Running News Daily

Cape Town Marathon primed to become Africa’s first Abbott World Marathon Major

The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon has recently made significant strides in its journey to join the international Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMM) series after the 2024 edition met the criteria set out by the AbbottWMM team.

Cape Town will now proceed to the second stage of the candidacy process in its attempt to join the series when it stages its next marathon on October 19, 2025. If it is successful, the race would join the Majors in 2026. This follows the recent addition of the TCS Sydney Marathon, which was announced as the seventh Abbott World Marathon Major event and will take place as a Major on August 31, 2025.

Current AbbottWMM events are: Tokyo Marathon, Boston Marathon, TCS London Marathon, BMW-Berlin Marathon, Bank of America Chicago Marathon, TCS New York City Marathon and most recently the TCS Sydney Marathon.

“Cape Town has continued its impressive progress since joining the candidacy process, and we are thrilled that it has now met all of our criteria for the first time,” said AbbottWMM CEO, Dawna Stone.

“We know how much the city, the country and the whole continent want the race to become Africa’s first Major, and they have taken a great step in the right direction.”

Behind the scenes, Infront’s partnership with the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, which got under way in 2021, has helped to support the event’s application.

Hans-Peter Zurbruegg, Senior Vice President Active Lifestyle at Infront, said “Meeting the AbbottWMM criteria in 2024 for the first time reflects a true milestone on the journey to making our vision of the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon becoming part of the AbbottWMM Series as Africa’s first Major a reality.

“Sanlam Cape Town marathon will capture the imaginations of a global running community with its unique African spirit and the unlimited touristic offers that the area of Cape and South Africa as a country has to offer.

“This milestone is the result of the enormous efforts made by the local Cape Town marathon team, and the close partnership with all stakeholders involved that all share the same vision and want to shape the future of running, putting Cape Town as a city and Africa as a continent onto the world map of running.”

The next Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, Africa’s only World Athletics Gold Label marathon, will take place on Sunday, October 19, 2025. As one of the continent’s most prestigious marathons, it offers participants a scenic route through Cape Town’s landmarks, showcasing its scenery and cultural heritage.

In 2024, the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon achieved a milestone by successfully passing stage one of the rigorous Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMM) evaluation process. It now sets its sights on passing stage 2 in 2025, as it strives to become Africa’s first Major.

The marathon weekend also features a range of events, including the 10km and 5km Peace Runs and the 44km Trail Marathon, 22km Trail, and 11km Trail on Saturday, October 18, 2025. These events cater to runners of all abilities, whether on the road or trail.

The official expo, where participants can collect their race packs and explore various running products, will be held at the DHL Stadium fon October 16-18 October 2025.

With the support of our title sponsor Sanlam, alongside partners such as adidas and the City of Cape Town, the event continues to attract top-tier athletes and running enthusiasts from around the world.

(11/22/2024) Views: 44 ⚡AMP
by Gary

U.S. running tourism company using disguised Russian plane for Antarctic race

Canadian Running has learned that Runbuk, the U.S.-based running tourism company that recently took over the World Marathon Challenge, is using Canadian and American-sanctioned Russian aircraft to transport participants from Cape Town to its race at Novolazarevskaya Station (Novo) in Antarctica, scheduled for Nov. 7.

The Antarctic Ice Ultra event is promoted as the first-ever 24-hour race on the continent. The U.S. government imposed sanctions on the Russian airline Volga-Dnepr in August 2024 (following similar sanctions from the U.K. Canada and the European Union). Runbuk’s use of a sanctioned Russian airline, Volga-Dnepr, for flights to the race location prompts serious questions about their actions, especially given the substantial financial investment from each participant (USD $19,500) to run the race.

Concealing the identity of the aircraft

The identity of the Volga-Dnepr Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft (RA-76952) transporting participants from Cape Town, South Africa, to Antarctica on Nov. 6 has been altered to conceal the plane’s Russian origins.

It was found that Runbuk used the South African logistics company Ultima Antarctic Expeditions to organize transport; South Africa has no sanctions against the Russian airline. But the plane’s identity has been altered to conceal its Russian origins. A photograph shows that the Volga-Dnepr markings on the aircraft have been changed to read, ANTARCTICA, and the Russian flag (on the tail) has been replaced with an image.

Despite these efforts, evidence of the airline’s identity (Volga-Dnepr) remains accessible. Public flight tracking data reveals the flight numbers associated with the Volga-Dnepr aircraft (VDA9018/VDA9020), and flight history shows the plane’s recent travels, including routes from Ulyanovsk, Russia, to Cape Town.

In Canada, violating sanctions is considered a criminal offense, investigated and enforced by the Canadian Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Under the United Nations Act, the maximum penalty for conviction can be a fine of $100,000, a one-year prison sentence, or both.

According to the website, there are 13 participants in the inaugural Antarctic Ice Ultra. Seven are from countries that have sanctions against the airline. No Canadian runners are believed to be involved.

Runbuk is owned by Oliver Wang and Renna Hu, who operate within the landscape of global marathon tourism. The couple has strong ties to many Abbott World Major Marathon events worldwide, acting as the official tourism agent for the London Marathon and facilitating travel for many U.S. runners. Their company is also behind the World Marathon Challenge, set for Novo Station in January 2025, where participants will attempt to complete seven marathons across seven continents in seven days.

The Antarctic Ice Ultra flight is scheduled to leave Cape Town on Wednesday at 6:30 a.m. local time. 

(11/09/2024) Views: 107 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine

Sydney Marathon joins Abbott World Marathon Majors, becoming first new addition in over a decade

The Sydney Marathon has been added as the seventh Abbott World Marathon Major, marking it as the first new addition since Tokyo in 2013 and promising to elevate global recognition and participation in Australian marathon running.

The Sydney Marathon has been added to the list of Abbott World Marathon Majors, becoming the first city to join the prestigious lineup since Tokyo 11 years ago.

Sydney started the bid some years back but the organisers of the marathon and the city had to go through certain processes and make changes to join the other six majors. They include the London Marathon, Boston, Chicago, New York, Berlin and Tokyo Marathons.

In Oceania, the Sydney Marathon is the largest race over the 42km distance. The marathon also registered record numbers, 20,272, at this year’s edition of the event. Next year’s event will be held on August 31 and the marathon will be hosted as a World Marathon Major, attracting world-class athletes and gaining enough recognition.

Abbott World Marathon Major CEO Dawna Stone expressed his excitement following the addition of the Sydney Marathon to the list. He disclosed that the relevant stakeholders have been working around the clock and they for sure deserve such recognition.

“I am thrilled that Sydney will become the seventh Abbott World Marathon Major. The team in Sydney has been working towards this day, every day, for more than three years, and to see the improvement in their operations and event experience to the point where we can now call them a major has been deeply impressive,” said Abbott WMM CEO Dawna Stone.

“We cannot wait to see our community embrace this race as a Major and start planning their visits to run the streets of one of the finest cities in the world. Runners, your Sydney star awaits.”

The current six-star medal will remain for those striving to complete the original races but later on, there could be a nine-star medal, with two other marathons looking to become World Marathon Majors races.

“Becoming the seventh Abbott World Marathon is just incredible for the event, the city of Sydney and the State of New South Wales. We could not have achieved the incredible growth and uplift in delivery to make it into the Majors if it wasn’t for the support of the NSW Government and Destination NSW plus our key partners TCS and ASICS,” said Wayne Larden, race director of the Sydney Marathon.

“Our team is rated and has put in so much work to make this happen. It is really special for all of us. This amazing milestone is going to have a profound impact on running in Australia, inspiring the community to become marathoners and do something special for themselves, their families and friends. Community health will benefit alongside a huge increase in fundraising.”

(11/04/2024) Views: 136 ⚡AMP
by Abigael Wafula

Defending champions Morgan Beadlescomb and Annie Rodenfels return to the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5k

New York City Marathon weekend kicks off with a much-anticipated USATF 5 km Championships at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5k on Saturday, November 2, taking place the day before the 53rd running of the TCS New York City Marathon.

The USATF 5 km Championships at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5k are the 11th stop on the 2024 USATF Running Circuit. Live coverage of this year’s championships will be broadcast on USATF.TV, starting at 8:20 a.m. ET, with the men’s race going off at 8:30 a.m. and the women starting five minutes after at 8:35 a.m. 

Defending champions Morgan Beadlescomb and Annie Rodenfels return to the streets of Midtown Manhattan after winning last year’s USATF 5km Championships in their respective races. 

The former Michigan State Spartan Beadlescomb surged away from Ahmed Muhumed, Tai Dinger and Daniel Schaffer in the final stretch to win last year’s men’s title in 13:44, besting the field by a comfortable three seconds to claim his first USATF crown. 

Looking to become the first men’s repeat champion since Ben True in 2011-12 when the USATF 5 km Championships were held in Providence, R.I., Beadlescomb will take on another tough field that will feature Muhumed (second), Schaffer (fourth) and Brian Barazza (fifth) from last year’s race, as well as a handful of others with impressive credentials.

Beadlescomb could also become the first male athlete to win two USATF 5 km Championships titles at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5k course, along with 2019 USATF 5 km champion Anthony Rotich making his way back into the field for the first time since winning the 2019 title.

Muhumed is the only competitor in the field that has won a USATF title this year on the USATF Running Circuit, winning the USATF 8 km Championships back in July in Kingsport, Tennessee. The USATF 8 km Championships were also the last time Muhumed raced this year. 

Sam Chelanga, Sam Prakel and Josh Thompson join Beadlescomb, Rotich and Muhumed as three more USATF national champions set to race, bringing the total to six national champions in Saturday’s field. 

Chelanga, a two-time USATF champion, will go after his first USATF national title since 2016 when he won the USATF 10 Mile title. He’s raced twice this season on the USATF Running Circuit, finishing third at the USATF 10 km Championships and fourth at the USATF 20 km Championships. 

Prakel, the 2023 USATF Road Mile champion, and Thompson, the 2020 USATF Indoor 1500 champion, are both eyeing a second national title of their own. 

Parlympian and New York native Michael Brannigan is slated to race after competing for the United States at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, where he came away with his second Parlympic medal in the men’s T20 1500, earning bronze to go with his 2016 gold from the Rio Games. 

Derek Johnson, Titus Winder and Kirubel Erassa will be other names to watch out for in the men’s race. 

Rodenfels earned her first USATF national title by defeating Rachel Smith by four seconds in last year’s women’s race, running 15:22. 

Rodenfels has since won another USATF national title earlier this season, winning the 2024 USATF 6 km Championship race by 13 seconds on July 13 in Canton, Ohio. 

With a win on Saturday, Rodenfels could join Weini Kelati as the only competitors to repeat as USATF 5 km champions at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5k course and the sixth woman to complete consecutive national titles in the history of the USATF 5 km Championships. 

Challenging Rodenfels will be Emma Grace Hurley, who will be racing in her seventh USATF Running Circuit race this year, with her latest effort being a third-place finish at the USATF 10 km Championships in Northport, New York, on September 21. 

Hurley, who was ninth at last year’s USATF 5 km Championships, has finished as high as second place in two USATF Running Circuit races this year at the USATF 8 km Championships and the USATF Cross Country Championships. 

Susanna Sullivan and Natosha Rogers are a pair of veterans coming off great races in their recent outings looking to mix it up in the top half of the field. 

Sullivan completed this year’s Chicago Marathon as the top American, running a lifetime best of 2:21:56 to finish seventh overall, making her the 10th-fastest American marathoner in history. 

Rogers won the Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile in St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 6, in 52:29 just two weeks after finishing second at the USATF 10 km Championships. 

Logan Jolly, Cailie Logue and Elena Hayday are other competitors entered in this year’s USATF 5 km Championships with past results on this year’s USATF Running Circuit. 

2023 Cross Country champion Katie Wasserman adds some intrigue to the field, running in her first road race since 2022.

About the USATF Running Circuit

The USATF Running Circuit is a USATF road series featuring USATF championships from one mile through marathon and consistently attracts the best American distance runners with more than $500,000 awarded in total prize money. A total of $60,000 in prize money will be awarded at the USATF 5 km Championships. 

The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USATF Running Circuit race. For the USATF 5 km Championships, scoring is set as 15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, with those earning the most points receiving prize money at the end of the series. 

The mission of the USATF Running Circuit is to showcase, support and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USATF Running Circuit and its race have provided over $7 million to U.S. Distance runners.

(11/01/2024) Views: 157 ⚡AMP
by Keenan Gray

Jenny Simpson is Retiring after the New York City Marathon and Starting a New Adventure

After concluding a stellar, 20-year career, the Olympic bronze medalist will embark on a 50-state running-infused van-life tour of the U.S. with her husband, Jason, in 2025

Jenny Simpson will go down in the annals of American running as one of the greatest of all time. No question about it.

So as she approaches what is likely the last elite-level race of her long and storied career at the November 3 New York City Marathon, she has nothing to prove, no one to impress, and no specific performance goal that she needs to attain to secure her legacy.

As a four-time global championship medalist in the 1500 meters—including a victory in the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, Diamond League title in 2014, and bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics—Simpson has long been destined to go down as one of the best runners in U.S. history.

Add to that three Olympic appearances, 11 U.S. titles, three NCAA championships, eight top-10 finishes in international championships, eight Fifth Avenue Mile victories, six NCAA records (in six different events), and two American records (in the 3,000-meter steeplechase), and Simpson will rank among American legends for decades to come.

The fact that she’s been earnestly training to finish her career with a strong marathon performance in New York City epitomizes much of what the 38-year-old runner from Boulder, Colorado, has been about during her 20-year career. She’s not necessarily going out on top—that, she says, would have entailed making the U.S. Olympic team in the marathon for the Paris Olympic Games. But she is going out on her terms: focused, tenacious, and relentless to the end. It’s an opportunity afforded to few athletes, and even fewer distance runners.

“When I say I’m feeling good, it’s that I’m really excited for New York and I feel like I have a really, really good sense about my ability to run well,” she says. “I’m not going into it saying I’m gonna set the world on fire and be the top American or run 2:25 on that course. But I just know as good as I feel and as good as the training has gone, I know I’m capable of having a good day, and, most importantly, I have peace about it all.”

But as this chapter of life closes for Simpson, another very exciting one is about to begin, and that one will include quite a bit of running, too. She and her husband, Jason, are planning to embark on a year-long tour of the U.S. in 2025 that will take them—and their two Jack Russell Terriers, Truman and Barkley—to all 50 states while living out a van-life adventure focused on immersing in America’s thriving running culture.

From participating in races and visiting national parks to running iconic routes like Rim to Rim across the Grand Canyon and discovering hidden trails, Jenny and Jason have said their goal is to capture the heartwarming and inspiring essence of the country through the eyes of runners.

“We want to experience the beauty of this country firsthand, meet the incredible people who call it home, and celebrate everything that makes the U.S. so special,” says Jenny Simpson, who has represented the U.S. on the world stage for nearly two decades. “Through this journey, we hope to show that America’s beauty is not just in its landmarks, but in its people and the unique places they live, run, and explore.”

Out of the Ashes

In December of 2021, a devastating wildfire ripped through the south end of Boulder County—including the communities of Marshall, Louisville, and Superior, where it burned more than 1,084 homes and killed two residents and more than 900 pets. Miraculously, it didn’t burn the Simpson’s house—a restored circa-1900 schoolhouse they bought several years ago that was less than a half mile from the fire’s origin—but the house did incur significant smoke damage that needed mitigating.

The Simpsons were displaced and spent several months living in an apartment with little furniture, which forced them to live a rather spartan lifestyle. While Jason was still able to work as a creative director for a design firm, Jenny’s contract hadn’t been renewed by New Balance, and she wasn’t sure what the future held.

During that time, she had been doing a weekly call with her sister, Emily, and Jason’s sister, Annie, to discuss the book Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life, a guide aimed at helping people to reimagine their professional and personal lives. It was through those discussions that Jenny came up with an idea of buying a Winnebago so she and Jason could drive around the country with Truman, who they rescued in 2020 just before the Covid lockdown. (They got Barkley about three years later.)

“My idea was that we can just drive around America and see the place that I’ve had stamped across my chest on my Team USA gear all these years,” she says. “I have been on Team USA, but I really want to know what that means. I’ve raced in some amazing places all around the world, but I really haven’t seen much of our own country. I want to go see the places and the people that I haven’t seen. And then I had this idea of doing a 50 states, 50 weeks tour.”

Jenny told Jason about the idea and he was interested from the start, but it was initially just a fun distraction while Jenny was battling injuries. Jason was so intrigued, though, that he started searching for information about vans online and indulging in YouTube content from a variety of van-life influencers. Eventually, Jenny was healthy and racing on the roads for Puma, ultimately with a quest to qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon.

A year later, they were still casually talking about the enticing “what if” possibilities of owning a van.

“So by 2023, we were like, ‘What do these vans look like? What do they cost? What kind of different layouts are best?” says Jason, 40, a 20-time marathoner with a 2:18:44 personal best. “And then I got really into the travel influencer YouTube videos and at some point told Jenny, ‘Hey, let’s just go look at them.’ And that led to looking at the timelines of: if we were to do this in 2024 or 2025, what would it take? It takes like a long time to build out the vans, and we are definitely not build-it-yourself van people.”

On Her Own Terms 

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Simpson’s career has been her consistency. She qualified for every U.S. national team on the track between 2007 and 2019. Not only did she put in the work and remain virtually injury-free during that time, but she also raced fiercely and rose to the occasion every single time without a single hiccup in any of her preliminary races. (She also made it to the 1500-meter final of the Covid-delayed U.S. Olympic Trials in 2021 at age 35 after what she admitted was a rough gap in competition during the pandemic.)

For most of that time, she was coached by her University of Colorado coaches Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs. They continued coaching her as she transitioned to road running over the past three years and ultimately to the build-up to the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in Orlando, Florida. Although she had brief moments of success on the roads—finishing second in the U.S. 10-mile championship in 2021 and turning in a solid ninth-place, 1:10:35 effort in the Houston Half Marathon in 2023—the first injuries of her career disrupted her training and delayed her debut at 26.2 miles until the Olympic Trials.

Over the past three years, continuing to adhere to the rigid lifestyle needed to keep racing competitively was increasingly met at an internal crossroads of wondering when it would feel OK to retire and move on in life and what that would look like.

“Running the Olympics Trials and then running Boston, I would say those were not successful outings,” Simpson says. “I did the best that I could and I got as prepared as I could, but they weren’t what I had hoped for, neither of them were what I’m capable of. I’m really proud of how I ran in Boston because I ran entirely alone after mile 3, but that’s not how I wanted to end my career.”

