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: Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Marathon Ace Goumri Added to Healthy Kidney 10-K

Posted May 12th, 2008 at 6:00 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Road Racing

One of the world’s top marathon runners, Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco, has been added to the field of next Saturday’s Healthy Kidney 10-K, the New York Road Runners announced today. Goumri, who turns 32 on May 21, was the #2 ranked marathoner in the world last year according to Race Results Weekly, finishing second at both the Flora London and ING New York City Marathons.

“Abderrahim returns to New York and the center stage against this formidable field for another step in a career that has been steadily on the rise the past few years,” said NYRR president and CEO Mary Wittenberg through a prepared statement.

Goumri was added to the field in the wake of defending champion Dathan Ritzenhein’s withdrawal due to injury. The speedy Moroccan hold’s his nation’s record for the marathon which he set last April when he finished third at the Flora London Marathon in 2:05:30. He’s no slouch at the 10 km distance, either, also holding his nation’s 10,000m record of 27:02.62. He’s also run 28:34 on the road.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Exciting Sprint Finishes Highlight RAK Half

Posted February 8th, 2008 at 11:00 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

No half-marathon in the world pays more prize money than the Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, and it looks like race organizers got their money’s worth with today’s edition.

The road race, in only its second year, wrapped up this morning with thrilling sprint finishes on both the men’s and women’s sides. When all the dust had settled, Kenyans Patrick Makau and Salina Kosgei were declared the winners, and will take home USD 25,000 (tax free!).

Makau, a lanky and boyish athlete at age 22, continued to be impressive over his signature distance of 21,097 meters, dipping under the one-hour mark for the fifth time in his still-budding career.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Gebrselassie Hoping for Perfect Race in Dubai

Posted January 16th, 2008 at 8:00 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Setting a world record is never easy, but it’s particularly difficult in the marathon. Not only must an athlete spend three to four injury-free months training for a single competitive effort, he must have near-perfect conditions: a flat course, excellent pacemaking, ideal weather, and a well-marked and measured course. A little luck doesn’t hurt, either.

Heading into Friday’s Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon,
Haile Gebrselassie is hoping that all of these factors will line up in his favor so he can break his own world standard of 2:04:26 set in Berlin last September. In short, he’s looking for the perfect race.

“The top priority is not the money,” Gebrselassie said referring to the $1 million bonus for a new world record race organizers have on offer. “It’s the race. But the marathon is not an easy event, you cannot predict. Everything is perfect, I hope it will be more perfect for the race.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Training for Dubai, Gebrselassie & Kiplagat Face Different Challenges

Posted January 7th, 2008 at 3:34 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

With the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon looming in just 11 days, Haile Gebrselassie and Lornah Kiplagat are making their final preprations, each facing their own special challenges.

Gebrselassie, the world record holder and #2-ranked marathoner in the world last year in Race Results Weekly’s rankings, is dreaming of the $1 million bonus on the line for toppling his own world best of 2:04:26 set in Berlin last September. Well, at least his Dutch manager Jos Hermens is.

“I and he are certain he can do under 2:04,” Hermens is quoted by race organizers as saying last week.

But Gebrselassie himself is more circumspect. “Yes, I did 2:04 in Berlin,” Gebrselassie told race organizers via telephone over the weekend. “But everything was perfect, the weather, the course, the pacemaking. Sure, it’s possible to do under 2:04, but everything has to be perfect again.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

World Record Holder Kiplagat To Run Dubai Marathon

Posted November 9th, 2007 at 12:42 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

The fastest woman ever over the half-marathon distance has decided to run twice as far at next January’s Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, organizers announced yesterday.

Lornah Kiplagat, the reigning IAAF world cross country and road running champion, has been lured to the desert by the chance to win a $1,000,000 bonus for the world record and also a $250,000 first prize, the largest in marathon running.

