At the inaugural Central Park Challenge here today, which incorporated the U.S. Men’s 8-K Championship, Jorge Torres (Pictured) and Shalane Flanagan won their respective races convincingly. But the paths taken to their titles were completely different.
In the men’s race, all eyes were on U.S. mile record holder, Alan Webb, running in only his fourth professional road race and his first race of 2008. Webb was on the lead with Christian Hesch at the first mile (4:36), and was right behind Andrew Carlson at the two mile mark (9:05). Carlson began to push the pace in the third mile (13:37), but Webb and Christian Hesch surged through the 5-K mark (14:10) where primes were awarded for the top-3 men (Webb was first with Hesch just behind).
Read the rest of this entry »
Building on a strong, second-place performance at the USA Cross Country Championship, Jorge Torres outlasted Andrew Carlson to win today’s USA 8K Championship in Central Park.
Torres earned the 8K national title with a time of 22:41.2, finishing 0.7 seconds ahead of Team USA Minnesota’s Andrew Carlson (22:41.9). Jason Hartmann (22:48), James Carney (22:52.5), and Fasil Bizuneh (23:02.1) completed the top five.
Alan Webb (23:31.3) finished a disappointing 16th in what was only his fourth professional road race and 2008 racing debut. However, David Monti reports that Webb was sick on Thursday night, probably the result of food poisoning. He and his coach, Scott Raczko, considered scratching him from the race, but Alan decided to start. There is little doubt that it affected his performance today.
Read the rest of this entry »
Weather.com is forecasting cloudy skies, temperatures around 43 degrees Fahrenheit, and 15mph winds for this morning’s 9am start time of the Central Park Challenge in New York City.
Hosted by the New York Road Runners (NYRR’s), the event includes the U.S. Men’s 8k Championship and a separate Invitational Women’s Race.
The top entrants in the men’s national championship are Alan Webb, who will be making his season debut, Jorge Torres, James Carney, Andrew Carlson, and Fasil Bizuneh. Shalane Flanagan comes in as the favorite for the women’s contest, but will face challenges from notables such as Team USA Minnesota’s Katie McGregor and Carrie Tollefson.
A total prize purse of $70,000 will be on the line, with $10,000 going to each race winner.
“The thing about Pre is that he ran as hard as he could every race, and if you were going to beat him, you were going to have to run harder than he did.”
- Bob Kennedy
Defending champions Thomas Dold of Germany and Suzy Walsham of Australia hope again to be the first to see daylight on the 86th floor observation deck of Manhattan’s tallest building when the 31st Empire State Run-Up is held here tomorrow morning.
Dold, a 22 year-old economics student from Stuttgart, is looking for his third victory in the unusual race up 1,576 steps which finishes outside on the building’s famous observation deck. Climbing two steps at a time, he won in both 2006 and 2007 and was second in 2005.
“There are no special tower running shoes,” said Dold, an accomplished mountain runner, at today’s New York Track Writers’s luncheon. He plans to wear a pair of road flats from his sponsor, Brooks.
Read the rest of this entry »
Defending champions Thomas Dold of Germany and Suzy Walsham of Australia will again be on the starting line of the unique NYRR Empire State Building Run-Up one week from today. It will be the 31st running of the world’s most famous stair climbing race, up 86 floors and 1576 steps of New York City’s highest skyscraper.
The 23 year-old Dold, an accomplished mountain runner from Germany, will be looking for his third consecutive victory. Prior to winning in 2006 and 2007, he finished in second place by less than a second to Rudolf Reitberger of Austria in the 2005 race. In that event the two men lunged for the finish line on the outdoor 86th floor observatory, both crashing to the concrete surface as a crush of photographers captured the moment.
Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to the official blog of rising U.S. track & field star
Jon Rankin; the inaugural member of TheFinalSprint.com’s
Elite Athlete Blog Series. Make sure to check back every other Wednesday for Jon’s latest entry.
It’s from the lovely island of Bermuda that I write this 4th blog entry. I’m a little late on updating everyone on my training and whereabouts. And, even though I write to you feeling sincerely apologetic I can confidently say that I have good reason for my tardiness—I was preparing for and competed in my first competition of the year this past Friday, January 18th here in Hamilton, Bermuda. The race is known as the KPMG Invitational Mile, which is part of a 3-day event called the Bermuda International Race Weekend. With the travel from San Diego to Bermuda coupled with preparation for the race I decided to wait until after the competition, when life slowed down, in order to give a more thorough update.
Leading up to my first competition of the year I felt very confident in how my training was progressing. And as I continued to cross off each day on the calendar reminding myself of how close the competition date was getting that confidence was most commonly challenged. In other words, I began to grow a little nervous; which is a reaction I would consider normal under the circumstances.
Read the rest of this entry »
One of the world’s most prestigious marathons, the Tokyo International Women’s Marathon, will be discontinued after its 30th edition next November, organizers announced yesterday.
“Yes, Asahi Shimbun, one of the organizers of Tokyo International Women’s Marathon, announced on Dec. 17, that 30th edition… to be held on Nov. 16, 2008, will be the last edition of this marathon,” wrote Wataru Ogushi, the elite athlete coordinator, in an e-mail message to the Race Results Weekly office.
Read the rest of this entry »
The North Face Endurance Challenge, a four-region, nationwide running event for outdoor athletes seeking to explore their personal limits, culminates in grand fashion on the Pacific shores north of San Francisco on December 1, 2007. The event, which offers distances of 10K, Half Marathon, 50K, and 50 Miles, is also the series’ championship event, where 50-mile participants will compete for the largest prize purse in trail ultrarunning. The male and female winners will each receive $10,000.
Many of the world’s most elite endurance runners have registered for the event in hopes of going home with the big prize. The entrant list is highlighted by several members of The North Face Endurance Team as well as many other legends of the sport that have never competed toe-to-toe.
Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: TrailFit.com
2000 Olympic gold medalist Maurice Greene is among the celebrity athletes making an appearance in a newly published book by Todd Gallagher, Andy Roddick Beat Me With A Frying Pan.
The book is one man’s mission to settle, once and for all, some fifty different sports debates, no matter how ridiculous. Gallagher gets answers from A-list names in every major sport, from Greene to LeBron James to Jason Giambi to Mike Tyson, and many others.
In the chapter, “What kind of a handicap would it take to beat an Olympic sprinter?” Gallagher’s editor takes on Greene in a footrace. The hitch: the editor gets a more than 30-meter head start and runs more than half the 100-meter race on a moving walkway.
Read the rest of this entry »
Check out this comprehensive list of summer marathons (June - August). We’ll soon be posting the Fall Marathon Calendar
as well.
June 2006
6/3/06 Forest of Nisene Marks Marathon, Aptos, CA
6/3/06 God’s Country Marathon, Coudersport, PA
6/3/06 Caring Foundation of Montana Governor’s Cup, Marysville, MT
6/3/06 Green River Marathon, Kent, WA
6/3/06 Newport Marathon, Newport, OR
6/3/06 Ridge Runner […]
I train endless hours climbing up and down the hills, the speedwork, the tempo runs, the long runs, the recovery days. How many miles did I log this week? Sixty? Seventy? The humidity got to me this week, I felt like I was dragging myself. The rain helped cool me off but it did […]
© 2006-2008 The Final Sprint, LLC | Privacy Policy | Design by The Blog Studio
The Final Sprint, LLC is owned and operated by Adam Jacobs
The Final Sprint