After Boston, Jenny still wasn’t ready to retire. But she’d heard the chatter that suggested she could give up the ghost and not try to remain competitive on the roads, knowing her legacy was already secure. After she took some time off to recover and reflect, she knew she wanted to get back into training and target one more race on the biggest stage and settled on the New York City Marathon.

She parted ways with Wetmore and Burroughs in the spring and decided to train on her own, although she’s continually received subtle guidance from Jason, who qualified for and raced in the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta. Although he has imparted bits of knowledge to help keep her balanced, Simpson has been following a training plan in her marathon buildup that she designed.

From Best in the U.S. to Across the U.S.

Casual interest in buying a van led to more in-depth investigation and, after what was an otherwise random training run on the dirt roads north of Denver last year, they passed an RV sales lot and decided to take a look. One thing led to another and they put down a small, refundable deposit that would hold a fully appointed 23-foot Winnebago Ekko during what was expected to be nearly a year-long wait until it was built and delivered.

Fast forward to 2024 and Jenny made her marathon debut on February 3 in Orlando, but it didn’t go at all as she had hoped. She had been running among the top 20 early in the race but  eventually dropped out at mile 18. She returned 10 weeks later to run a respectable Boston Marathon in mid-April (she placed 18th overall in 2:31:39 and was the fourth American finisher), and although her effort was commensurate with her inner drive—and some degree of success felt good—she still wasn’t ready to call it a career.

Finally, in April, several days before they were going to travel to Boston, the RV dealership called and told them the van had arrived and they had a week to consider buying it. At that point, Jenny was eager to run Boston to make amends for her Olympic Trials experience, but she was also physically and emotionally fried.

“And I was like, we’re doing it,” she says. “It was the perfect time in the perfect year. Because I was like, ‘I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to be done.’ It was killing me. I actually might perish in the middle of the Boston Marathon. I just was so burnt out, and so it was the perfect time for them to call and essentially say, ‘Do you want to drive away into the sunset?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, I do. I really do.’” 

Two days after the Boston Marathon, they paid the remainder of the balance on the van and picked it up, immediately sending them into daydreaming mode about where they wanted to go.

Although their plans are still being formulated, they intend to rent their house and hit the road with the charming dogs in January, officially starting their “Jenny and Jason Run USA” tour in Florida. Along the way, they plan to see numerous sights, host or join at least one fun run in every state, promote dog adoptions by publicizing local humane societies, and create a wide range of engaging social media content on their Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube accounts along the way. Given that their longest stint in the van so far was the six-day trip they took to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming early last summer, they know they’re going to have to learn on the fly and continually adapt. But that’s what an adventure is all about.

“I’ve been nothing but focused on running New York, but I am excited about what’s next,” Jenny said this week. “As I have been tiptoeing toward the idea of being retired from professional running, I don’t know that I’m going to be really great at it or that it’s going to come easily for me. That’s why it’s so wonderful to have a partner in life like Jason because I think he sees that, too. So our goal is to create a lot of time and space to figure that out. I think the year will be kind of interesting and fun and wild and I really don’t know how it’ll end up, and I think that’s really good.”

Approaching the End … and a Beginning

Simpson admits her post-Boston malaise contributed to her having an inconsistent summer of training, in part because she was listening to voices that suggested she should relax and not be so rigid in her approach. When she showed up to run the Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, on August 3, she admits she wasn’t very fit, and, as a result, finished a distant 12th in 34:30.

“My Beach to Beacon race was just so bad that it was like validation to me that caring less and trying less doesn’t work for me ever in anything,” she said. “I’m just not that person. It works for some people, but that’s not who I am. I used to joke that when you show up to the track and someone asks, ‘How do you feel?’ I always thought to myself it doesn’t matter how I feel. It’s about doing the work. I always feel like it’s execution over emotion for me all the time and that I have a job to do. I know who I am and I know how I operate, and how I operate is great.”

Simpson got back to work immediately after that race, ramping up her weekly mileage to the 100-mile range in the high altitude environs of Colorado. She says she’s done more than half of her long runs between 8,500 and 10,500 feet, including runs on Magnolia Road above Boulder, Golden Gate Canyon State Park near Golden, and even a loop around the paved Mineral Belt Trail in Leadville.

Her return to rigidity and improved fitness helped bring mental clarity that not only convinced her that she’d be ready to run a strong marathon in New York City, but also brought the revelation that she was ready to admit it was her last race knowing it would allow her to retire on her own terms.

Two months after feeling flat in the 10K, she won the Wineglass Half Marathon on October 5 in Corning, New York, running a near-PR of 1:10:50 (5:24 per-mile pace) as she ran stride-for-stride to the finish line with Jason. (She broke the women’s finisher’s tape for the win, while he ran slightly to the side as the 12th-place men’s finisher and 13th overall.) Now she’s likely in sub-2:30 marathon shape, even though the hilly New York City Marathon course is as equally challenging as Boston in its own way. Jason, meanwhile, will race in the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K the day before the marathon, not only so he can track Jenny on Sunday and meet her at the finish line, but also because he’s running the California International Marathon on December 8.

2025 and Beyond

Simpson arrived in New York City on October 30 healthy, happy, and ready to run hard—definitely not the feeling of holding on for dear life that she felt going into the Olympic Trials and the Boston Marathon. She says she couldn’t be more excited to run through the city’s five boroughs to the finish line in Central Park that she hopes will come with a satisfying result, as well as the beginning of closure to her star-spangled career.

Who knows what’s next after that—Coaching? Law school? A corporate career with a shoe brand? The world seems to be her oyster, but for the time being the cross-country tour might be just what she needs most. She’s excited to detach a bit from the rigid schedule and identity she’s clung to for the past 20 years and enjoy the freedom of the open road. She knows it will be a complete departure from the essence of what she’s all about, and to that point, she’ll likely dig into planning and scheduling early next week even before she recovers from the marathon.

Although she admits she was intrigued while watching some of the top runners finish the Leadville Trail 100 this summer, she says she’s decidedly not interested in running ultras. (However, Jason might be, and Jenny says she’s been keen to pace and crew him.) She might get more into trail running, something she did a little bit early in her University of Colorado career. Or she might even return to road running, but she’s not thinking that far ahead. For now, she’s focused on racing in New York and then continuing to run in 2025—on the magical mystery tour that awaits—and beyond.

“I feel a lot of peace about it, but it’s not like I’m over running. I want to retire so I can do more running and to explore the beautiful country I raced for,” she says. “I wanted to be world class at the marathon, and I’m not. I gave it a good try, and now it’s time to try something else, and I just feel really good about it.”

(10/31/2024) Views: 157 ⚡AMP
by Brian Metzler

Glenrose Xaba Shatters South African and Sanlam Cape Town Marathon Records on Debut

There was delight for South Africa as Glenrose Xaba shattered the National and Sanlam Cape Town Marathon records, on marathon debut; on Sunday, 20 October. The current South African 5 000 and 10 000 meter, as well as the 10 kilometer road record holder, clocked an impressive time of 2 hours, 22 minutes, and 22 seconds, to shave 1 minute and 40 seconds off the course record (2 hours, 24 minutes, and 2 seconds) as well as a further second off Gerda Steyn’s previous best marathon time for a South African (2 hours, 24 minutes, and 3 seconds).

The 2024 men’s champion, Abdisa Tola also broke the course record – though his impressive feat was somewhat overshadowed by the South African Air Force Gripen fly over which Xaba’s performance received.

Xaba was joined on the start line by 16 800 fellow starters as well as the deepest ever field assembled for a marathon on African soil. Sadly, the Cape Doctor, as the Mother City’s prevailing summer south easterly wind is known, did not get the memo. The rest of the city pulled together though and the crowds countered the winds with raucous cheers along the route. Their applause, the support of the City of Cape Town local government, and the new record times will all aid the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon’s cause in its bid to become an Abbott World Marathon Majors event in the coming years.

The goal of Abbott World Marathon Majors status, in 2026, may still be on the horizon but Xaba’s dreams came true on the blue carpet in the shadow of the DHL Stadium. She and her fellow elite women had started fast, with the pace setters maintaining a tempo better than the record pace. Fellow South African pre-race favorite, Cian Oldknow, opted not to go with the pace makers and was out of contention for a podium place early in the piece.

One by one the women dropped from the group, but Xaba and Mare Dibaba Hurssa, in particular, ensured the pace never eased off. It was a surprise when the defending champion, Tsige Haileslase, was distanced near the 30 kilometre mark. This was the first sure sign that records would tumble.

Coming into the final 10 kilometers only Kenyna’s Pascalia Chepkogei remained in contention with the South African and the 2015 World Marathon Champion. After stretching their legs on the downwind gallop through Sea Point the top three turned for home with 4 kilometers to go. This U-turn meant they would run the closing kilometers into a headwind, which suited the powerful style of Xaba. She distanced Chepkogei and finally Dibaba Hurssa, to enter the finishing straight alone.

Soaking up the applause, Xaba crossed the line with both the South African and Sanlam Cape Town Marathon records comfortably secured. “I didn’t want to say before the race, but my goal had been the course record,” Xaba smiled. “I didn’t want to put extra pressure on myself. Even if I had finished in 2:26 I would have been happy, because this was my first marathon. But I’m honestly shocked to have broken the course and national record. I’m humbled to have taken Gerda [Steyn]’s South African record.”

Reflecting not only upon her rival’s stellar debut but also on Ruth Chepngetich’s World Record breaking run in Chicago, the week before, Dibaba Hurssa said: “The women’s marathon is getting really, really, fast. I hope that this generation will keep setting faster times and that the generation to come are inspired by them to run even quicker.”

“I was feeling really strong and my training had made me very relaxed coming into the race,” Xaba noted. “From kilometers 5 to 25 I felt good, the first 21 kilometers were basically a tempo run for me. Then for a bit until the 33 kilometer mark I had to stay strong, focused, and brave because I dropped off the front group slightly. Once I worked my way back, I felt good again and was able to push to the finish.”

“I want to thank my manager, my coaches, and my team at Caster Semenya Training Group!” the 2024 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon champion concluded.

Xaba’s margin of victory was 15 seconds over Dibaba Hurssa. Chepkogei was third, 28 seconds off Xaba’s winning time. Viola Chepngeno and Emmah Cheruto Ndiwa, both of Kenya, completed the top five places. Oldknow finished thirteenth, 20 minutes down.

In the men’s race the battle for victory went into the final kilometers too. It had seemed from early in race that the battle for victory would be fierce, but only a fast second half ensured that the course record was broken. Having set the previous best men’s time in 2018 Stephen Mokaka was the chief pace maker for the 2024 race.

He took a strong lead group through the first 25 kilometers in 1:16:47 before the attacks splintered the field. South African favorite, Melikhaya Frans was the first to surge as they passed through Observatory. His move pulled five Ethiopians clear, these included the eventual winner as well as Gaddisa Tafa Dekeba, Mitku Tafa Dekeba, Adeladlew Mamo Gebreyohannes, and Adane Kebede Gebre.

Over the next 5 kilometers the men from the mountainous nation worked Frans out of the lead group and then whittled it down to just Mitku Tafa Dekeba, the defending champion Kebede Gebre, and Tola. “Once we passed the 33 kilometer mark I knew the three of us would be battling for victory,” Mitku Tafa Dekeba reflected. “At that point I was happy it would be an Ethiopian 1, 2, and 3.”

Mitku Tafa Dekeba was the first of the three to suffer as they rounded the final bend and began the headwind slog along Beach Road in Sea Point towards the Green Point finish line. This left Kebede Gebre and Tola in a two-way tussle for the title. Striding into the wind the younger Tola brother, whose elder brother Tamirat Tola was crowned Olympic Marathon Champion in Paris, was able to dig deep and surge clear.

With the win secured Tola was able to enjoy the finish line and celebrate his new course record. Crossing the line in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 16 seconds the 24 year old did enough to shave 15 seconds off Mokaka’s six year old benchmark. Kebede Gebre had to be content with second, 16 seconds back. Mitku Tafa Dekeba completed the all-Ethiopian podium ahead of Edward Konana Koonyo, of Kenya. Frans was the first South African home in fifth.

“I earned what I trained really hard for today,” Tola acknowledged. “A lot of hard work went into this run. It was a beautiful race and I’ll certainly be back to defend my title.”

(10/21/2024) Views: 170 ⚡AMP
by Seamus Allardice

Cian Oldknow and Glenrose Xaba eye glory at Sanlam Cape Town Marathon

Running seasons don’t come as brilliant as the ones both Cian Oldknow and Glenrose Xaba had, do they? And it could well get better for them at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon tomorrow (Sunday).

National champions in the marathon and half marathon respectively, the two athletes have run like the wind in 2024 as they broke personal barriers even they probably did not think possible.

Such are the rewards for talented individuals who refuse to rest on their laurels just because they are gifted but instead work hard at improving themselves that the duo have arguably sparkled the brightest of all road running athletes in South Africa this year.

Oldknow, who runs in the purple and yellow colours of the Hollywood Athletics Club, made her full marathon debut in Seville back in February where she ran a scintillating 2:25:08 – the second fastest time by a South African female. Most impressive about that run was Ms PB’s consistent splits, an illustration of her calmness under pressure as she stuck to her race plan like a seasoned campaigner.

Proof that Oldknow was good for the 42.195km distance was further provided when she clinched the national title at the Durban International Marathon with a solid 2:29:46. She put the cherry on top of her marathon debut season by being the first South African to finish the race at the Paris Olympics, Oldknow crossing the line ahead of seasoned campaigners Irvette van Zyl and Gerda Steyn.

Xaba, meanwhile, dominated the 10km scene this year with the clincher of her season being that she won the Spar Grand Prix Series. The popular women’s series has been the preserve of foreign runners for the last six years with Ethiopian Tadu Nare dominant after Namibia’s Helalia Johannes won it twice.

The Boxer Athletic Clubs starlet was actually the last local runner to win the Series back in 2018. Perhaps more telling of the kind of season Xaba had is the fact she broke Elana Meyer’s two-decade long 10km record. Add to that the fact she retained her national half marathon title and you begin to understand just why 2024 will go down as an episode in Xaba’s glittering career never to be forgotten.

And it is about to get even more memorable as Xaba makes that long-awaited graduation to the full marathon in Cape Town tomorrow.

How she will measure up against Oldknow who has already shown herself to be a superb marathoner is the main attraction of the popular Mother City race, as it continues its quest to be included on the World’s Abbotts Major Marathons.

Certain to spice up the Xaba/Oldknow ‘duel’ is the fact that the organisers have dangled a US$5000 carrot for the South African marathon record. Oldknow has already shown she has it in her to unseat Gerda Steyn as the fastest marathoner in the land with that brilliant time of hers in Seville. What we don’t know is how Xaba can do in the longer distance.

But she has been hard at work preparing for this race and while she has said she is looking to have a memorably fun debut, such is her competitiveness that you can bet on Xaba running a pretty fast time.

The two of them will be helped in their quest to break the national record by the stellar women’s field of top class internationals they will be racing against.

Tsige Haileselassie, who won with a personal best of 2:24:17 last year is back to defend her title and that can only mean a fast women’s race.

Who between Oldknow and Xaba will be able to keep up with her is what makes tomorrow’s race such an exciting prospect. Whichever way it goes though, the two starlets are each sure to chalk up 2024 as a fantastic season.

(10/19/2024) Views: 186 ⚡AMP
by Matshelane Mamabolo

Shanghai Marathon could be the next Abbott World Marathon Major

Shanghai International Marathon joins Sydney and Cape Town as candidates to become the seventh world major.

On Thursday, Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMM) announced that China’s Shanghai Marathon will be the newest race to join the majors candidacy process. Shanghai replaces the (previously nominated) Chengdu Marathon, joining the TCS Sydney Marathon and the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in a bid to become the seventh marathon major.

This announcement marks the beginning of Abbott WMM’s multi-year evaluation process for Shanghai. To become a WMM, the race must meet specific criteria for participation, organization, certification, sustainability and legacy for two consecutive years over the next three years.

If successful, Shanghai will join an elite group of races—Tokyo Marathon, Boston Marathon, TCS London Marathon, BMW-Berlin Marathon, Bank of America Chicago Marathon, and TCS New York City Marathon—as a new member of the prestigious AbbottWMM series, as early as 2027.

AbbottWMM’s decision to potentially expand into China reflects its aim to explore and grow in one of the biggest and fastest-growing running markets worldwide.

AbbottWMM CEO Dawna Stone said in a press release, “This presents an exciting opportunity to expand our impact into Asia and further our mission to create, grow, and support opportunities for all to discover the power of the marathon community.”

For more than a decade, the Shanghai International Marathon, held in late November since 1996, has been categorized as a Platinum Label Road Race by World Athletics. 

The course is flat and fast, and showcases the city’s most scenic and iconic landmarks. Last year, the Shanghai Marathon weekend attracted more than 30,000 participants across all distances. The 2024 Shanghai Marathon will take place on Sunday, Dec. 1.

(10/09/2024) Views: 213 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson

The Chicago Marathon has a strong history

First run in 1977, this Sunday, Chicago hosts its 46th marathon (it lost 2020 to the Covid-19 pandemic; 1987 to sponsorship issues). One of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors, the history of the BofA Chicago Marathon has been one of rising, falling, and rising again.

In 2023, it witnessed its third men’s marathon world record, 2:00:35, gloriously produced by the late Kenyan star, Kelvin Kiptum, who tragically died in a car accident on February 11, 2024 (age 24 years), in Kaptagat, Kenya.

But the roots of the modern Bank of America Chicago Marathon traces back to 1982 when, in its sixth year, known as America’s Marathon/Chicago, the event rebooted, much as New York City 1976 was a reordering for the Big Apple 26-miler.

In America’s bicentennial year, the New York Road Runners expanded their event from four laps of Central Park to all five boroughs. It was a gamble. But in one fell swoop, the event grabbed the public’s attention, took on international importance, and ushered in a new era of urban marathons, even though they had run six previous marathons under the same banner. 

In 1982, Chicago’s move from a regional marathon to the big time came about because of two things: one, the $600,000 budget put up by race sponsor, Beatrice Foods, and the hiring of one Robert Bright III of Far Hills, New Jersey to serve as athlete recruiter.

Bob Bright (left) at the Litchfield Hills Road Race in Connecticut with Nike east coast promo man, Todd Miller.

Recommended to the event by Olympians Frank Shorter and Garry Bjorlund, Bright had successfully elevated a modest 15K road race in Far Hills, New Jersey, called the Midland Run, to international prominence in 1980. So loaded was the Midland Run elite field, Sports Illustrated sent a reporter and photographer to cover the event.