“When we announced the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon was being taken to the next level thanks to the support of Dubai Holding, our aim was to attract the very cream of long distance running,” said event director Peter Connerton through a media release.

Kiplagat, 33, was born in Kenya but became a Dutch citizen in 2003. At last October’s IAAF World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy, she scorched a pending world record for the half-marathon of 1:06:25, passing through 20-K in 1:02:57, also a pending world record.
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink

New WR Setter Gebrselassie Eyes Dubai Marathon

Posted October 1st, 2007 at 4:30 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Twenty four world records, and counting. The Haile Gebrselassie road show moves on from the latest addition to that list, a world record 2.04.26 in the real,_Berlin Marathon on Sunday. His next dates with destiny?

The Dubai Marathon on January 18, 2008, then the Olympic marathon in Beijing in August. But hasn´t someone (Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru) recently ´stolen´ the half-marathon world record from him?

“I have plans for that, but this will be a secret,” said Gebrselassie, who can be as entertaining in press conferences as he can be in breaking world records. “I´m discussing it with my manager. It´s one of my aims (to retrieve the record)”.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Record for Ritzenhein in NYC; Tops Mottram & Khannouchi at Healthy Kidney 10k

Posted May 19th, 2007 at 11:39 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Dathan Ritzenhein broke a ten year-old record here today, winning the third annual Healthy Kidney 10-K in 28:08.

Ritzenhein, 24, of Eugene, Ore., ran the second half of the hilly one-loop course around Central Park in 13:54, shaking off two-time champion Craig Mottram of Australia in the final kilometer. Ritzenhein ran the final 400m uphill in 68 seconds to surpass Paul Koech’s 1997 Central Park record of 28:10 set at the Trevira Twosome 10-K on essentially the same course. He also bettered Mottram’s race record of 28:13 set last year, and his own personal best of 28:11.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Khannouchi to make professional NYC road racing debut this weekend

Posted May 14th, 2007 at 12:37 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results

Former marathon world record holder and the only man to break 2:06 three times for the distance, Khalid Khannouchi, will make his professional road racing debut in New York City on Saturday at the third edition of the Healthy Kidney 10-K, event organizers announced today.

“At long last, America’s fastest marathoner will run here in New York City as our hometown favorite,” commented Mary Wittenberg, the president and CEO of the New York Road Runners.

At Saturday’s race, Khannouchi, 35, will face a stiff challenge from 2005 IAAF World Championships 5000m bronze medalist, Craig Mottram of Australia, and U.S. Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein. The field also contains American up-and-comers Matt Gonzeles, Patrick Gildea and Justin Young, plus a group of international challengers led by Michael Aish of New Zealand, Richard Kiplagat of Kenya and Andrew Letherby of Australia. Some of the top Tri-State club runners are also expected to take part.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Marathon in Dubai to Offer $1MM Prize Money Purse

Posted April 18th, 2007 at 1:11 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon announced last week that the next edition of their event, scheduled for Friday, January 18, 2008, would offer a $1,000,000 prize money purse plus an additional $1,000,000 world record bonus. Both the male and female winners will receive $250,000, the largest guaranteed prize money payments in marathon running.

The money will come from directly from Dubai’s ruler, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, whose official title is “Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai.”

The race, which had its 8th edition this year, implemented a new course for 2007. William Rotich of Kenya (2:09:53) and Magarsa Askale Tafa of Ethiopia (2:27:19) own the current course records, well north of the current men’s and women’s world records of 2:04:55 and 2:15:25 set by Paul Tergat and Paula Radcliffe, respectively, in Berlin and London in 2003.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Wanjiru lowers his Half-Marathon World Record

Posted March 18th, 2007 at 10:02 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Samuel Wanjiru lowered his own world record for the half-marathon today in The Hague, running 58:35 to win the 33rd City-Pier-City Half-Marathon.

His previous record of 58:53 (still subject to IAAF ratification) was set on Feb. 9, this year at Ras al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink