Running News Daily

Fast Fields Set For The Publix Atlanta Half-Marathon

After a special pandemic edition in 2021 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the Publix Atlanta Half-Marathon returns to city streets for the 2022 edition on Sunday, February 27.  The race, part of the Publix Atlanta Marathon Weekend organized by the Atlanta Track Club (ATC), will feature an elite field, a $17,000 prize money purse, and a $5,000 bonus pool for exceeding the fastest times ever run in the state of Georgia (1:08:29 for women and 1:03:59 for men).

Leading the women’s elite field will be Kenya’s Viola Cheptoo who, when she competed as a middle distance runner for Florida State University in the NCAA system, went by “Viola Lagat.”  The younger sister of two-time Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat will be running her first race since her dramatic marathon debut at the TCS New York City Marathon last November where she finished a close second to compatriot and Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir.  Her time of 2:22:44 was the third-fastest time in race history.  She’ll be incorporating the Publix Atlanta Half-Marathon into her Boston Marathon training.

“I am looking forward to it,” said Cheptoo who has never been to Atlanta before.  “I want to do well and build a relationship with the community, as I am aware of all the good work done by Atlanta Track Club.”

Cheptoo, who has a half-marathon best of 1:06:47, will face another strong Kenyan, Dorcas Tuitoek, who has run similarly fast: 1:06:33.  These two woman have an excellent chance of bettering the state record which was set by 2021 Olympic Marathon bronze medalist Molly Seidel at last year’s race.

North American athletes will also be represented on the women’s side, including Dakotah Lindwurm of Minnesota Distance Elite (1:09:36 PB), Maegan Krifchin of the Atlanta Track Club (1:09:51), and Canadian Lanni Marchant (1:10:47) a 2016 Olympian and the 2021 Honolulu Marathon champion.

The top entrants on the men’s side are also from Kenya, and both have broken 60 minutes for the half-marathon.  Benard Ngeno (59:07 PB) and Geoffrey Koech (59:36) are the fastest men in the field.  The top North Americans will be Canadian record holder Rory Linkletter (1:01:08 PB), Jonas Hampton of Newtonville, Mass. (1:03:57), and Matthew McDonald of the Boston Athletic Association High Performance team (1:04:48).  McDonald, the tenth place finisher at the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon, formerly trained with the ATC at Georgia Tech.  He now works at MIT in Cambridge, Mass.

The complete elite fields are below with personal best times:

Dorcas Tuitoek, KEN, 1:06:41Viola Cheptoo, KEN, 1:06:47Mary Munanu, KEN, 1:07:54Tsige Haileslase, ETH, 1:08:30Daisy Kimeli, KEN, 1:08:34Dakotah Lindwurm, USA, 1:09:36Maegan Krifchin, USA, 1:09:51Ludwina Chepngetich, KEN, 1:10:34Lanni Marchant, CAN, 1:10:47Leslie Sexton, CAN, 1:11:21Bridget Lyons Belyeu, USA, 1:12:24Grace Kahura, KEN, 1:12:49Janel Blanchett, USA, 1:13:43Anne-Marie Comeau, CAN, 1:14:09Joanna Stephens, USA, 1:14:23

Benard Ngeno, KEN, 59:07Geoffrey Koech, KEN, 59:36Raymond Magut, KEN, 1:00:00Bayelign Teshager, ETH, 1:00:30Bethwell Yegon, KEN, 1:00:57Rory Linkletter, CAN, 1:01:08Mike Cheshire, KEN, 1:03:45Jonas Hampton, USA, 1:03:57Matt McDonald, USA, 1:04:48Chris May, USA, 1:04:50Paul Hogan, USA, 2:15:51 (Marathon)

(02/17/2022) Views: 1,533 ⚡AMP
by David Monti

Olympian Molly Seidel wins Atlanta Half Marathon

Boston-area resident Molly Seidel won the Atlanta Half Marathon on Sunday, crossing the finish line of the 13.1-mile race with a time of 1:08.29.

Seidel, a Wisconsin native who lives with her sister in Cambridge, qualified for the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics by placing second in the event last year. The Olympics were later postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are now scheduled to begin on July 23.

The  conditions were cold and humid in Atlanta, but Seidel told the Boston Globe the humidity was good practice for Tokyo.

“It was really cool to be back here a year later under different conditions, but it’s always special to return to the place that it happened,” Seidel told the Globe.

Seidel will now begin a 12-15 week training regime for the Olympics. In September, she told ESPN she traveled to Flagstaff, AZ to train in preparation for altitude, and she used the additional time to “to gain more experience, train for an extra year, nail down my nutrition and run another marathon.”

Seidel competed in the London Marathon in October. She finished sixth overall and was the second-fastest American woman across the finish line with a time of 2:25.13.

(03/01/2021) Views: 1,716 ⚡AMP
by Tom Westerholm

Geraint Davies crosses the finish line to win the 2018 Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon at Georgia State Stadium

On a brisk holiday morning, more than 11,000 runners, walkers and volunteers kicked off their Thanksgiving festivities by participating in the Invesco QQQ Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon, 5K and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia One Mile & 50-Meter Dash. The celebration culminated with a brand new exciting finish line on the football field inside Georgia State Stadium near downtown Atlanta with family and friends cheering on loved ones from the stands. The event has become a tradition for many including half marathon winner Geraint Davies. Now a resident of Boston, Davies, 28, graduated from Emory University and returned to Atlanta for the holiday to run the race and see his parents. Davies broke the finisher tape in 1 hour, 12 minutes and 23 seconds. No stranger to today’s event, this marks Davies third Thanksgiving win in Atlanta. He last won the race in 2015. But this is his first finishing on the Georgia State Stadium field. “It was new and exciting,” he said in a news release. “Now the event combines two of my favorite things for the holiday; football and turkey.” On the women’s side, Grace Tavani, 22, took first, breaking the tape in 1:22:59. Tavani, currently a University of Georgia cross country runner said she was optimistic as she stood on the starting line this morning. (11/22/2018) Views: 1,879 ⚡AMP