What Bright brought to Chicago was zeal and a vision. Before Bright, there had been very little orchestration of competitive marathon racing. The Bright idea was simple: actively recruit a field of international athletes who came ready to run, so elite competition would become the hallmark of the event.

First, a brief history. For many decades, Boston dominated the marathon scene as essentially the only game in town. Yes, there was the Yonkers Marathonin New York, first contested in 1907; the Polytechnic Harriers’ Marathon for the Sporting Life trophy in England, which began in 1909. The Košice Peace Marathon in Slovakia joined the club in October 1924; Enschede and Fukuoka in 1947; Beppu in ’52.

But the Boston Athlettic Association’s attitude from its marathon’s inception in 1897 up to the mid-1980s remained, “We’re running our race on Patriots’ Day starting in Hopkinton, Massachusetts at noon. It will cost you three bucks to enter. See you at the bus line for the ride out to the start.” No bells, no whistles, no invitations.

When New York City debuted in 1970, it spun four laps of Central Park to total its 26.2 miles. But in 1976, with the city in a major financial difficulty amidst America’s Bicentennial, the New York Road Runners boldly took its marathon from the confines of Central Park and expanded it through all five boroughs hoping to attract more tourists. 

Race Director Fred Lebow recruited a few big guns upfront to entice press coverage, Olympic gold and silver medalist Frank Shorter along with Shorter’s rival, American record holder from Boston 1975, fellow Olympian, Bill Rodgers. Everyone else filled in from behind, with the City of New York being the true star attraction. 

First considered a onetime gimmick, the five-borough experience proved so successful, the NYRRs embraced it as the path forward. Still, the actual races in NYC were never very competitive. Rodgers won by three minutes over Shorter in ‘76, 2:10:10 to 2:13:12. Then dominated for the next three years, as well.

Chicago 1982 would be the first, full–blown, orchestrated marathon race, as Bright had a specific recruitment strategy.

“We wanted six guys who thought coming in that they had a chance to win,” said Bright. “Then we wanted six more behind them who figured they had a shot at the top 10. So, right away we didn’t go after a guy like Alberto Salazar (who was ranked number one in the world after wins in New York City in 1980, a short-course world record in ‘81, and a Boston title in 1982.)

“And if you figure that a top race has a main pack of 10 to 15 athletes, you’re going to double that number in invitations. That guarantees that even if two of every five don’t run well for one reason or another, you still have a big group ready to race.”

Redundancy was the key, the money, the magnet. The total amount taken home by runners from Chicago in 1982 was $130,000. 

This was when Boston was still embracing its amateur roots, stiff-arming the new breed of runners looking to get paid for their craft. In New York, Lebow had to keep his payments under the table in order to avoid being billed for city services on race day. 

Chicago put up $48,000 in prize money for the men in 1982, with $12,000 going to the winner, 600 for 15th place. The women’s split was $30,000, with $10,000 awarded for the win through $500 for 10th. The remaining $52,000 represented the grease in upfront, under-the-table appearance fees.

“We wanted the money to be respectable, but not overwhelming the first year,“ explained Bright, whose history as a dog sled racer and thoroughbred horse trainer made him one of the best judges of the running animal. “We didn’t want it to appear like the race was store-bought, like the Atlantic City pro race a few years ago, where the money was good, but no one took the race seriously. 

“So, we put up $78,000 in prize money, which, to the public, doesn’t sound like all that much. But when you added on the appearance money, it represented as much as any other race handed out.“

For the money on offer, and the prestige of doing well against a field of that caliber – as good as the group assembled at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, according to Sweden’s Kjell Eric Stahl – what came down in Chicago 1982 was a new course record by University of Michigan grad Greg Meyer (2:10:59), along with 22 more sub -2:220s, and nine personal bests out of the first 11 finishers. 

The top five women followed suit, led by Northampton, Massachusetts’s Nancy Conz, whose 2:33:33 also represented a new course record for Chicago, some 12 minutes faster than the old mark.

The event treated the athletes well; offered a new opportunity in the fall, competing with New York City; Chicago witnessed its first truly world-class marathon; the sponsor, Beatrice Foods, received enormous visibility for its dollars; and a new professionalism attended the art of marathon orchestration. Chicago was now the new kid on the block, with toys to match anyone’s.

But now the pressure was on, not just to maintain its pace, but to top itself in 1983. The story continues.

(10/08/2024) Views: 170 ⚡AMP
by Toni Reavis

Kenyan Irene Cheptai will make her Abbott World Marathon Majors debut at Chicago Marathon

Kenyan marathoner Irene Cheptai will make her Abbott World Marathon Majors debut at the 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon in October.

Cheptai made her marathon debut at the 2024 Hamburg Marathon and didn't disappoint. She won the race, running a new personal best of 2:18:22 in the marathon.

Cheptai has been collecting medals and podium finishes for a long time. Most recently, she won the Copenhagen and Delhi half marathons in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Her half marathon best comes from the 2023 Valencia Half Marathon, where she ran 1:04:53 for a second-place finish.

She represented Kenya in the 2020 Olympics, where she finished sixth in the 10,000-meter run. She also won a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the 10,000-meter run.

(10/08/2024) Views: 167 ⚡AMP
by NBC Sports Chicago Staff

Joyciline Jepkosgei is set for returning to the Chicago marathon

Joyciline Jepkosgei, the fourth-place finisher from the 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, is returning for the event.

Jepkosgei's most recent race was the 2024 London Marathon, where she earned a new personal best time of 2:16:24. She finished third.

A two-time Abbott World Marathon Majors Champion, the Ethiopian came into the marathon scene with a strong debut when she won the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon.

She followed that up with a second-place finish at the 2022 Valencia Marathon. Following that race, she won both the Berlin Half Marathon (1:05:16) and the London Marathon (2"17:43) in 2021.

(09/25/2024) Views: 182 ⚡AMP
by NBC Sports Chicago Staff

2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Elite Athlete: Amdework Walelegn will make his Marathon debut

The back-to-back winner of the 2022 and 2023 Seoul Marathons, Amdework Walelegn, will make his Abbott World Marathon Major debut with the 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

After winning consecutive Seoul Marathon wins from 2022 and 2023, Walelgn followed his victories up with a personal-best race in the 2024 Rotterdam Marathon, running 2:05:50 for a second-place finish.

Walelgn is on a hot streak coming to Chicago. He's won back-to-back Seoul Marathons from 2022 and 2023.

He recently set his personal best time at the 2024 Rotterdam Marathon. He also took a victory between his Seoul Marathon victories, earning the gold at the Serville Half Marathon with a 1:00:8 finish.

The 25-year-old has run a slew of half- and full marathons in his career. He ran his first marathon in 2015, finishing 15th in the Amsterdam Marathon with a 2:07:48 finish. His best half-marathon time of 58:40 comes from the 2022 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon, where he finished fourth place.

(09/20/2024) Views: 180 ⚡AMP
by NBC Sports Chicago Staff

Strongest field in history set to compete in Cape Town Marathon

The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon has sold out a record 21,000 participants for the 2024 event, thanks to the popularity of the #YouDoCount campaign. This success strengthens the marathon’s position as the foremost marathon on the African continent, as it pursues the renowned Abbott World Marathon Majors (AWMM) classification. The amazing support of both the local and worldwide running communities has been instrumental in reaching this milestone,  Cape {town} Etc reports.

This year’s marathon promises to be one of the most exciting in the event’s history, with the strongest elite field ever assembled on African territory. This exceptional field offers an astonishing amount of awards, including 

2 Gold World Champion Medals

1 Silver World Champion Medal

Olympic Bronze Marathon Medal

1 All African Games Gold Medal

13 Abbott World Marathon Majors Medals, 5 of which are gold

1 World Record Holder

10 World Athletics Gold Label Elites

The stakes are bigger than ever, with a $50,000 prize fund available to the top podium finishers. The men’s and women’s marathon champions will each get $25,000, with the second and third place finishers receiving $15,000 and $10,000, respectively.

Barry Van Blerk, Race Director of the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, expressed his excitement:‘This year’s Sanlam Cape Town Marathon is set to showcase the best marathon elite field ever assembled on African soil. With a prize pool to match, we expect an extraordinary level of competition, and, weather permitting, the course records will undoubtedly be challenged.

All eyes will be on South African competitors Glenrose Xaba and Cian Oldknow, who both hope to make history. Xaba, in her marathon debut, has previously established herself by breaking Elana Meyer’s 23-year-old 10 km record and dominating numerous distances, including 5,000m, 10,000m, and 10km. As she progresses to the marathon distance, Xaba’s development will pose a substantial challenge to veteran marathoners.

Cian Oldknow’s marathon PB of 2:25:08, set at the Seville Marathon in February of this year, is the second best time by a South African. At the Durban International Marathon in April, Oldknow finished in 2:29:46, making him the SA Marathon Champion. She is on a mission to break South Africa’s women’s marathon record, which could pit her against Xaba. With both competitors at the height of their abilities, the race will be nothing short of amazing.

Tsige Haileslase (Ethiopia) and Adane Kebede Gebre (Ethiopia), who won the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in 2023, will return to defend their crowns. Haileslase, who ran a personal best of 2:24:17 last year, is back and determined to win consecutive races. Gebre, a force to be reckoned with in the men’s race, will have stiff opposition as he seeks straight victories against this year’s strong field.

‘There’s no doubt that African runners dominate in the sport, and as a proudly Pan-African group, it is only fitting that we ensure the rest of the continent is able to unite in Cape Town to run Africa’s only Abbott World Marathon Majors candidacy race,’ shares Karl Socikwa – Group Executive of Market Development and Sustainability at Sanlam, the event’s title sponsor. ‘We have extended invitations to athletics bodies across our 27 markets in an attempt to identify promising top marathon runners. Our commitment to unlocking Africa’s untapped talent will see 25 athletes from countries such as Mali, Namibia, Botswana and more, compete with confidence on a world stage on African soil.’

In addition to the extraordinary competitive field, race organisers have worked closely with the City of Cape Town to ensure a safe and seamless experience for both runners and spectators. JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, praised the collaboration, stating, ‘The City’s Events Coordination Committee has been working diligently behind the scenes with race management, mapping out all the logistical plans for a safe and secure route for the marathon. All of our safety and security personnel are preparing to provide a smooth and excellent platform for this elite field of athletes to chase their personal bests. We are looking forward to providing the Cape Town experience for an elite field of athletes.’

(09/17/2024) Views: 194 ⚡AMP
by Murray Swart

Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw top contender for New Women’s Course Record

All eyes will be on Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw during the TCS Amsterdam Marathon on Sunday, October 20. Her personal best of 2:17:23 is just three seconds shy of the current women’s course record (2:17:26, set by Almaz Ayana in 2022). In 2022, the former 10 km world record holder won the TCS London Marathon. Among the men, Guye Adola, Bernard Koech, Tsegaye Getachew, and Philemon Kiplimo will be battling for the top spot.

At just 25 years old, Yalemzerf Yehualaw is still at the beginning of her career. However, she has already recorded the second fastest half-marathon time ever (1:03:61, Valencia 2021) and the third fastest 10 km time ever, which was also a former world record (29:14, Castellón 2022). She won the 2022 Hamburg Marathon in one of the fastest debut times ever (2:17:23) and later that year claimed victory at the TCS London Marathon (2:17:26). Last year, the NN Running Team athlete finished fifth in London and also placed fifth at the World Championships marathon.

In Amsterdam, Yehualaw will face a strong challenge from Kenyan athlete Winfridah Moseti. Moseti has only run five marathons so far, but her progress has been remarkable. After her debut in Milan in 2021 (2:27:44), she finished fifth in Paris last year (2:23:38) and second in Frankfurt (2:20:55). This spring, she again finished second in Hamburg, setting a strong personal best of 2:18:25.

Behind these two world-class athletes, a competitive group of women will aim to break the 2:20 barrier: Selly Chepyego (PR of 2:20:03), Haven Hailu (PR of 2:20:19, set in Amsterdam), Desi Jisa (PR of 2:20:47), and Enatnesh Tirusew (PR of 2:20:48).

Tight Competition in Men’s Race

In the men’s race, the outcome is far from certain. The fastest man in the field is Ethiopian Guye Adola with a personal best of 2:03:46. However, both Koech and Getachew have previously made it to the podium in Amsterdam, and Kiplimo is also a strong contender with his impressive half-marathon personal best of 58:11, highlighting his speed.

Guye Adola’s track record is certainly impressive. He won the 2021 Berlin Marathon (2:04:45) and finished second in Berlin in 2017, where he set his personal best of 2:03:46. He has also stood on the podium in Valencia (third in 2019) and Paris (second in 2023). Adola trains in Ethiopia alongside Tamirat Tola, who holds the TCS Amsterdam Marathon course record (2:03:39, set in 2021).

Bernard Koech finished second behind Tola in that same year, with a time of 2:04:08. Koech is a two-time winner of the Hamburg Marathon, most recently this year with a time of 2:04:24, which ranks as the eighth fastest marathon time of 2024.

Tsegaye Getachew made his international breakthrough in Amsterdam, winning the race in 2022 with a time of 2:04:49. Since then, he has focused on the Abbott World Marathon Majors, with mixed success. His best results include a fifth-place finish in Tokyo in 2024 and a third-place finish in 2023. At last year’s World Championships marathon in Budapest, he finished 16th.

Philemon Kiplimo, with a half-marathon personal best of 58:11, has room for improvement over the full marathon. He set a strong personal best of 2:04:56 in Berlin last year and finished third in Hamburg this spring.

(09/09/2024) Views: 196 ⚡AMP

50th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON ON 29 SEPTEMBER: ELITE FIELD

The men’s elite field for the 50th edition of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON race comes with a change that reflects the recent development at the very top of elite marathon racing.

It will be the first time since 2014 that you will not find the name of either Eliud Kipchoge or Kenenisa Bekele on the start list of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. However the Elite Race Director of the marathon where most world records (13) were broken, Mark Milde, can be confident that not so much will change regarding the outcome. Although world-records will not be the target on 29th September, the jubilee race could well deliver extraordinary fast times yet again. 

A record number of more than 50,000 runners are expected to run the 50th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON on 29th September. The race, that saw its first edition back in 1974 with 244 finishers, never had over 50,000 runners before.

From those on the men’s start list at least one has the potential to become Kenya’s next marathon superstar: Kibiwott Kandie is a former world half marathon record holder with a personal best of 57:32. This time suggests that he could become one of the fastest marathon runners of all time if he can transform his talent to the classic distance. The 28 year-old, who has a current PB of 2:04:48 and was inspired by former Berlin world record breaker Paul Tergat, is one of half a dozen runners who feature very strong personal bests of sub 2:05:00. 

Returning to the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON will be Ethiopia’s Tadese Takele and Ronald Korir of Kenya, who placed third and fourth last year. Both ran their personal bests of 2:03:24 and 2:04:22 here. Kenya’s Cybrian Kotut, a younger brother of former Abbott World Marathon Majors Champion Martin Lel, will run his first BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. Kotut features a PB of 2:04:34. Ethiopians Hailemaryam Kiros (2:04:41) and Bazezew Asmare (2:04:57) are the other two runners with sub 2:05 PBs. Another runner who could challenge for a place on the podium is Samwel Mailu. The Kenyan smashed the course record of the Vienna City Marathon last year with 2:05:08. Due to an injury the bronze medallist from the 2023 World Half Marathon Championships was unable to compete this spring.

The women’s race could see a battle between Ethiopia’s newcomer Tigist Ketema and Kenya’s Rosemary Wanjiru. With their personal bests they are among the top ten on the marathon all-time list. Tigist Ketema took the Dubai Marathon this year with an unofficial world debut record of 2:16:07.

She is a training partner of Tigst Assefa, who smashed the world record at the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON a year ago. Rosemary Wanjiru ran her marathon debut in Berlin two years ago and finished second with a brilliant 2:18:00. This year she improved to 2:16:14 when she was runner-up in Tokyo. 

Former 1,500m world record holder Genzebe Dibaba, who is the younger sister of Ethiopian running legend Tirunesh Dibaba, will hope to achieve a fast time on the flat Berlin course. She ran a 2:18:05 debut in Amsterdam two years ago, but was not yet able to improve this time. Genzebe Dibaba was the 2014 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year. Fellow-Ethiopian Yebrgual Melese is the fourth woman on the start list who has a sub 2:20 PB with 2:19:36.

Elite Runners for the 50th BMW BERLIN-MARATHON:

MEN

Tadese Takele ETH 2:03:24

Ronald Korir KEN 2:04:22

Cybrian Kotut KEN 2:04:34

Hailemaryam Kiros ETH 2:04:41

Kibiwott Kandie  KEN 2:04:48

Bazezew Asmare ETH 2:04:57

Samwel Mailu KEN 2:05:08

Milkesa Mengesha ETH 2:05:29

Haymanot Alew ETH 2:05:30

Philimon Kipchumba KEN 2:05:35

Stephen Kiprop KEN 2:07:04

WOMEN

Tigist Ketema ETH 2:16:07

Rosemary Wanjiru KEN 2:16:14

Genzebe Dibaba ETH 2:18:05

Yebrugal Melese ETH 2:19:36

Mestawot Fikir ETH 2:20:45

Azmera Gebru ETH 2:20:48

Sisay Gola ETH 2:20:50

Ababel Yeshaneh  ETH 2:20:51

Mizuki Matsuda JPN 2:20:52

Fikrte Wereta  ETH 2:21:32

(08/16/2024) Views: 390 ⚡AMP

World champions to headline 2024 Chicago Marathon

As we inch toward the fall road racing season, the 2024 Chicago Marathon is the first Abbott World Marathon Major (AWMM) to announce its men’s and women’s elite list. Last year’s elite races in Chicago saw two course records and one world record set by the late Kelvin Kiptum—something that will be hard to beat. But the 2024 field does not lack talent or potential, with former world champion and fourth-fastest marathoner in history Ruth Chepngetich headlining the women’s field and world 10,000m silver medallist Daniel Ebenyo making his marathon debut in the men’s field.

The men’s race

Ebenyo has had a successful career on the track, winning multiple medals at World Championships and Commonwealth Games, but never individual gold. He is currently ranked by World Athletics as the top 10,000m runner in the world, holding a personal best of 26:57.80, which he set in 2023. The 28-year-old was not selected for the 10,000m by the Kenyan Olympic team for Paris 2024 after an eighth-place finish at the Kenyan Trials.

Although the Kenyan star has had success on the track, he has also flourished in his short career on the roads, winning silver in the half-marathon at the inaugural World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia. He holds a personal best of 59:04 for the half distance and a world best over 25 km (1:11:13).

