, which goes up and down the Schuylkill River, will now be known as the ING Philadelphia Distance Run.

“Elite Racing assumed management of the Philadelphia Distance Run in 2005 and has since worked hard to uphold its high standards and increase its visibility on the world’s stage, said Adam Zocks who manages the race for San Diego-based Elite Racing, Inc., a division of Competitor Group, Inc. “Our partnership with ING only adds to the prestige of the event.”

The race is consistently one of the fastest half-marathons in the United States. According to the independent Association of Road Racing Statisticians, the ING Philadelphia Distance Run has played host to three men’s world records (1982, 1985 and 1990) and two women’s world records (1983 and 1984).
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

2008 Previews & Predictions: Women’s Marathon

Posted January 24th, 2008 at 12:30 PM by Jared Markowitz

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics

The marathon promises to be one of the marquee events in women’s track and field in 2008. Among the highlights will be an epic showdown in London, a thrilling U.S. Olympic Trials, and Paula Radcliffe’s last chance at Olympic glory in Beijing. These and a few other huge races should provide many memorable moments and will define many careers. I will again try to make predictions based on as much hearsay, personal bias, and circumstantial data as I can gather.

The first big event on the 2008 women’s marathon calendar is the Flora London Marathon, which will be held on April 13. This race feature’s several of the world’s top female marathoners including World Record holder Radcliffe, World Marathon Majors Champ Gete Wami, Dubai Marathon champ Berhane Adere, Svetlana Zakharova, Constantina Tomescu-Dita, and Benita Johnson.
Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments, add yours | Permalink

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Lance Armstrong to Run Boston Marathon

Posted January 17th, 2008 at 1:22 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Lance Armstrong plans to extend his marathon career by running the 2008 Boston Marathon, the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced today. It will be his third marathon; he ran the ING New York City Marathon in both 2006 and 2007.

In a press release the B.A.A. took care to explain that Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion, had actually qualified for the race like any other runner by running a 2:46:43 at New York last November (the qualifying standard for men 35 to 39 is 3:15:00). Most of the 22,473 runners who entered Boston last year had to qualify, although some were granted entry through charity groups or other special entry programs.

As in his two previous marathons, Armstrong will be running to raise money for his Lance Armstrong Foundation, which pursues an agenda focused on cancer prevention, access to screening and care, the improvement of the quality of life for cancer survivors, and an investment in research. Armstrong survived testicular cancer which was diagnosed in 1996.
Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments, add yours | Permalink

Over 300,000 Entered
NYRR Races Last Year

Posted January 16th, 2008 at 9:18 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

The New York Road Runners are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, and the group of about 40 runners who founded the organization dedicated to improving the world through running and walking back in 1958 could never have imagined how it would have grown. The nonprofit NYRR now has 45,000 members, and last year 309,003 runners signed up for their year-round calendar of 62 events. 230,702 athletes of all ages and abilities finished their races.

By far their biggest event was the ING New York City Marathon. Over 100,000 runners requested entry, but only about half that number were accepted through a system of lotteries, guaranteed entries based on performance and participation in other NYRR races, charity groups, and international tour groups. Through the normal process of attrition, entries dwindled to around 40,000 by race week, and 38,607 actually finished the 42.195 km event from Staten Island to Manhattan. That made it the largest standard marathon in history.
Read the rest of this entry »

3 comments, add yours | Permalink

Hundreds Say Goodbye
To Vic Navarra

Posted January 5th, 2008 at 4:15 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Columns, SPOTLIGHT

Nearly 500 people filled Blessed Sacrament Church here this morning to bid their final goodbyes to Victor J. Navarra, the retired New York City Fire Department lieutenant who served as the start coordinator for the ING New York City Marathon for 25 years. Navarra died last Monday at the age of 55, having suffered for more than two years with sinus cancer.

In a life which was defined by service to others, Navarra was remembered for his roles as a family man and neighbor, a firefighter, and an event organizer. He joined the New York City Fire Department in 1977, rising to the rank of lieutenant, and serving 21 years for the department’s Ladder Company 35 in Manhattan.

“The word ‘dedicated’ didn’t even begin to describe Vic Navarra,” a fire department official said during the eulogy portion of Navarra’s funeral. “We have no better ambassador than Vic Navarra to show what this department is all about.”
Read the rest of this entry »

5 comments, add yours | Permalink

Note on the News: Video Report on Vic Navarra

Posted January 1st, 2008 at 2:26 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

The local all-news cable channel in New York City, NY1, has a video report posted on their website on Vic Navarra, the retired firefighter who worked as the start coordinator of the ING New York City Marathon for 25 years. To see the report, go to this link:

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=77040

Then click on either “DIAL UP” or “BROAD BAND” to see the report, depending on the speed of your internet connection. The report lasts two minutes and 25 seconds.

Comment on this post | Permalink

Lel & Wami Ranked #1 in Marathon in 2007 by RRW

Posted December 31st, 2007 at 2:24 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Race Results Weekly, the wire service of distance running, announced today that Ethiopian Gete Wami and Kenyan Martin Lel were the top-ranked marathon runners of 2007. RRW produced for the third time an annual top-10 marathoner ranking based on key victories, head-to-head competition, fast times, consistent performances in multiple races and, in some cases, heroic efforts.

“Lel was a clear choice for us by winning both London and New York, a feat no man had ever accomplished” said Editor & Publisher, David Monti. “However, it was much closer on the women’ side between Wami and China’s Zhou Chunxia.”

Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments, add yours | Permalink

NYC Firefighter & Marathon Coordinator Victor Navarra Succumbs to Cancer at 56

Posted December 31st, 2007 at 10:30 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Victor Navarra, the retired New York City firefighter who was the start coordinator of the ING New York City Marathon for 25 years, died this morning after being in a coma for two days. He was 56 and had suffered from cancer which had begun in his sinuses.

“The more someone gives in life, the harder it is to lose them,” said ING New York City Marathon race director, Mary Wittenberg, in a prepared statement. “Vic was a giver. In every way. Of his time, energy, emotions and passions.”

Although he was retired, Navarra volunteered to work at Ground Zero after the attacks of 9/11 in 2001, spending long hours on “the pile” as the rescue workers called the massive heap of rubble left after the World Trade Center was brought down. In 2005 he was diagnosed with malignant tumors adjacent to his sinuses. Efforts to eradicate the cancer failed, and Navarra’s health was failing in the lead-up to this year’s marathon. Nonetheless, he was still engaged in the planning process and was still at the start of the race despite losing his eyesight to the cancer.
Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments, add yours | Permalink