Ebenyo’s potential over 42.2 km will be hard to predict; many people had high expectations for three-time world 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, but he struggled in his marathon debut last December in Valencia, clocking 2:08:59 for 37th place.

Joining Ebenyo in the men’s field is 2022 London Marathon champion Amos Kipruto, who has the fastest personal best in the field (2:03:13 from the 2022 Tokyo Marathon). Kipruto has podiumed at three of the six AWMMs and is known as one of the best tactical marathoners in the world. Chicago will be Kipruto’s first marathon since his seventh-place finish in Berlin last year.

The lone Canadian in the men’s field is Phil Parrot-Migas of London, Ont. This will be the third marathon of his career. He holds a personal best of 2:15:53, set in Hamburg in April.

The women’s field

At the 2022 Chicago Marathon, Chepngetich was on a world-record pace until the final kilometre, ultimately missing it by 14 seconds (2:14:18). This capped off her second-straight Chicago victory, following in the footsteps of her compatriot, Brigid Kosgei. Last year, Chepngetich was second to Sifan Hassan’s course record-setting run, in 2:15:37. Her personal best is the fastest in the field by a minute and a half, and with her experience on the flat and fast course, she’s going to be a tough athlete to beat come Oct. 13.

Besides Chepngetich, there’s a strong American contingent, consisting of three of the country’s top five fastest marathoners: Keira D’Amato, Sara Hall and Betsy Saina. D’Amato had a rough go at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, and was unable to finish, due to injury. Months later, she announced a coaching change and a planned move to Utah to train under distance running guru Ed Eyestone, the coach of U.S. Olympic marathoners Conner Mantz and Clayton Young. D’Amato, who will turn 40 in October, told Runner’s World she made the switch because she wanted a different perspective on her training and a chance to learn from someone new.

Saina comes into the race as the strongest American athlete, placing in the top five of her last three marathons, including a win at the 2023 Sydney Marathon. Sydney is currently a candidate to be added as the seventh AWMM, joining Tokyo, Berlin, London, Boston, Chicago and NYC.

(07/18/2024) Views: 367 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickison

Two B.A.A. Athletes Qualify For U.S. Olympic Team Trials

The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) today announced that B.A.A. High Performance Team members Annie Rodenfels and Bethany Hasz have earned spots on the starting line for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field, to be held later this month in Eugene, Oregon from June 21-30.

Rodenfels will compete in the women’s 3000m steeplechase (preliminary round June 24/final on June 27), while Hasz will toe the line in the women’s 5000m (preliminary round on June 21/final on June 24).

The Trials will be held at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, with top three finishers in each event slated to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games (so long as athletes have met the Olympic standard or earned enough qualifying points).

Rodenfels’ personal best in the steeplechase is 9:25.48, set last year. She won the steeplechase at the Drake Relays this year (9:31.03), was fourth at the Boston 5K in April, and clocked 15:03.97 indoors for 5000m in December 2023. Last fall she won the USATF 5K National Championship on the roads in New York City.

Hasz is coming off a 5000m lifetime best of 15:05.80 set May 17 in winning the Drake Relays 5000m. This year she’s also recorded personal bests in the road 5K (15:30), road 10K (32:03), and mile indoors (4:39.24). She earned a bronze medal at the 2023 USATF 5K National Championships, finishing third just behind Rodenfels and Olympian Rachel Smith.

The B.A.A.’s High Performance team supports runners on their way towards making international teams, with the goal of competing at the highest level: the Olympic Games, World Athletics Championships, and Abbott World Marathon Majors. The B.A.A. is sponsored by adidas, which provides comprehensive support for the organization’s High Performance team, running club, and mass-participatory events.

B.A.A HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAM ROSTER:

Eric Hamer

Bethany Hasz

Megan Hasz

Josh Kalapos

Barry Keane

Matt McDonald

Annie Rodenfels

Abbey Wheeler

ABOUT THE BOSTON ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (B.A.A.) 

Established in 1887, the Boston Athletic Association is a non-profit organization with a mission of promoting a healthy lifestyle through sports, especially running. The B.A.A. manages the Boston Marathon, and supports comprehensive charity, youth, and year-round programming. The 129th Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America is scheduled to take place on Monday, April 21, 2025. The Boston Marathon is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, along with international marathons in Tokyo, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City. For more information on the B.A.A., please visit www.baa.org.

(06/14/2024) Views: 396 ⚡AMP
by B.A.A.

Lokedi, Kiplagat and Chepkirui Headline New York Mini 10K Run

Three Kenyans headlined by Boston Marathon second finisher Sharon Lokedi are among the top athletes entered for the 2024 New York Mini 10K set for Saturday, June 8.

Veteran and consistent Edna Kiplagat as well as Sheila Chepkirui, who finished second at the 2023 Berlin Marathon.

The race also features four past champions, five Paris 2024 Olympians, and seven of the top 10 finishers from the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

Produced by the New York City-based nonprofit for more than five decades, the 52nd running of the event will also be competed by event-record holder and two-time race champion Senbere Teferi and two-time race champion Sara Hall, who will join the previously announced 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Marathon Team – Fiona O’Keeffe, Emily Sisson, and Dakotah Lindwurm – at the start line in Central Park.

Teferi, a two-time Olympian and two-time World Championships medalist from Ethiopia, has won the last two editions of the New York Mini 10K, breaking the event record in 2023 with a time of 30:12.

Also, in New York, she won 2019 UAE Healthy Kidney 10K and in her 2022 United Airlines NYC Half victory recorded the second-fastest time in the history of the event.

“I’m very happy to return to New York for the Mini, and I will try my best to win the race for a third time,” Teferi said. “It is such a special race because there is a bond that exists with thousands of women also running. Even though we are not related, I feel supported like we are all sisters in running.”

Hall is a 10-time U.S. national champion who won the New York Mini 10K in 2021 and 2022. Earlier this year, she finished fifth at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. She is also the former national record-holder in the half marathon and the only athlete in history to have won the New York Mini 10K, New Balance 5th Avenue Mile, and Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K in New York.

“It’s very cool that this year’s New York Mini 10K falls on the fifth anniversary of my first win at the race, and I can’t think of any place I’d rather be that weekend,” said Hall.

(05/30/2024) Views: 509 ⚡AMP
by Capital Sport

World record holder, endurance sport pioneer Chris Nikic to Run 2024 Grandma’s Marathon

2-time ESPY award winner and Guiness world record holder Chris Nikic will be at the starting line of the 2024 Grandma’s Marathon, the organization announced today.

Nikic was born with Down syndrome and was unable to walk well until age 4, but recently he became the first person with Down Syndrome to complete each of the World Marathon Majors (New York City, Boston, Chicago, Berlin, London, and Tokyo) and earn the coveted Abbott Six Star medal.

In 2020, before completing any of his running-only marathons, Nikic became the first person in the world to ever complete an Ironman Triathlon – that competition consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26.2-mile run.

Nikic beat his own time two years later at the 2022 World Championships, and that mark of 16 hours, 31 minutes still stands as an official Guiness world record.

After accomplishing a goal that once seemed out-of-reach, Nikic co-wrote a book with his father, Nik, titled 1% Better: Reaching My Full Potential and How You Can Too.

The book chronicles Nikic’s journey from childhood to his teenage years, when after high school he was an admitted “overweight, out-of-shape” 18-year-old. As he slowly developed an affinity for exercise, Nikic also slowly changed his perception of what was possible in his life.

“That’s when he wrote on the wall that he was going to be a ‘world champ’,” his father Nik said. “We didn’t dismiss what he was telling us as impossible, we took it to heart and believed him. Then, we got to work helping him achieve that goal.”

Chris will speak at the Essentia Health Fitness Expo at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, June 21, and Nik will follow that at 1:00 p.m. as a guest for a panel discussion on the inclusion of neurodivergent and disabled athletes in endurance sporting events like Grandma’s Marathon. Both presentations are free and open to the public.

The Nikics will also be visiting Northwood Children’s Services west campus on Thursday, June 20, with Chris set to speak to the kids and lead them through the “1% Better Challenge.”

“We’re honored to have Chris as part of our 2024 Grandma’s Marathon weekend,” Marketing & Public Relations Director Zach Schneider said. “We met Chris and his dad two years ago in Denver, and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place after Chris had given his presentation. He’s exactly the type of person we want at our starting line, and we’re excited to continue the conversation about how those doors can be opened to other athletes like Chris.”

Down syndrome is a chromosome disorder caused by an extra chromosome 21, which prompted the creation of the Runner 321 initiative aiming to welcome more neurodivergent athletes into endurance sports. On race day in Duluth, Chris will wear race bib No. 321 as a symbol of that initiative.

ABOUT GRANDMA’S MARATHON

Grandma’s Marathon began in 1977 when a group of local runners planned a scenic road race from Two Harbors to Duluth, Minnesota. After seeing just 150 participants that year, the race weekend has now grown into one of the largest in the United States and welcomes more than 20,000 participants for its three-race event each June.

The race got its name from the Duluth-based group of famous Grandma’s Restaurants, the first major sponsor of the marathon. In addition to the 26.2-mile race, the organization has now added the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon and William A. Irvin 5K to its weekend offerings.

As the popularity of Grandma’s Marathon has grown, our mission has stayed the same – to organize, promote, and deliver annual events and programs that cultivate running, educational, social, and charitable opportunities to our communities.

(05/29/2024) Views: 369 ⚡AMP
by Running USA

World record holder Tigist Assefa named to her first Olympics

World record holder, Tigist Assefa, has been named to her first Olympic Games for Ethiopia. Assefa set the running world on fire last September with a jaw-dropping world record at the 2023 Berlin Marathon–two hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds. 

Assefa has had a well-polished marathon career so far, winning two of her four races and finishing on the podium in three. Most recently, she finished second to Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir (the defending Olympic champion) at the 2024 London Marathon, with a time of 2:16:23. This was Assefa’s first loss at an Abbott World Marathon Major.

All eyes will be on the 27-year-old as she tackles the daunting Paris course, which features more than 400 meters of elevation gain. This will be Assefa’s toughest challenge to date.

Joining Assefa on the Ethiopian team are two experienced marathoners: 2023 world champion Amane Beriso and 2022 world champion Gotytom Gebreslase. Beriso has finished in the top three of her last six marathons and has thrived in warmer race conditions, taking wins in Budapest, Mexico City and Valencia. Gebreslase has been on the podium in the marathon at the last two world championships.

Like the men, the Ethiopian women’s team looks to end the streak of their East African rival, Kenya. Ethiopia has not won gold in the women’s marathon since Tiki Gelena at the London 2012 Olympics.

(05/02/2024) Views: 554 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson

Shock as Geoffrey Kamworor withdraws from London Marathon

Multiple World Cross-country champion Geoffrey Kamworor has withdrawn from the London Marathon.

Three-time World Cross-Country champion Geoffrey Kamworor has pulled out of the 2024 London Marathon due to persistent hip flexor irritation. 

The Kenyan long-distance runner, who clinched second place at last year’s London Marathon, confirmed that his current physical condition has hampered his training and ultimately led to his withdrawal.

His absence is a blow to the marathon, where he was among the favorites to win.

The athlete's management team noted that Kamworor had been experiencing discomfort during his training sessions and opted for a conservative approach to avoid long-term damage. 

They confirmed that he did not travel to London and would be undergoing further medical evaluation and treatment.

As the elite runners adjust to the news of Kamworor’s withdrawal, the spotlight shifts to the champions of the recent Boston Marathon wheelchair races, who are now heading to London with hopes of back-to-back victories in the Abbott World Marathon Majors.

Among them is Britain’s Eden Rainbow-Cooper, fresh from her historic win at Boston, where she became the first Briton to clinch a wheelchair race at the prestigious event. 

Rainbow-Cooper, who finished third at last year’s London Marathon, shared her excitement about competing again in her home country. 

“Winning in Boston was surreal, and competing in London feels like coming home. I’m ready to give my all once again,” she said.

Rainbow-Cooper’s victory in Boston was a remarkable feat, finishing the course in 1:35:11, ahead of seasoned competitors like Manuela Schär of Switzerland and Australia’s Madison de Rozario, the defending London Marathon champion.

In the men’s wheelchair category, Swiss athlete Marcel Hug is also eyeing another major win after setting a new course record in Boston.

Despite a crash at Mile 18, Hug completed the race in an impressive time of 1:15:33, continuing his dominant streak with 11 consecutive marathon victories.

(04/17/2024) Views: 474 ⚡AMP
by Festus Chuma

Joan Benoit Samuelson captures World Majors six-star medal at Tokyo Marathon

On Sunday morning, running icon Joan Benoit Samuelson claimed her sixth and final Abbott World Marathon Major star, clocking 3:42:18 at the Tokyo Marathon. The American distance running legend added another remarkable chapter to a storied career that includes wins at the 1979 and 1983 Boston Marathon and the 1985 Chicago Marathon.

The Abbott World Marathon Majors include the Tokyo Marathon, Boston Marathon, London Marathon, Berlin Marathon, Chicago Marathon and the New York City Marathon. In 2022, Benoit Samuelson checked her fifth major off her list, winning her age group at the London Marathon in 3:20:20; her daughter Abby ran as well, finishing just under three hours.

From Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Benoit Samuelson first gained international acclaim when she became the inaugural women’s Olympic marathon champion at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Her groundbreaking victory set the stage for a career defined by trailblazing achievements. Benoit Samuelson held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after her 1985 victory, and her time at the Boston Marathon was the fastest time by an American woman at that race for 28 years Her personal best of 2:21:21 is still eighth on the U.S. all-time list.

Benoit Samuelson is the only woman in the world to have run sub-three-hour marathons in five consecutive decades, her first in 1979 and her most recent in 2010. At the 2019 Berlin Marathon, she ran 3:02, nearly becoming the first woman to clock a sub-three in six consecutive decades. In 2019, she ran the Boston Marathon to celebrate her then 40-year-old victory from 1979, wearing the same outfit she had worn four decades before—a backward ball cap and a Bowdoin College singlet (she won her age category, finishing in 3:04:00, only 28:45 minutes slower than her time in 1979).

Beyond her accomplishments on the road, Samuelson has been an advocate for women’s participation in sports and has played a pivotal role in advancing opportunities for women athletes. After the 2022 London Marathon, Benoit Samuelson told the media: “I’m blessed to have longevity in this sport. It doesn’t owe me anything, but I feel I owe my sport.”

(03/05/2024) Views: 536 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne

Burnout Is Complicated

Kieran Abbotts is a PhD student at the University of Oregon, studying human physiology. He earned his master's degree in Metabolism and Exercise Physiology at Colorado State University. The lab that he works at now studies exercise and environment and stressors on physiology. In other words, he's an expert on how the chemicals in the body work during exercise, and what happens when things get out of whack. 

"Essentially, there are two kinds of training. There's functional overreaching, which means you stress the body with hard workouts and long runs. Then you provide adequate time to recover, and you induce adaptations," Abbotts said. This kind of training is ideal-your body is getting stronger. "You want to be functionally overreaching as an elite athlete-so that you're making progress and becoming a better runner, but also giving yourself adequate recovery." 

And then there's non-functional overreaching, which can feel the same to many athletes, but it's very different. 

"With non-functional overreaching you're essentially doing the same thing-big workouts, stressing the body-but not giving yourself enough time to recover. And so you start doing damage." That damage might take a long time to show itself, Abbots said, but it eventually will. 

This might be the most important thing to know about being an athlete at any level. Non-functional overreaching is exactly the same as very healthy training, except without enough rest. And rest is different for everyone, which makes it exceptionally easy to slip from functional overreaching into damaging non-functional overreaching without realizing it. Without adequate rest, the body begins to break down instead of build stronger. 

Stress Is Stress

Professional ultrarunner Cat Bradley, 31, living in Hawaii, has experienced fatigue and burnout in various forms, including just after she won Western States in 2017. 

Winning a big race is great, but it also means all eyes are on you-the pressure is high to stay on top. "After winning Western States, I took a month off, but I was still running at a high level. And for lack of a better term, I felt like I had a gun to my back," Bradley said. "I wanted Western States so badly, and after I won, so many things happened and I never shook that gun-to-the-back feeling. After a while, it led to burnout. I had to take a mental break." 

For many athletes, finding success can be the stress that makes non-functional overreaching feel necessary. How can you take an extended break when you're winning and signing new sponsor contracts? 

A second version of burnout for Bradley came when she went through an especially stressful situation outside of running. She was dealing with such extreme daily emotional stress in her personal life that everything else was affected, including running and training. When the body is enduring stress, it doesn't know (or care) what the cause is. We can't put our life into silos. If there's stress in one's life, everything else needs to be adjusted. It doesn't matter if that stress is "just work" or illness, or relationships. 

When you're overtraining, or chronically overstressed, your body is creating higher levels of "catecholamines" hormones released by your adrenal glands during times of stress like epinephrine, norepinephrine, or adrenaline. "Having those chronically high levels of overstimulation and not enough recovery, you wind up with a desensitization," Abbotts said. "Overstimulation also causes decreased levels of plasma cortisol. Cortisol is the stress hormone, and it plays a very important role in your physiology." 

When you're exercising or stressing the body, cortisol will go up, to help the body deal with the stress. But if you're constantly requiring lots of cortisol, your body will eventually down-regulate. It will adapt and then you'll have low levels of cortisol. This means trouble dealing with physical and mental stress. 

In February, Bradley experienced her most recent version of burnout, and it happened mid-race. Bradley was running the Tarawera 100-miler in New Zealand. Besides training for such a big race, she was also working full-time and planning and preparing for her wedding, which was just days after the race. On top of everything, travel to the event was incredibly stressful. 

"I was in fourth place, I could see third, and at mile 85, I passed out and hit my head on a rock," Bradley said. "We can talk about the reasons that I fainted, but I really think my brain just shut down-it was too much." 

For Bradley, reaching burnout has a lot more to do with outside stressors than the actual running. But now she's aware of that-she continues to work on not reaching the gun-to-the-back feeling. The need to please others. The fear of losing fitness in order to take care of her body. It's an ongoing process, but an important one. 

Overdoing Is the American Way

Professional ultrarunner Sally McRae said, based on her observations, Americans are really bad at taking time off. "I've traveled the world and Americans are really bad at resting," she said. "It's part of our work system. You go anywhere in Europe and everyone takes a month-long holiday. You have a kid and you take a year off. We're not conditioned like that in America. It's like you get one week and then after you work a decade, you get two weeks of vacation." 

For McRae, avoiding burnout and overtraining has a lot to do with creating a life that's sustainable. She started working when she was 15-years-old, so she realized earlier than most that life couldn't just be working as hard as possible to count down to retirement. 

"Perspective is massive when it comes to burnout. My goal every year is to find the wonder and the beauty and the joy in what I do. Because it's my job, but it's also my life," McRae said. "And I really believe we're supposed to rest-it should be a normal part of our life. Whether that's taking a vacation or taking an off-season. I take a two-month offseason and I have for a long time." 

One of the most important parts about rest and not overstressing the body is that everyone is different. An overstressed body can lead to hormonal imbalances, which in turn affects everything. 

"When you're overtraining, you tend to get mood changes and have trouble sleeping," Abbotts said. "Two of the big things that stand out are you're exhausted but you can't sleep. And the other is irritability-mood swings, and depression." When you get to the point that you've overstressed your body for so long that the chemicals are changing, pretty much everything starts falling apart.

And even though everyone is different, you'd never know that from looking at social media. "I know social media makes it seem like ultrarunners are running 40 miles a day, doing a 100-mile race every other weekend," McRae said. "And that's insane. You've got to be in touch with yourself. It's very different to wake up and feel sore or tired, but if you wake up and feel like you have no joy in the thing you're doing, you need a real break from it."

How Can the Running Community Do Better?

Elite ultrarunner and running coach Sandi Nypaver wants runners to get more in touch with how they're feeling and less concerned about numbers or what anyone else is doing. 

"I have to have honest talks with people I'm coaching. I need them to feel like they can tell me how they feel, because sometimes they think they have to stick to the training plan for the week no matter what," she said. "But the plan is never set in stone. It's meant to be adjusted based on how you're feeling. Some weeks we might feel great and not need to change anything, while other weeks we might have to totally crash the plan and do something else." 

It's easy to judge ourselves against everyone else, especially when results and reactions are so public and available. 

"It's easy to say, 'if that person only took three days off after a big race, and now they're already back to training, that must be what you're supposed to do,'" she said. "But even at the highest level, training is different for everyone. Resting is different for everyone." 

"Something that's really, really hard for many runners to understand is that once you're not sore anymore, that you're still not recovered," Nypaver said. "A lot of research says that things are still going on in your body for up to four weeks after, for certain races, depending on the distance." 

Sometimes it's difficult to be aware of subtle signs when the soreness is gone. "Convincing people that they need to chill out for a while, even past the soreness, can be really difficult." But after a huge effort, and before the next, people rarely end up saying things like, "I really wish I hadn't rested so thoroughly." Part of it is actually having a recovery plan. Putting rest days on the calendar, focusing on foam rolling and mobility on days that you're not "doing." 

"And, actually just relaxing. Taking it easy. It's not just a running model, we live in a culture where we're always being asked to do more," Nypaver said. "I wish instead of always thinking about doing more, we'd focus on how we want to be more. A lot of us want to be more relaxed and less stressed and happier and enjoy our lives. We need to put our attention on that instead of trying to do so much. It's something I struggle with all the time."

We don't get validation for resting, relaxing, and being present because there's no tangible thing to show for it. There's no "be really calm often" challenge on Strava. But the bigger rewards are great. You just have to trade in immediate dopamine hits for a much more balanced, happier life. 

Simple, right?

"One thing I'm doing, and asking my athletes to do, is to write down your intentions," Nypaver said. "One of my intentions is to chill out more this summer and enjoy it. I grew up thinking it's all about running, and I have to go all-in on running. But having other outlets, other things that I like to do, is so important."  

When you've reached burnout-an extended period of non-functional overreaching, prolonged rest is the only way to let the body fix itself. 

"Once you are overtrained, you need to stop training," Abbotts said. "It's just kind of the bottom line. Maybe some people can get away with greatly reducing their training load, but most of the time you need to stop. You need an extended amount of time off." 

There's nothing glamorous about rest. There's no prize money in relaxing. But it's the absolute key ingredient in extended performance, and in a much healthier, happier life. 

(02/10/2024) Views: 480 ⚡AMP
by Trail Runner Magazine

Malindi Elmore set to race 2024 Boston Marathon

Two-time Olympian Malindi Elmore of Kelowna, B.C., is on the women’s elite list for the 128th Boston Marathon on April 15. Elmore is featured in a strong field with reigning champion Hellen Obiri and 2022 New York Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi; she will also be one of three Canadian women running in Boston.

This will be Elmore’s second time running the Boston Marathon. In 2022, she ran to an impressive 11th-place finish, posting a time of 2:27:58, which is the fastest-ever time in Boston by a Canadian woman. She left Boston wanting to return, saying, “It’s a blast to run the crowd-lined streets, where there is always someone cheering you on and shouting your name.”

Elmore, who ran the second-fastest Canadian women’s marathon time at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, achieved the Olympic qualifying mark of 2:26:50. She is currently the only woman who has solidified her spot on Team Canada for the marathon in Paris. The 43-year-old told Canadian Running that she plans to use Boston as a prep race for the Olympic marathon in August. 

“Racing Boston is part of the Paris 2024 plan,” says Elmore on her decision to race Boston. “The course in Paris is reported to be twice the elevation gain of Boston, so I want the opportunity to train and race on hills through the winter and hopefully be a hill beast by August!”

The Boston and New York marathons are two of the tougher Abbott World Marathon Major courses. The Boston is a net downhill, but features a lot of hills in the second half of the race, including the famous Heartbreak Hill at 32 kilometres. The Paris Olympic marathon is touted to be the hilliest Olympic marathon to date, featuring more than 400 metres in elevation gain on an out-and-back loop to the Palace of Versailles. 

Elmore will be one of three Canadian marathoners on the women’s elite list. Joining Elmore in Boston are two up-and-coming marathoners from Thunder Bay, Ont., Michelle and Kim Krezonoski. The Krezonoski sisters ran their personal bests of 2:36:39 (Michelle) and 2:37:20 (Kim) at the 2022 California International Marathon.

Michelle said it’s been an exciting and emotional journey to get to this point after partially tearing her Achilles tendon in her build-up to the 2023 Toronto Waterfront Marathon (which she did not race). “I am grateful to have this opportunity to run alongside the world’s best with my twin sister,” Michelle told Canadian Running. “Boston is historic, and it’s a course that challenges your strength.”

Obiri returns for glory

The most dominant women’s marathoner in the world right now, Hellen Obiri, returns to Boston to defend her title. Last year, Obiri unleashed a perfectly-timed sprint in the final mile to earn her first Boston Marathon title, in only her second career marathon. Boston marked one of her two marathon wins in 2023. She became only the second women’s marathoner in history to win both Boston and New York in the same year. 

“I am excited to return to the 2024 Boston Marathon to try to defend my title,” shared Obiri, who won last year’s race in 2:21:38. “Boston is a historic race, and I would like to add my name further to its history on April 15. Winning such a historic marathon with my family waiting at the finish line was an experience I’ll never forget.”

The 2024 Boston Marathon will also see a trio of Ethiopian runners with personal bests under 2:18:00. Worknesh Degefa, the 2019 Boston Marathon champion, is set to return. Tadu Teshome, with a marathon best of 2:17:36 from the 2022 Valencia Marathon, will make her Boston debut, and Senbere Teferi, a world championship silver medallist over 5,000m, will also compete after winning the B.A.A. 5K in a course record time of 14:49 in 2022.

(01/18/2024) Views: 492 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson

Strongest Women’s Field in the race history at Boston Marathon 2024

The 128th Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America will feature the strongest women’s field in race history, led by defending champions Hellen Obiri and Susannah Scaroni. A total of 19 women with personal bests under 2:23:00 will line up in Hopkinton aiming to earn the Open Division crown, including Olympians, Abbott World Marathon Majors winners, and national stars. In the Wheelchair and Para Athletics Divisions, Paralympic hopefuls from around the world are set to compete.

“The Boston Marathon is proud to showcase the world’s best athletes year in and year out on Patriots’ Day,” said Jack Fleming, President and CEO of the Boston Athletic Association. “This year’s women’s field is exceptionally fast and showcases many who’ve been podium finishers on the global stage. It’ll make for an exciting race from Hopkinton to Boston, and we look forward to crowning our champions on April 15.”

Women from 20 countries will be competing as part of the Bank of America Professional Athlete Team.

“Each year, the Boston Marathon sets the bar higher with an unbelievable level of athletic talent, and its impact on communities around the world,” said David Tyrie, chief digital officer and chief marketing officer, Bank of America. “The 128th Boston Marathon builds on a rich history and will continue to be an inspiration for all athletes.”

HELLEN OBIRI SET TO DEFEND OPEN DIVISION TITLE

Hellen Obiri, a two-time Olympic silver medalist from Kenya now living in Colorado, won the 2023 Boston Marathon thanks to a perfectly-timed sprint in the final mile. Adding to her trophy case, Obiri also took home the 2023 B.A.A. 10K title in June and the TCS New York City Marathon crown in November.

“I am excited to return to the 2024 Boston Marathon to try to defend my title,” said Obiri, who finished last year’s race in 2:21:38. “Boston is an historic race and I would like to add my name further to its history on April 15. Winning such an historic marathon with my family waiting at the finish line was an amazing experience.”

A trifecta of Ethiopians with lifetime bests under 2:18:00 will take to the Boston course. Worknesh Degefa, the 2019 Boston Marathon champion, returns, while 2:17:36 marathoner Tadu Teshome will make her Boston debut and Hiwot Gebremaryam aims to improve upon her eighth-place finish last year. Also from Ethiopia is World championships medalist Senbere Teferi; she won the 2022 B.A.A. 5K in a course record 14:49 and has shown talent at the longer distances. Experienced marathoner Ababel Yeshaneh –second in 2022 and fourth in 2023— will try to become the seventh woman from Ethiopia to win the olive wreath in Boston.

Joining Obiri from Kenya are 2022 World Athletics Championships Marathon silver medalist Judith Korir; two-time Boston Marathon winner Edna Kiplagat; four-time top-ten finisher Mary Ngugi-Cooper; and 2022 TCS New York City Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi. Helah Kiprop, who holds a silver medal in the marathon from the 2015 World Athletics Championships and has earned wins in Tokyo, Copenhagen, and Paris, makes her second career Boston start. From Morocco is 2023 World Athletics Championships Marathon bronze medalist Fatima Gardadi.

Desiree Linden leads the American contingent six years after winning the 2018 title. Linden has finished in the top-five five times, and holds the third fastest time by an American ever on the Hopkinton-to-Boston route (2:22:38). Linden will run her fifth U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in February. Joining her is Emma Bates who finished fifth last year in the second-fastest time ever by an American woman at Boston (2:22:10).

“At this point in my career it’s an easy decision to return to the Boston Marathon and make it my top priority race of the spring,” said Linden. “I can’t wait to take on the iconic course for an 11th time and have the opportunity to mix it up with some of the best runners in the world.” 

128TH BOSTON MARATHON PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S FIELDS

 Women’s Open Division

Country

Personal Best

Worknesh Degefa

ETH

2:15:51 (Valencia, 2023)

Tadu Teshome

ETH

2:17:36 (Valencia, 2022)

Hiwot Gebremaryam

ETH

2:17:59 (Valencia, 2023)

Judith Korir

KEN

2:18:20 (Eugene, 2022)

Meseret Belete

ETH

2:18:21 (Amsterdam, 2023)

Tiruye Mesfin

ETH

2:18:47 (Valencia, 2022)

Worknesh Edesa

ETH

2:18:51 (Berlin, 2022)

Zeineba Yimer

ETH

2:19:07 (Berlin 2023)

Senbere Teferi

ETH

2:19:21 (Berlin, 2023)

Dera Dida

ETH

2:19:24 (Berlin, 2023)

Edna Kiplagat

KEN

2:19:50 (London, 2012)*

Mary Ngugi-Cooper

KEN

2:20:22 (London, 2022)

Nazret Weldu Gebrehiwet

ERI

2:20:29 (Eugene) NR

Ababel Yeshaneh

ETH

2:20:51 (Chicago, 2019)

Vibian Chepkirui

KEN

2:20:59 (Vienna, 2022)

Helah Kiprop

KEN

2:21:27 (Tokyo, 2016)

Hellen Obiri

KEN

2:21:38 (Boston, 2023)

Emma Bates

USA

2:22:10 (Boston, 2023)

Desiree Linden

USA

2:22:38 (Boston, 2011)*

Buze Diriba

ETH

2:23:11 (Toronto, 2023)

Sharon Lokedi

KEN

2:23:23 (New York City, 2022)

Malindi Elmore

CAN

2:23:30 (Berlin, 2023)*

Fatima Gardadi

MOR

2:24:12 (Xiamen, 2024)

Angie Orjuela

COL

2:25:35 (Berlin, 2023) NR

Fabienne Konigstein

GER

2:25:48 (Hamburg, 2023)

Jackie Gaughan

USA

2:27:08 (Berlin, 2023)

Dominique Scott

RSA

2:27:31 (Chicago, 2023)

Grace Kahura

KEN

2:29:00 (Sacramento, 2023)

Katie Kellner

USA

2:32:48 (Berlin, 2023)

Briana Boehmer

USA

2:33:20 (Sacramento, 2021)

Dylan Hassett

IRL

2:33:25 (Pulford, 2021)

Parley Hannan

USA

2:33:43 (Carmel, 2023)

Sara Lopez

USA

2:33:48 (Eugene, 2023)

Annie Heffernan

USA

2:34:33 (Lowell, 2023)

Nera Jareb

AUS

2:35:00 (Queensland, 2022)*

Johanna Backlund

SWE

2:35:10 (Hamburg, 2019)

Argentina Valdepenas Cerna

MEX

2:35:34 (Chicago, 2022)*

Ariane Hendrix Roach

USA

2:35:39 (Sacramento, 2022)

Michelle Krezonoski

CAN

2:36:39 (Sacramento, 2022)

Shannon Smith

USA

2:36:43 (Columbus, 2023)

Caroline Williams

USA

2:37:01 (Sacramento, 2022)

Gina Rouse

USA

2:37:10 (Sacramento, 2023)*

Kim Krezonoski

CAN

2:37:20 (Sacramento, 2022)

Abigail Corrigan

USA

2:37:45 (Sacramento, 2023)

Marissa Lenger

USA

2:38:41 (Chicago, 2022)

Emilee Risteen

USA

2:38:46 (Duluth, 2023)

Isabelle Pickett

AUS

2:38:46 (Valencia, 2023)

Allie Hackett

USA

2:38:52 (Duluth, 2023

Mary Christensen

USA

2:38:55 (Big Bear, 2023)

Olivia Anger

USA

2:39:13 (Indianapolis, 2023)

April Lund

USA

2:39:23 (Houston, 2022)*

Sarah Short

AUS

2:39:51 (Valencia, 2023)

Maura Lemon

USA

2:40:30 (Valley Cottage, 2023)

Sarah Sibert

USA

2:40:31 (Philadelphia, 2022)

Lauren Ames

USA

2:40:34 (Valley Cottage, 2023)

Kassie Harmon

USA

2:41:48 (Utah Valley, 2023)*

Elizabeth Camy

USA

2:42:51 (Sacramento, 2022)*

Alexandra Niles

USA

2:43:23 (Hartford, 2022)*

Amber Morrison

USA

2:43:50 (Sacramento, 2022)*

Mindy Mammen

USA

2:44:01 (Duluth, 2023)*

Ziyang Liu

USA

2:44:56 (Eugene, 2023)*

*Denotes Masters Division (40+)

(01/10/2024) Views: 540 ⚡AMP

Sifan Hassan will headline 2024 Tokyo Marathon

Dutch distance runner Sifan Hassan will attempt to maintain her unbeaten record in the marathon when she races in Tokyo for the first time on March 3.

Hassan won in London on her debut in April and then took the women’s victory in Chicago in October too in 2:13:44. The course record in Tokyo is 2:16:02 held by Brigid Kosgei from 2022.

"I am so excited to announce my participation in my next marathon," Hassan said in a release. "I feel Tokyo is the perfect preparation towards the Paris Olympic Games, because I have great Olympic memories in the city of Tokyo and I feel I can fuel my Olympic fire there."

Third time charm for Hassan?

Hassan, who is coming off wins in her first two career marathons (London and Chicago), will make her debut in Tokyo. The 30-year-old had a lot of success in the Japanese capital at the 2020 Olympic Games, winning two golds and a bronze across three athletics disciplines. Hassan is undecided if she will tackle the quadruple at the Paris Olympics: the 1,500m, 5,000m, 10,000m, and marathon, but she said her goal for this race is to “continue her marathon journey.”

“I do not have any time-based expectations for Tokyo,” Hassan told Athletics Weekly. “I want to continue to learn the distance and gain more experience and have fun doing it.”

Although she has no specific goal, Tokyo is considered one of the faster Abbott World Marathon Majors and has a similar course profile to the London Marathon. In London last year, Hassan ran a stunning 2:18:33 debut to win, despite stopping twice. She redeemed herself with a fast time in Chicago, setting a course record and running the second-fastest marathon time in history (2:13:44).

“In the streets of Tokyo, I will be looking to continue my marathon journey. I want to learn from every marathon, since every marathon is different and I can’t wait to come to Tokyo.”

Hassan will then have to decide which events to do in Paris, with the Olympic women’s marathon to take place on the final day of the athletics programme – August 11.

(12/21/2023) Views: 563 ⚡AMP

Eliud Kipchoge takes a step into coaching

Eliud Kipchoge, who has dominated running for nearly two decades, winning countless awards, medals and accolades, is stepping into a coaching and mentorship role with the U20 World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team (ART). According to World Athletics (WA), Kipchoge will take a mentorship and assistant role, using his experience in the sport to educate and inspire upcoming refugee athletes.

The World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team is comprised of athletes who have fled violence, conflict and injustice in their home country. The team was founded in 2016 and has since evolved into the world’s only year-round elite refugee team program. The Refugee Olympic Team made its first competitive appearance at the 2016 Olympic Games and has competed at most WA events since then.

Kipchoge and the team’s head coach, Janeth Jepkosgei, former world 800m champion, will mentor the U20 team through to the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru, next August.

The two-time Olympic champion’s mentorship will begin in January, per WA: “Kipchoge will motivate the team members by sharing his knowledge and discipline in the sport while encouraging them to pursue their education and read books, which is one of his passions,” said the press release.

Note that Kipchoge’s new role does not mean is he stopping his running career anytime soon. The 39-year-old still has aspirations to win every Abbott World Marathon Major (he is missing only New York and Boston) and potentially a third Olympic marathon title next year in Paris. 

Having Kipchoge as a coach is an incredible opportunity for any runner. He has 11 Abbott World Marathon Major victories to his name and four Olympic medals to go along with it. We are confident he knows a thing or two about running, and can provide some inspiration with his Kelly Clarkson pump-up music.

(12/16/2023) Views: 563 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine

Valencia Marathon to offer one million Euros for a world record

It’s no secret that the Trinidad Alfonso Valencia Marathon in Spain boasts one of the fastest courses and deepest marathon fields in the world. For the second consecutive year, the men’s and women’s winner in Valencia has recorded a time under 2:01 and 2:16. While Valencia isn’t part of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors, it continues to attract some of the world’s fastest-distance runners.

To set Valencia apart, organizers have an added incentive to the 2024 race—one million euros (US $1,079,000 CDN $1,400,000) for the man or woman to break the marathon world record on the course.

The announcement came on Monday from Juan Roig, the president of the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, who said to Spanish news that it is his dream to witness the marathon world record shattered in Valencia: “We want to announce that whoever breaks the world record will receive one million euros, if they break it in Valencia.” This amount would mark the largest prize purse/bonus from a marathon to date, surpassing the Nagoya Women’s Marathon in Japan, which awards USD $250,000 to the champion.

At this year’s Valencia Marathon, over 30 men ran under the Olympic standard of 2:08:10. A time, which would have placed them inside the top 10 at most marathon majors this year. Valencia has grown over the past decade and has become a hub for distance running, evidenced by the world records set by Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei and Ethiopia’s Letensebet Gidey in the 10,000m in 2021.

At this year’s race, Cheptegei made his marathon debut, falling slightly short of his sub-2:04 goal, finishing in 2:08:59 for 37th place overall. The event also featured one of the most illustrious distance runners in history, Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, who took fourth in a new masters 40+ world record of 2:04:19.

The men’s marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum has already revealed his racing plans for 2024. The 24-year-old, with a personal best of 2:00:35, will attempt the world record at April’s Rotterdam Marathon before gearing up for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games with Team Kenya. Kiptum came onto the scene at the Valencia Marathon last year, winning the race in 2:01:53, marking the fastest men’s marathon debut.

According to Forbes, Roig is one of the richest men in Spain, with a net worth of $3.6 billion. Roig and his business partner, Valencia race director Paco Borao, remain confident that the world record will someday come to them, and they are committed to doing whatever it takes to attract the world’s fastest athletes to compete there. “One day it will come,” said Roig to Spanish news. “We will fight for it.”

(12/06/2023) Views: 607 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson

Sifan Hassan, Kelvin Kiptum, Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug have been crowned Abbott World Marathon Majors Series XV champions

Sifan Hassan, Kelvin Kiptum, Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug have been crowned Abbott World Marathon Majors Series XV champions.

The series concluded at the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon.

Kiptum and Hug already had their victories assured, with Kiptum winning the TCS London Marathon and then the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in a world record 2:00:35 to seal the men’s open division title.

Wheelchair racer Hug had swept all five Majors before New York and promptly made it six from six with a dominant display in the final event. Hug was presented with a special gold Six Star medal to mark the accomplishment.

Hassan, with wins in London and Chicago, could only be caught by Kenyan Hellen Obiri, who needed to win in New York to add to her Boston victory and tie Hassan at the top of the leaderboard.

Obiri duly obliged, out-kicking Letesenbet Gidey in Central Park to claim the race victory.

That meant the six race directors of the Abbott World Marathon Majors had to each vote for their choice to be the 2023 women’s series champion. The vote went the way of Hassan, who set the second fastest time in history of 2:13:44 when she won in Chicago.

For Debrunner, it was all in her own hands. She went into the final race three points behind her Swiss compatriot Manuela Schär, with defending series champion, the USA’s Susannah Scaroni, two points further back and Madison de Rozario of Australia also within striking distance of the title if she could win in New York.

Debrunner left all her rivals behind from the gun, descending the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge with a commanding lead that she never relinquished.

She went on to break Scaroni’s course record, finishing in 1:39:32 to take the win, the record bonus and the series.

It caps a stunning fall season for Debrunner, who shot into contention by winning the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON in a world record time before adding the Bank of America Chicago Marathon to her list of successes two weeks later.

Abbott World Marathon Majors CEO Dawna Stone said: “We are thrilled to see the series end in such spectacular fashion in New York City, and to have four such incredible series champions to celebrate.

“Series XV has been one for the history books, with three new world records set across the divisions and a host of course and regional records falling as well.

“Our six races continue to raise the bar of elite performance in the marathon, and we congratulate Sifan, Catherine, Kelvin and Marcel on their fantastic achievements in this series.”

Series XVI will begin at the Tokyo Marathon on March 3, 2024.

(11/09/2023) Views: 652 ⚡AMP
by AbbottWMM

Men's Record-Holder To Defend Title At Manchester Road Race

Defending Manchester Road Race men's division champion and course record-holding Conner Mantz will return for the 2023 race. 

Mantz, who won two NCAA Division 1 cross country titles when he ran for Brigham Young University, rocketed around the 4.748-mile course in 2022 with the time of 21:04.  He knocked 12 seconds off the prior mark of 21:16 that Edward Cheserek set in 2018.

Also expected to be at the starting line will be last year’s runner-up, Morgan Beadlescomb.

Beadlescomb, a former Michigan State All-American, shadowed Mantz across the finish stripe last November with a time of 21:05.

Beadlescomb’s time is the second fastest-ever run on the Manchester course. Last year’s elite field was so strong that the first five runners to finish all eclipsed Cheserek’s former record, according to race officials.

“We are extremely pleased that last year’s top two finishers, Conner Mantz and Morgan Beadlescomb, are returning this year,” said Dr. Tris Carta, president of the Manchester Road Race Committee. “It is going to be another very exciting race."

Mantz placed sixth last month at the Chicago Marathon with the personal record and Olympic standard qualifying time of 2:07:47. Beadlescomb, 25, ran a personal best time of 13:08.82 for 5000 meters at a meet in Los Angeles in May and won the USATF national 5-K championship at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5-K in 13:44 on Nov. 4th.

 The 87th Manchester Road Race, which was recognized as a 2023 World Athletics Label Event, will be held on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, at 10 a.m. It starts and finishes on Main Street in Manchester, in front of St. James Church. The road race is organized by 500 volunteers from the Manchester Road Race Committee, with support from the Town of Manchester. 

 

(11/08/2023) Views: 570 ⚡AMP

Morgan Beadlescomb, Annie Rodenfels win Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5k

Two runners won big at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K on Saturday in Central Park.

Morgan Beadlescomb, 2023 B.A.A. 5K champion, and three-time NCAA Division III champion Annie Rodenfels both captured the 2023 USA Track & Field (USTAF) 5K Championships.

Beadlescomb, 25, finished in 13:44, marking his debut in the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K.

Rodenfels, 27, captured the women's title in 15:22, after finishing fourth in the 2022 edition of the event.

Over 10,000 runners from across the country participated in the event Saturday morning, including top local athletes and many runners who are also running Sunday's TCS New York City Marathon.

The Abbott Dash served as a great warmup ahead of Sunday's marathon.

Runners started the race at the United Nations and then made their way across Midtown before ending at the marathon finish line in Central Park.

Eyewitness News sports reporter Sam Ryan spoke to Chris Miller of Abbott, who shared his excitement for Saturday's race.

"For 10,000 runners to take on these iconic streets of New York, as Abbott being a company about celebrating health and technology company, it is great to see," said Miller.

(11/05/2023) Views: 556 ⚡AMP

Olympians and national champions to headline stacked professional athlete field at 2023 USATF 5K Championships

Weini Kelati, Courtney Frerichs, Keira D’Amato, Woody Kincaid, and Zach Panning to race for world’s largest 5K prize purse; Nearly 10,000 runners to follow in footsteps of pros by racing Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K.

Five Olympians, one Paralympian, and four athletes who competed at this year’s World Athletics Championships will race in the 2023 USA Track & Field (USATF) 5K Championships at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K on Saturday, November 4. The event will take place in Midtown Manhattan the day prior to the TCS New York City Marathon and will be broadcast live on USATF.TV. Abbott will return as the title partner of the event which features a $79,500 prize purse – the largest of any 5K race in the world.

In the women’s race, two-time NCAA champion Weini Kelati will return in search of her third consecutive title in the event. Each of the last two years she has smashed the event record, taking the tape in 15:18 in 2021 and 15:15 in 2022. She will be challenged for the top spot on the podium this year by three-time national champion Keira D’Amato, 2023 U.S. cross-country champion Ednah Kurgat, and U.S. Olympians Abbey Cooper, Courtney Frerichs, Colleen Quigley, and Rachel Smith.

“Doing the Abbott Dash 5K is becoming a little bit of a early season tradition for me,” Kelati said. “Although my fall season looked a little bit different this year because of the opportunity I had to represent Team USA at the World Road Running Championships in Latvia, I’m really happy I get to come back to New York to try for my third straight 5K national title.”

Woody Kincaid, the U.S. 10,000-meter champion and American record-holder in the indoor 5,000 meters, will lead the men’s field. Lining up against him will be Olympic champion Matthew Centrowitz, the top American finisher at the World Athletics Championships marathon this year Zach Panning, 2023 B.A.A. 5K champion Morgan Beadlescomb, and last year’s fourth through sixth-place finishers in New York, Ahmed Muhumed, Alec Basten, and Brian Barraza.

“I still see my career being mostly on the track for the next few years, but I like the idea of throwing in some more road races when it makes sense,” Kincaid said. “As I look towards the Paris Games, the Abbott Dash will be a nice jump-start to my 2024 training, and it will be cool to be in the middle of the big city marathon hoopla without having to go the full 26.2.”

Following in the footsteps of the professional athletes, nearly 10,000 runners will participate in the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K, including top local athletes and many runners in the marathon on November 5.

Abbott, the title sponsor of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, is the sponsor of the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K for the seventh time. Abbott, a global healthcare leader, helps people live more fully with life-changing technology and celebrate what’s possible with good health.

The Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K annually provides TCS New York City Marathon supporters, friends, and families the opportunity to join in on the thrill of marathon race week. The course begins on Manhattan’s east side by the United Nations, then takes runners along 42nd Street past historic Grand Central Terminal and up the world-famous Avenue of the Americas past Radio City Music Hall. It then passes through the rolling hills of Central Park before finishing at the iconic TCS New York City Marathon finish line.

The Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K and USATF 5K Championships will be broadcast live via USATF.TV. The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 8:20 a.m. ET with the first race starting at 8:30 a.m. ET.

About New York Road Runners (NYRR)

NYRR’s mission is to help and inspire people through running. Since 1958, New York Road Runners has grown from a local running club to the world’s premier community running organization. NYRR’s commitment to New York City’s five boroughs features races, virtual races, community events, free youth running initiatives and school programs, the NYRR RUNCENTER featuring the New Balance Run Hub, and training resources that provide hundreds of thousands of people each year with the motivation, know-how, and opportunity to Run for Life. NYRR’s premier event is the TCS New York City Marathon. Held annually on the first Sunday in November, the race features a wide population of runners, from the world’s top professional athletes to a vast range of competitive, recreational, and charity runners. To learn more, visit www.nyrr.org.

 

(10/27/2023) Views: 580 ⚡AMP
by Running USA

Calgary woman distraught after F-word engraved on marathon medal

A marathon medal represents months of dedication, perseverance and the sense of personal accomplishment that comes from completing 42.2 gruelling kilometres. Adorchita Di Perno of Calgary felt that way about her 2023 Chicago Marathon medal, until she saw that the expletive “F***” had been engraved onto the back of it.

Di Perno had just finished her 22nd marathon in 3:34:29, achieving a Boston-qualifying time. She was able to get 2018 Boston Marathon champion Des Linden to sign the back of her medal and, for the first time, decided to get it engraved. After the race, she dropped it off at the U.S. running chain Fleet Feet Chicago, where she wrote down her name, phone number and bib information for the engraving.

After waiting a few hours, Di Perno arrived back at the store to collect her medal. She wasn’t wearing her glasses at the time, but immediately noticed that it had the wrong time (5:02:32). Then, when she put on her glasses, her heart stopped as she read the profanity engraved onto the medal.

“This is my medal, but this is not my time or name,” says Di Perno. “And I did not ask for the F-word.”

Di Perno immediately spoke to store management, and after much confusion, they apologized for the mistake, giving her the option of a new, untarnished medal. “I did not want to give it up, because I ran for it and earned it,” says Di Perno.

Later that day, staff at the store figured out that Di Perno, whose bib number was 5773, had dropped off her medal at the store at around the same time as another runner, with a bib number 57731, dropped off her own medal, and the engravers got the two customers confused.

We reached the other runner, who told us, “I was supposed to get my medal back on Oct. 12,” and who confirmed that they requested the F-word be engraved on her medal, but declined to say why. “I haven’t heard from [Fleet Feet] and did not know [my medal] was given to someone else,” they said.

When Canadian Running showed them a photo of the medal, they were unhappy about the black marker on it, not realizing it was Linden’s signature. 

Looking back on the mishap, Di Perno says she was upset at the time, but now, it’s hard not to laugh about it.

The Calgarian hopes to one day become an Abbott World Marathon Major six-star finisher, and is waiting to hear whether she’s been selected to race the Tokyo Marathon in 2024.

(10/22/2023) Views: 846 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine

Cam Levins’s bonkers workout ahead of New York City Marathon

We are less than three weeks away from Cam Levins, Canada’s marathon record holder, toeing the start line at the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon on Nov. 5. If you have not been following his Strava workouts or recent races, you might be surprised to find out that he might be in the best shape of his life.

The 34-year-old athlete is in the final few weeks of peak training before tapering for the NYC Marathon. On Oct. 12, he threw down an impressive one-kilometer workout, maintaining an average pace of two minutes and 45 seconds per kilometer for 12 reps, with only one minute’s rest between reps.

The workout 

12 sets of 1K, with one minute of jog rest @ 2:40-2:50/km

This workout is specifically designed for those training for a half-marathon or marathon, with short rest periods to acclimatize them to a faster pace. Levins pushed his limits during this session, clocking his fastest rep at 2:40 per kilometer and his slowest at 2:51 per kilometer, resulting in an astonishing 2:45 per kilometer average pace. This pace equates to an incredible 58 minutes for a half-marathon. (His Canadian record is 60:18.)

In his last two marathon outings, Levins achieved something historic for Canada, breaking the national record on both occasions. He also secured a top-five finish at both the 2022 World Championships and the 2023 Tokyo Marathon.

Levins chose to race the New York Marathon in his build-up to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The marathon course in Paris has a challenging elevation gain of more than 400 meters across 42.2 kilometers.

Of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors, New York and Boston are considered the most challenging. New York’s difficulty is attributed primarily to the four bridges participants must cross as they wind through the city’s five boroughs, with the Verrazzano-Narrows and Queensboro Bridges both extending to a distance of more than one kilometer each. 

With the recent announcement that the 2022 NYC champion, Evans Chebet, and the two-time NYC champion, Geoffrey Kamworor, have both withdrawn due to injury, the 2023 race will see a new champion crowned in Central Park on Nov. 5. Could it be Levins? His fitness seems to indicate that he could–and if he does, he will be the first Canadian ever to win the New York City Marathon.

(10/17/2023) Views: 549 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson

Faith Kipyegon looks to add marathon record to her collection in future

Double World and Olympic champion, Faith Kipyegon has expressed her desire to smash the World Marathon record in the coming years.

The 29-year-old mother of one reaffirmed her ambition to enter the fierce road racing competition when she is finished with the track.

Speaking on Citizen TV, Kipyegon revealed that her masterclass act in Monaco on July 22, where she smashed the world record in the one-mile race was her initial step towards venturing into the roads.

"The mile was my first road race as I look to take up a career in the marathon. Expect to see me in the next Berlin Marathon race. I will run the marathon one day," Kipyegon said.

"I intend to run every major marathon in the Abbott series including the BerIin, London, and Amsterdam," she added.

Kipyegon lavished praise on marathon icon Eliud Kipchoge for inspiring her to take a stab at the blistering 42km race.

"I train in Kaptagat with Eliud Kipchoge and Geoffrey Kamwaror in a global training camp and they have done quite a lot to inspire me to take an interest in the 42km race," Kipyegon stated.

"On Mondays, we do easy runs, and on Tuesdays, we are on track. We allow the men to start ahead of us and we try as much as we can to catch up. We cannot compete with them because their training is more intense. So we only work alongside them in easy runs.

"If you love something and have a passion for it,  then going for training doesn't become a burden," she quipped.

Kipyegon added that she hopes to reclaim the women's 5000m world record at the 2024 Paris Olympics after surrendering it to Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay in Eugene, Oregon on September 17.

"Winning three gold medals back-to-back in the Olympics will be incredible. It will motivate the coming generations and motivate me as well. I will have left a legacy.

"I have already won four Diamond Leagues and I intend to go all out for my fifth title next year.

Kipyegon spoke even as news streamed in that she had been nominated for the World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year award.

She will vie for the accolade alongside 11 other nominees unveiled by the world governing body on Wednesday. The winner will be announced on December 13.

The Kenyan track sensation made the list of nominees following a splendid season, where she smashed three world records at the Diamond League before running away with the 1500m and 5000m world titles at the World Athletics championships in Budapest, Hungary. 

(10/13/2023) Views: 627 ⚡AMP
by Tony Mballa

The 2024 Boston Marathon Acceptance Letters have Arrived. Here’s What the Data Tells Us.

A record-breaking number of qualified applicants registered for 128th running of the world’s oldest annual marathon

The 128th Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America just began informing qualified applicants of their status this morning, and the numbers are as fascinating as they are fast.

After 33,058 qualifier applications came flooding in during registration week earlier this month to run next year’s race—taking place on April 15, 2024—22,019 applicants were accepted (pending final verification).

“This year’s registration week resulted in the highest number of qualified applicants in race history, a testament to the strength of the marathon community,” said David Tyrie, Chief Digital Officer and Chief Marketing Officer for Bank of America.

To gain entry into the Boston Marathon requires each runner to have an official qualifying race prior to applying, with finishing times established by both gender and age. However, with such high demand for the race by qualified runners, the unofficial “cut-off” times for being accepted into the race are often minutes faster than the official qualifying standards.

For the 2024 Boston Marathon race, this year’s “cut-off” time needed to gain acceptance was 5 minutes, 29 seconds or faster than the official qualifying time. For example, say you are a 40-year-old male applicant. The official B.A.A. qualifying standard for this age/gender is 3 hours, 10 minutes. But in order to be accepted into next year’s race, any qualifying times slower than 3 hours, 4 minutes, 31 seconds would not be accepted.

This stout benchmark translated this year to more than 11,000 applicants not being accepted into next year’s Boston Marathon.

Looking into the 22,000-plus runners who were just notified of their acceptance—with ages ranging from 18 to 82—here’s how the numbers break down: 12,535 men, 9,440 women, and 44 non-binary athletes from all 50 states. In addition, automatic entry is offered to those who’ve finished 10 or more previous Boston Marathons, and 660 of these applicants were granted entry.

What’s also interesting is that over one-third of the entire field at next year’s Boston Marathon will be newbies—11,391 of the accepted applicants will be running Boston for the first time.

The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) was established 1887, and has become a non-profit organization that manages the Boston Marathon and supports comprehensive charity, youth, and year-round programming. The Boston Marathon is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, along with international marathons in Tokyo, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City.

Athletes interested in running next year’s race as part of a fundraising effort, affiliated with select charity programs, are invited to contact the nonprofit or organization to see what opportunities there are. Read more about the race’s charity program.

The 2025 qualifying window has already begun on September 1, 2023, and further registration information will be announced following the conclusion of the 128th race. Stay tuned—and keep training.

(09/30/2023) Views: 812 ⚡AMP
by Outside Online

Focus shifts from track as road racing season heats up

As the international outdoor track and field season draws to a close, we now look forward to the feast of top-class road racing that will be on offer throughout the final four months of the year.

In just 11 days’ time, the focus of the sport will be on the World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23, where the best distance runners on the planet will compete for global honours in the mile, 5km and half marathon.

The likes of world champion Faith Kipyegon, world record-holder Berihu Aregawi and Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir are among the stars set to compete in the Latvian capital. Recreational runners from around the world, meanwhile, will run on the same courses as the greats when they take to the streets of Riga for the associated mass races.

There are also eight Platinum Label road races between September and December, the first of which was held last weekend with Betsy Saina and Othmane El Goumri winning the Blackmores Sydney Marathon. Of the seven other upcoming Platinum events, three of them form part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors (WMM) series: the BMW Berlin Marathon, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and the TCS New York Marathon.

Platinum Label road races, Sep-Dec 2023

8 Oct – Chicago Marathon (WMM)

15 Oct – Amsterdam Marathon

5 Nov – New York Marathon (WMM)

26 Nov – Shanghai Marathon

3 Dec – Valencia Marathon

17 Dec – Bang Saen Half Marathon

The Chicago Marathon two weeks later will be highlighted by a clash between defending champion Ruth Chepngetich and London Marathon winner Sifan Hassan.

Two-time Tokyo Marathon champion Birhanu Legese, the fourth-fastest marathon runner of all time, headlines the men’s field for the Amsterdam Marathon. Defending champion Evans Chebet will take on two-time winner Geoffrey Kamworor at the New York City Marathon in November.

For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, the Shanghai Marathon in late November will welcome an international elite field.

Just one week later, multiple global champion and world record-holder Joshua Cheptegei will make his long-awaited marathon debut in Valencia. In recent years the event has established itself as one of the highest-quality marathons in the world, and this year’s edition will surely be no exception.

Towards the end of the year, the Thai coastal area of Bang Saen will host one of the newest additions to the Platinum Label calendar, the Bangsaen21 Half Marathon. Since the pandemic, it has been largely a domestic affair, but it will be back with a bang this year with a high-quality elite line-up.

Hundreds of road races each year are granted a World Athletics Label, ranging from ‘Platinum’, for the top tier of road events, to Gold, Elite and Label. There are still more than 100 World Athletics Label road races due to take place between now and the end of 2023.

(09/24/2023) Views: 692 ⚡AMP

Berlin Marathon: will the women’s course record fall again?

Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa will be aiming for the course record once more in Berlin on Sunday, in the deepest elite field in the race’s 49-year history, including seven runners with  sub-2:20 personal bests.

In 2022, Assefa astounded fans by improving her best by over 18 minutes, taking more than two and a half minutes off the course record with her time of 2:15:37, and earning the unique status of the only woman to break sub-two minutes for the 800m and sub 2:20 for the marathon.

“I’m delighted to be running again in Berlin,” 26-year-old Assefa said at the elite women’s press conference on Thursday. “Last year’s race proved an unexpected success for me. I think I can run even faster on Sunday, a further improvement would be a success,” she said.

Will Assefa be setting her sights on the world record of 2:14:04? She felt that might be too ambitious: “Much can happen so I cannot say at the moment what would be the halfway split,” she said on Thursday. “I want to improve my time but I am not thinking about the world record.”

Assefa will face a serious challenge from Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui, who set a new course record at the 2022 Berlin Half Marathon in a blistering 65:02. She also took third in a speedy Valencia Marathon in 2:17:29, and ran 2:18:51 in London in April for fourth place. “My aim is to break my personal best. I can imagine going through the first half on Sunday in around 68 minutes,” she said.

Challenges could also come from Assefa’s compatriots Tigist Abayechew, third in Berlin in 2022, Hiwot Gebrekidan, second in Berlin in 2021 and Workenesh Edesa, who was fourth last year. “The women’s course record of 2:15:37 is an absolute world-class time,” said the race director Mark Milde. “But, given the strong field, we hope that this can be broken.”

Many of the elite field will simply be hoping to achieve the Olympic standard of 2:26:50.

Canada’s Malindi Elmore will toe the line

Malindi Elmore of Kelowna, B.C. looks to be in fine form to run on the same course where Natasha Wodak broke Elmore’s Canadian marathon record last year. In May, Elmore threw down a gutsy performance at the 2023 Tartan Ottawa International Marathon, where her goal was to get the Olympic standard; she was on pace through 30K and sitting in fourth position. Over the final 12 kilometres, she moved up two spots to finish second, but missed the standard by less than a minute. It seems unlikely she plans to reclaim her Canadian record (which is three minutes faster than the Olympic standard) this weekend, but as all marathon fans know, anything can–and usually does–happen.

A record number of 47,912 runners from 156 nations have entered the 49th edition of the BMW Berlin Marathon. Germany’s most spectacular road race is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors (AWMM) and is also a Platinum Label Road Race of World Athletics. The men’s press conference will be held on Friday, September 22.

(09/23/2023) Views: 630 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne

Eliud Kipchoge is ready for a fast race in Berlin

Once again the best marathon runner of all time will be on the start line of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. The double Olympic champion from Kenya, who brought his own world record down to 2:01:09 a year ago in Berlin, will be almost compelled to go all out for a fast time on Sunday, such is the enormously competitive running scene among his compatriots where only an extremely fast time within the Olympic qualifying mark will secure one of the three places for the Kenyan men’s team in the Olympic Marathon in Paris next year.

Eliud Kipchoge’s ambition in Paris is to become the first runner in history to win three Olympic Marathon titles. The Kenyan is aiming to use the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON almost as a springboard to book his place in Paris. While Eliud Kipchoge could strike up a world record pace at the head of the field, Germany’s marathon star Amanal Petros seeks an unprecedented achievement in the history of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON by becoming the first to set a men’s national record here, a feat so far never accomplished in the previous 48 editions of the event.

A record number of 47,912 runners from 156 nations have entered the 49th edition of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. Germany’s most spectacular road race is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors (AWMM) and is also a Platinum Label Road Race of World Athletics.

“We feel honoured that the best marathon runner in sporting history, Eliud Kipchoge, has decided to run the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON for a sixth time. This confirms the outstanding status of the event and raises hopes for an exceptional result,” said race director Mark Milde, who has organized Kipchoge’s previous five races in Berlin.

“Berlin for me is like home. Looking at the Olympic Games in Paris next year, I considered which races would be the best preparation for me and Berlin was the best option,” explained Eliud Kipchoge. A year ago his pace for much of the early stages of the race suggested he might even break two hours. “But that was 2022, it’s a different year now and a different race,” said the 38-year-old. Winning in Berlin for the fifth time would give him more titles here than any other champion. He is currently level with the legendary Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie on four victories.

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that Eliud Kipchoge breaks the world record for the third time in Berlin, although he did not announce any definite goals at the press conference. “I’m nervous, but that shows I’m ready,” said Kipchoge. “I’ll try to run a good time.” Of his 20 marathons, Eliud Kipchoge has emerged victorious in all but three, in itself a unique achievement.

The man with the second fastest time going into the race is also Kenyan, Amos Kipruto. He ran his personal best of 2:03:13 in Tokyo last year, finishing runner-up to Eliud Kipchoge. “My aim on Sunday is to run a personal best,” stated Amos Kipruto, whose career highlight so far is winning the London Marathon last year.

A dozen men on the start list show best times of under 2:06, proof of the strength in depth among the elite in this year’s BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. “It would be fair to say that every elite runners comes to Berlin to run their personal best,” admitted Mark Milde.

Amanal Petros has as his goal in his BMW BERLIN-MARATHON debut that of breaking his own German record of 2:06:07 by a clear margin. “I’ve trained in Kenya for almost four months at altitude of 2,400 metres, concentrating entirely on Berlin. That was very challenging,” said the 28-year-old. “Going through halfway in around 62 minutes is feasible but we can adjust the pace at any time.”

Not only the German but the Swiss national record for the marathon could come under pressure. Tadesse Abraham improved his best to 2:06:38 as a 39-year-old last year in Zurich. Now turned 41, he might even threaten the world masters record of none other than Kenenisa Bekele, who ran 2:05:53 in London last year.

Men’s elite runners with personal bests

Eliud Kipchoge KEN 2:01:09  

not record eligible:1:59:40,2

Amos KiprutoKEN2:03:13

Jonathan MaiyoKEN2:04:56

Eliud Kiptanui KEN 2:05:21

Ghirmay Ghebreslassie ERI 2:05:34

Ronald KorirKEN2:05:37

Tadu Abate ETH 2:05:38

Philemon KiplimoKEN2:05:44

Enock Onchari KEN 2:05:47

Mark Korir KEN 2:05:49

Andualem ShiferawETH2:05:52

Haftu TekluETH2:05:53

Amanal PetrosGER2:06:27

Josphat BoitKEN2:06:34

Tadesse Abraham SUI 2:06:38

Okubay Tsegay ERI2:06:46

Abel KipchumbaKEN2:06:49

Yusuke Ogura JPN2:06:51

Denis ChirchirKEN2:07:17

Eyob Faniel ITA 2:07:19

Justus KangogoKEN2:07:40

Titus Kipkosgei KEN2:07:46

Godadaw BelachewISR2:07:54

Dominic Nyairo KEN2:08:13

Derseh Kindie ETH 2:08:23

Guojian Dong CHN2:08:28

Liam Adams AUS 2:08:39

Scott FaubleUSA2:08:52

Hendrik Pfeiffer GER 2:10:18

Samuel Fitwi GER 2:12:14

Konstantin Wedel GER 2:13:02

(09/22/2023) Views: 634 ⚡AMP

B.A.A. Announces Expanded Para Athletics Divisions and Enhanced Prize Money Awards for 2024 Events

The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) today announced plans for an enhanced prize money structure across B.A.A. events in 2024, as well as the introduction of two new Para Athletics Divisions for athletes competing with coordination impairments (T35-T38) and intellectual impairments (T20) as well as more inclusive upper and lower limb impairment divisions. The changes will provide greater financial rewards for athletes across multiple divisions and expanded opportunities for athletes within the Para Athletics Divisions and Wheelchair Divisions.

“We are always looking at ways to celebrate and reward athletic excellence,” said Jack Fleming, B.A.A. President and CEO. “With these changes, we are recognizing top finishers and aspiring athletes in our Wheelchair and Para Athletics Divisions, while also expanding opportunities for new groups of athletes to be recognized and included in our B.A.A. events.”

He continued, “Boston is a running city, and we’ve made it our goal to elevate Para athletes as they train and compete for the podium at our events, from the 5K through to the marathon.”

“This creates an enormous positive impact for Para athletes and shows how the B.A.A. is leading the way towards greater inclusivity in sports,” said John Jordan, head of The Academy and executive co-sponsor of the Disability Action Network, Bank of America. “As we look across our involvement in sports around the world, we’re committed to help broaden the possibilities available to athletes competing at all levels.”

New prize structures highlights:

The Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America will now feature a cumulative prize fund of more than $1 million.

Wheelchair champions [T53/54/34] at the Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America will now receive a first-place prize of $40,000 (increased from $25,000), and places 2-10 will also receive increases in awards compared to recent years. Wheelchair athletes with T51-T52 classifications will receive awards for places 1-3.

The total wheelchair prize for 2024 will be $313,500 for men and women (previously $125,000). This includes $50,000 each for a course record (equal to the Open course record award)

The top three finishers in all seven Para Athletics Divisions at the Marathon will receive prize money of $2,500; $1,500; $1,000, respectively. 

Additional increases in the Wheelchair Division and Para Athletic Division prize money will be offered for the B.A.A. 5K, B.A.A. 10K, and B.A.A. Half Marathon. The B.A.A. Half Marathon will also feature increased open division prize money for podium finishers.

Para and Wheelchair prize money divisions at the Boston Marathon adhere to World Athletics and World Para Athletics rules of competition. Athletes competing in the Para and Wheelchair divisions must be nationally or internationally classified to be eligible.

Overview of new Para Athletic divisions:

Seven Para Athletics Divisions will now be offered at the Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America, with newly established divisions for athletes with coordination impairments [T35-T38 and intellectual impairments [T20].

Additionally, the T61/63 lower limb impairment will now add the T43 classification, and the T62/64 lower limb impairment division will now add T42/T44 classifications.

The seven divisions are an increase from five divisions offered in 2023 (vision [T11/T12, T13], upper-limb [T45/T46], and lower-limb impairments [T61/T63, T62/T64]).

A Para Athletics Division for athletes with coordination impairments will be offered at the B.A.A. Half Marathon, B.A.A. 10K, and B.A.A. 5K from 2024.  Each of these events will now feature four Para Athletics Divisions namely vision, upper-limb, lower-limb, and coordination impairments.

Athlete Quotes

Marko Cheseto - Kenyan All-American athlete who holds the world record for a double lower leg amputee in the marathon said, “This increased recognition [from the B.A.A.] gives athletes with disabilities more public attention, and we can perform at a higher level given these opportunities.

“Now that we have the world’s oldest marathon leading the way [with prize money for Para divisions] all other marathons should be inclusive. It's about diversifying the sport and creating more avenues for people with disabilities to compete, so we continue to grow the sport for future generations.”

Daniel Romanchuk, US Paralympian and two-time Boston Marathon winner said, “The B.A.A. has championed the wheelchair division for many decades and continues to build on that tradition by including more Para-athlete divisions, allowing an ever-increasing number of athletes to compete.

“Increased prize money makes it possible for emerging athletes to attend elite-level races as well as helping them afford the costly equipment and repairs that are necessary to compete in Para-athletics. The B.A.A. is continually finding ways to elevate the sport, and it's incredibly exciting to imagine the future of Para-athletics!”

Reigning Boston Marathon Champion, and multi-World and Paralympic Champion from Switzerland, Marcel Hug said, “To see how the sport of wheelchair racing has developed in recent years is very gratifying and it is also a credit to the Boston Athletic Association. It is not only about the financial support which enables us to train and compete at a higher level, but it is also about the increased recognition and inclusion of Para-sports.

“As top athletes we try to perform at our best and inspire other people with or without disabilities so the support of the B.A.A. and the entire Abbott World Marathon Major series is more than just rewarding top performing athletes, it shows that we are an equal part of society.”

Tatyana McFadden, 21-time Abbott World Marathon Major winner from America said,“I’m proud to see how far we have come. I’m thankful for past, and for current athletes who have raised their voices to help create change. Change takes more than just one person, it takes a village, and takes people who believe in us. The B.A.A. has been part of that, so I am very thankful.

“The prize money is so important to support the elite Para divisions. The more support, visibility and education we can bring to the sport, the better it can be for all the athletes.”

Susannah Scaroni, Paralympic Gold medalist and the 2023 Boston Marathon Champion from America said, “The legacy of the Boston Marathon and its support of the wheelchair division has impacted me in so many ways.

“As a person with a disability, the legacy of the original 1970 wheelchair athletes has enabled myself and all other Para-athletes of my generation to perceive ourselves and to be perceived publicly, as professional athletes. I cannot express how much this has meant for all of us.

“The provision of prize money indicated that the B.A.A. truly recognized that wheelchair racers are elite athletes, and this support has enabled the sport to grow and improve and subsequently gives more people with disabilities exposure to role models.”

Liz Willis, Paralympian and three-time Boston Marathon Para Champion said, “The support of the B.A.A. for Para divisions is vital to expanding the Para movement. Just as the Boston Marathon was the first Abbott World Marathon Major to open the doors of possibility for women, they are doing the same for amputees and visually impaired athletes.

"It takes time and recognition to build a program, and the B.A.A. is the ONLY reason I currently run marathons.  The Boston Marathon allows others to see their impossible become possible. It has forever impacted my life by breaking down the walls of discrimination and providing pathways for all to push their limits of what's possible.”  

(09/07/2023) Views: 600 ⚡AMP
by B.A.A. Communications Department

Registration for 128th Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America Begins September 11

With nearly one month to go until registration opens for the 128th Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America, the Boston Athletic Association reminds athletes of what to expect during registration week, September 11-15. The 128th Boston Marathon will feature a field size of 30,000 athletes and will mark the first Boston Marathon with Bank of America as presenting partner.

REGISTRATION TIMETABLE

Qualifier registration will open on Monday, September 11 at 10:00 a.m. ET and will close on Friday, September 15, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. ET. The B.A.A. will use the same registration process for qualified runners as it used for the 2021, 2022, and 2023 races, allowing any athlete who has achieved a currently valid Boston Marathon qualifying time to submit a registration application during Registration Week, September 11–15.

Registration will be held within the B.A.A.’s online platform Athletes' Village. Registration is not on a first-come, first-served basis – all applications will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, September 15 and treated in the same manor regardless of when they are submitted during the application period.

PRE-VERIFY YOUR QUALIFYING TIME

To enhance the Boston Marathon registration experience, the B.A.A. is offering a special pre-verification period for 128th Boston Marathon qualifying times. Athletes who plan to register for the 128th Boston Marathon between September 11-15 may take part in this pre-verification, helping to expedite their registration application in September.  

Please note that verifying a qualifying time during the pre-verification period does not enter you in the Boston Marathon. Rather, it simply allows us to confirm and verify one’s qualifying time early so that when applying between September 11-15, the athlete’s qualifying information is already in our system.  

Pre-verification submission is open within Athletes’ Village through August 23.  Additional information is available here.

QUALIFYING WINDOW & STANDARDS

The 2024 Boston Marathon qualifying window began on September 1, 2022, and will close at 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday, September 15, 2023. If space is still available after the conclusion of Registration Week, registration will re-open on Monday, September 17.

Qualifying standards for the 128th Boston Marathon can be found here. Achieving a Boston Marathon qualifying standard does not guarantee acceptance into the event. Those who are fastest among the pool of applicants in their age and gender group will be accepted.

ENTRY FEE

The entry fee for accepted qualifiers will be $230 USD for United States residents and $235 USD for international residents. Participants will have the opportunity to purchase registration insurance at the point of registration. Entry fees will only be processed once an athlete is accepted into the Boston Marathon.

129TH BOSTON MARATHON

The qualifying window for the 129th Boston Marathon, scheduled to take place on April 21, 2025, will begin on September 1, 2023. Registration details for that race will be announced following the 2024 Boston Marathon.

ABOUT THE BOSTON ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (B.A.A.) 

Established in 1887, the Boston Athletic Association is a non-profit organization with a mission of promoting a healthy lifestyle through sports, especially running. The B.A.A. manages the Boston Marathon, and supports comprehensive charity, youth, and year-round programming. The Boston Marathon is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, along with international marathons in Tokyo, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City. Starting in 2024, the Boston Marathon’s presenting partner will be Bank of America. The 128th Boston Marathon is scheduled to take place on Monday, April 15, 2024. For more information on the B.A.A., please visit www.baa.org.

(08/10/2023) Views: 665 ⚡AMP

Sharon Lokedi, Hellen Obiri, Peres Jepchirchir and Brigid Kosgei to Race 2023 TCS New York City Marathon

Defending TCS New York City Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi, reigning Boston Marathon and United Airlines NYC Half champion Hellen Obiri, Olympic gold medalist and 2021 TCS New York City Marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir, and marathon world-record holder Brigid Kosgei will headline the women’s professional athlete field at the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 5.

When the four Kenyans line up in New York, it will be the first time in event history the reigning TCS New York City Marathon champion, Boston Marathon champion, Olympic champion, and world-record holder line up against each other in the TCS New York City Marathon.

Lokedi won the TCS New York City Marathon in her marathon debut last year, pulling away in the final two miles to finish in 2:23:23 and became the eighth athlete to win the race in their true 26.2-mile debut. In preparation for the marathon, Lokedi had raced the United Airlines NYC Half and the Mastercard New York Mini 10K, finishing fourth and second, respectively, in those races.

“Last year, I came into the TCS New York City Marathon with the goal of being in the thick of the race, and the result was better than I could have ever hoped for,” Lokedi said. “This year, I’m returning with a different mindset, hungry to defend my title and race against the fastest women in the world.”

Obiri is a two-time Olympic medalist and seven-time world championships individual medalist who earlier this year won the Boston Marathon in her second-ever attempt at the distance, in addition to winning the United Airlines NYC Half in her event debut. Obiri holds the Kenyan record for 3,000 meters and represented Kenya at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics, earning silver medals in the 5,000 meters at both. In her marathon debut last year in New York, she finished sixth.

“With a year of marathon experience now under my belt, a win in Boston, and my move to the U.S., I’m coming to New York this year with more confidence and in search of a title,” Obiri said. “I’m excited to show the people of New York what I’m capable of and that my win at the United Airlines NYC Half in March was just the beginning.”

Jepchirchir is the only athlete to have won the Olympic marathon, TCS New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. She is also a two-time world championships gold medalist in the half marathon. In 2021, she won the Tokyo Olympic marathon to claim Kenya’s second consecutive gold medal in the event. Four months later, she won the TCS New York City Marathon, finishing in 2:22:39, the third-fastest time in event history and eight seconds off the event record. In April 2022, in a back-and-forth race that came down to the final mile, she fended off Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh to take the Boston Maraton title on Boylston Street in her debut in the race in 2:21:02. This April, she recorded another podium finish, taking third at the TCS London Marathon.

“I was so disappointed that I couldn’t defend my title in New York last year due to an injury, and winning again in Central Park has been my main motivation as I begin my preparations for the autumn,” Jepchirchir said. “New York is an important step in defending my Olympic gold medal next summer in Paris, and I will do my best to make my family and my country proud.”

Kosgei is the world-record holder in the marathon and has won an Olympic silver medal and five Abbott World Marathon Majors races; she will now make her TCS New York City Marathon debut. In 2019, Kosgei broke Paula Radcliffe’s 16-year-old world record by 81 seconds, running 2:14:04 to win the Chicago Marathon. It was her second Chicago Marathon victory, as she’d also won in 2018. Additionally, she won back-to-back London Marathons in 2019 and 2020, the Tokyo Marathon in 2022, and the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic marathon.

“I am very excited to make my New York City debut this fall, and attempt to win my fourth different Major,” Kosgei said. “I am not worried about the course, as I have had success in hilly marathons before, but New York has always been about head-to-head competition, and I know I must be in the best possible shape to compete with the other women in the race.”

The 2023 TCS New York City Marathon women’s professional athlete field is presented by Mastercard®. The full professional athlete fields will be announced at a later date.

The 2023 TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 5 will have 50,000 runners and be televised live on WABC-TV Channel 7 in the New York tristate area, throughout the rest of the nation on ESPN2, and around the world by various international broadcasters.

(08/10/2023) Views: 650 ⚡AMP
by Running USA

Sydney Marathon has announced the fastest and most decorated elite field for the 2023 event

The Sydney Marathon presented by ASICS has today announced the fastest and most decorated elite field for the 2023 Sydney Marathon, to be run on Sunday, September 17. The field’s experience in World Championship and World Marathon Majors racing will make it the fastest marathon pack assembled in Australian history, with homegrown and international talent battling it out on the event’s new marathon course. 

Minister for Jobs and Tourism John Graham said the Sydney Marathon was a world-class event with one of the most spectacular marathon courses anywhere in the world. 

“Sydney leads the pack when it comes to venues to host a marathon. No city on earth has a better combination of natural beauty, a famous love of sport and iconic landmarks and it is an honour to host this elite field of international runners who will test themselves here in Sydney. 

“The NSW Government is proud to support the push for Sydney Marathon to become a World Marathon Major. It is a great example of a high-participation community event that brings global attention and tourism benefits for the city and NSW.” 

The 2022 Men’s World Marathon Champion Tamirat Tola (ETH), will headline the men’s field; competing in Australia for the first time with a personal best of 2:03:39. Formidable contender Gabriel Geay (TAN), who placed 2nd at the 2023 Boston Marathon has the fastest personal best of the field at 2:03:00. They will line up alongside Moses Kibet (KEN), Sydney Marathon’s defending champion and the current record holder for the fastest marathon time ever run in Australia. 

Australia’s fastest ever marathoner, Brett Robinson (VIC), who broke Rob de Castella’s long-standing Australian Record in Fukuoka last year with a time of 2:07:31 will lead the homegrown elite field. 

The 2022 World Marathon Championship runner-up and 2022 Paris Marathon Champion, Judith Jeptum Korir (KEN) will make her Australian debut at the Sydney Marathon, with a personal best of 2:18:20. She will be chased by an impressive line-up of competitors who have recorded times under 2:23:00 including Nazret Weldu (ERI), Haven Hailu (ETH) and Angela Tanui (KEN) who has a blistering personal best time of 2:17:57. 

Australian Marathon record holder, Sinead Diver (VIC), who broke the Australian marathon record last year in Valencia with a time of 2:21:34 will lead the local elite field, making her Sydney Marathon debut for the first time in 2023.

“We are thrilled to have assembled such a high calibre field for this year’s Sydney Marathon, as we head into our second year as a Candidate Race for the Abbott World Marathon Majors,” said Wayne Larden, Race Director, Sydney Marathon. “The presence of these exceptional runners is a testament to the event’s status as a world-class marathon for elite athletes, running enthusiasts and recreational runners alike, and we are confident that this year’s event will be nothing short of extraordinary.” 

The Sydney Marathon and its candidacy for the Abbott World Marathon Majors series is supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW. 

 

(07/21/2023) Views: 751 ⚡AMP
by Runners stribe

Kenyan trio to headline 2023 Sydney Marathon

Kenyan trio of Judith Korir, Angela Tanui and Moses Kibet will be among the elite athletes set to feature in the 2023 Sydney Marathon set for September 17.

Defending champion Kibet, the fastest marathoner on the streets of Sydney, will face competition from Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola and Tanzania's Gabriel Geay who both have personal bests of 2:03.

Eritrea's Nazret Weldu and Haven Hailu of Ethiopia will pose a big threat to Tanui, the 2021 Amsterdam marathon champion as Korir makes her debut in the Australian streets.

A new route will be used in this year's event with the race starting at Bradfield Park in Milsons Point and finish at the Opera House forecourt.

Athletes will pass by some of the most historic landmarks in Australia including the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

This is the second year the marathon will be vying for the Abbott World Marathon Majors (Abbott WMM).

Over the next 3 years, the Sydney Marathon will be required to meet strict criteria to achieve ‘Majors’ status by 2025.

“We are thrilled to have assembled such a high caliber field for this year’s Marathon, as we head into our second year as a candidate race for the Abbott World Marathon Majors,” race director Wayne Larden said.

“The presence of these exceptional runners is a testament to the event’s status as a world-class marathon for elite athletes, running enthusiasts and recreational runners alike," he added.

(07/12/2023) Views: 847 ⚡AMP
by Samuel Nganga

Ethiopian Tamirat Tola headlines an elite field for the Sydney Marathon

Men’s world champion Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia and 2022 Paris Marathon women’s champion Judith Jeptum Korir of Kenya will headline the fields for the Sydney Marathon in September.

Organizers on Tuesday said it will be the fastest and most decorated elite field in the Sydney Marathon’s history.

Tola will compete in Australia for the first time and will be up against defending champion Moses Kibet, who holds the record for the fastest marathon time ever run in Australia.

Sydney is a candidate for the World Marathon Majors, a series of elite events that includes New York, London, Berlin, Boston, Tokyo and Chicago.

The new route for the Sept. 17 Sydney marathon will take in some of the city’s most historic landmarks, including the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

Tola has a personal best of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 39 seconds. Gabriel Geay of Tanzania, who placed second at the 2023 Boston Marathon, has the fastest personal best of the field at 2:03:00.

Jeptum Korir will also make her Australian debut and has a personal best of 2:18:20. She will be competing against a number of runners who have recorded times under 2:23:00 including Nazret Weldu of Eritrea, Haven Hailu of Ethiopia and Angela Tanui of Kenya.

“We are thrilled to have assembled such a high calibre field for this year’s Sydney Marathon, as we head into our second year as a candidate race for the Abbott World Marathon Majors,” race director Wayne Larden said in a statement. “The presence of these exceptional runners is a testament to the event’s status as a world-class marathon for elite athletes, running enthusiasts and recreational runners alike.”

The marathon route takes in some of the most historic landmarks in Australia’s biggest city, including the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. The race starts at Bradfield Park in Milsons Point and finishes at the Opera House forecourt.

The Sydney Marathon is a participation legacy project from the Sydney 2000 Olympics, when the marathon course started in North Sydney and passed some of the city’s landmarks before finishing at the Olympic Park. The Opera House was also the backdrop for the Olympic triathlon events in 2000.

 

(07/11/2023) Views: 752 ⚡AMP

When you consistently stress the body and the mind, you are changing your chemical makeup. Here’s what the latest science tells us about burnout

Kieran Abbotts is a PhD student at the University of Oregon, studying human physiology. He earned his master’s degree in Metabolism and Exercise Physiology at Colorado State University. The lab where he now works studies exercise and environment and stressors on physiology. In other words, he’s an expert on how the chemicals in the body work during exercise, and what happens when things get out of whack.

“Essentially, there are two kinds of training. There’s functional overreaching, which means you stress the body with hard workouts and long runs. Then you provide adequate time to recover, and you induce adaptations,” Abbotts said. This kind of training is ideal—your body is getting stronger. “You want to be functionally overreaching as an elite athlete—so that you’re making progress and becoming a better runner, but also giving yourself adequate recovery.”

And then there’s non-functional overreaching, which can feel the same to many athletes, but it’s very different. “With non-functional overreaching you’re essentially doing the same thing—big workouts, stressing the body—but not giving yourself enough time to recover. And so you start doing damage.” That damage might take a long time to show itself, Abbots said, but it eventually will.

This might be the most important thing to know about being an athlete at any level. Non-functional overreaching is exactly the same as very healthy training, except without enough rest. And rest is different for everyone, which makes it exceptionally easy to slip from functional overreaching into damaging non-functional overreaching without realizing it. Without adequate rest, the body begins to break down instead of build stronger.

Stress Is Stress

Professional ultrarunner Cat Bradley, 31, living in Hawaii, has experienced fatigue and burnout in various forms, including just after she won Western States in 2017.

Winning a big race is great, but it also means all eyes are on you—the pressure is high to stay on top. “After winning Western States, I took a month off, but I was still running at a high level. And for lack of a better term, I felt like I had a gun to my back,” Bradley said. “I wanted Western States so badly, and after I won, so many things happened and I never shook that gun-to-the-back feeling. After a while, it led to burnout. I had to take a mental break.”

For many athletes, finding success can be the stress that makes non-functional overreaching feel necessary. How can you take an extended break when you’re winning and signing new sponsor contracts?

A second version of burnout for Bradley came when she went through an especially stressful situation outside of running. She was dealing with such extreme daily emotional stress in her personal life that everything else was affected, including running and training. When the body is enduring stress, it doesn’t know (or care) what the cause is. We can’t put our life into silos. If there’s stress in one’s life, everything else needs to be adjusted. It doesn’t matter if that stress is “just work” or illness, or relationships.

When you’re overtraining or chronically overstressed, your body is creating higher levels of “catecholamines,” hormones released by your adrenal glands during times of stress like epinephrine, norepinephrine, or adrenaline. “Having those chronically high levels of overstimulation and not enough recovery, you wind up with a desensitization,” Abbotts said. “Overstimulation also causes decreased levels of plasma cortisol. Cortisol is the stress hormone, and it plays a very important role in your physiology.”

When you’re exercising or stressing the body, cortisol will go up, to help the body deal with the stress. But if you’re constantly requiring lots of cortisol, your body will eventually down-regulate. It will adapt and then you’ll have low levels of cortisol. This means trouble dealing with physical and mental stress.

In February, Bradley experienced her most recent version of burnout, and it happened mid-race. Bradley was running the Tarawera 100-miler in New Zealand. Besides training for such a big race, she was also working full-time and planning and preparing for her wedding, which was just days after the race. On top of everything, travel to the event was incredibly stressful.

“I was in fourth place, I could see third, and at mile 85, I passed out and hit my head on a rock,” Bradley said. “We can talk about the reasons that I fainted, but I really think my brain just shut down—it was too much.”

For Bradley, reaching burnout has a lot more to do with outside stressors than the actual running. But now she’s aware of that—she continues to work on not reaching the “gun-to-the-back” feeling. The need to please others. The fear of losing fitness in order to take care of her body. It’s an ongoing process, but an important one.

Overdoing Is the American Way

Professional ultrarunner Sally McRae said, based on her observations, Americans are really bad at taking time off. “I’ve traveled the world and Americans are really bad at resting,” she said. “It’s part of our work system. You go anywhere in Europe and everyone takes a month-long holiday. You have a kid and you take a year off. We’re not conditioned like that in America. It’s like you get one week and then after you work a decade, you get two weeks of vacation.”

For McRae, avoiding burnout and overtraining has a lot to do with creating a life that’s sustainable. She started working when she was 15-years-old, so she realized earlier than most that life couldn’t just be working as hard as possible to count down to retirement.

“Perspective is massive when it comes to burnout. My goal every year is to find the wonder and the beauty and the joy in what I do. Because it’s my job, but it’s also my life,” McRae said. “And I really believe we’re supposed to rest—it should be a normal part of our life. Whether that’s taking a vacation or taking an off-season. I take a two-month offseason and I have for a long time.”

One of the most important parts about rest and not overstressing the body is that everyone is different. An overstressed body can lead to hormonal imbalances, which in turn affects everything.

“When you’re overtraining, you tend to get mood changes and have trouble sleeping,” Abbotts said. “Two of the big things that stand out are, you’re exhausted but you can’t sleep. And the other is irritability—mood swings, and depression.” When you get to the point that you’ve overstressed your body for so long that the chemicals are changing, pretty much everything starts falling apart.

And even though everyone is different, you’d never know that from looking at social media. “I know social media makes it seem like ultrarunners are running 40 miles a day, doing a 100-mile race every other weekend,” McRae said. “And that’s insane. You’ve got to be in touch with yourself. It’s very different to wake up and feel sore or tired, but if you wake up and feel like you have no joy in the thing you’re doing, you need a real break from it.”

How Can the Running Community Do Better?

Elite ultrarunner and running coach Sandi Nypaver wants runners to get more in touch with how they’re feeling and less concerned about numbers or what anyone else is doing.

“I have to have honest talks with people I’m coaching. I need them to feel like they can tell me how they feel, because sometimes they think they have to stick to the training plan for the week no matter what,” she said. “But the plan is never set in stone. It’s meant to be adjusted based on how you’re feeling. Some weeks we might feel great and not need to change anything, while other weeks we might have to totally crash the plan and do something else.”

It’s easy to judge ourselves against everyone else, especially when results and reactions are so public and available.

“It’s easy to say, ‘if that person only took three days off after a big race, and now they’re already back to training, that must be what you’re supposed to do,’” she said. “But even at the highest level, training is different for everyone. Resting is different for everyone.”

“Something that’s really, really hard for many runners to understand is that once you’re not sore anymore, that you’re still not recovered,” Nypaver said. “A lot of research says that things are still going on in your body for up to four weeks after, for certain races, depending on the distance.”

Sometimes it’s difficult to be aware of subtle signs when the soreness is gone. “Convincing people that they need to chill out for a while, even past the soreness, can be really difficult.” But after a huge effort, and before the next, people rarely end up saying things like, “I really wish I hadn’t rested so thoroughly.” Part of it is actually having a recovery plan. Putting rest days on the calendar, focusing on foam rolling and mobility on days that you’re not “doing.”

“And, actually just relaxing. Taking it easy. It’s not just a running model, we live in a culture where we’re always being asked to do more,” Nypaver said. “I wish instead of always thinking about doing more, we’d focus on how we want to be more. A lot of us want to be more relaxed and less stressed and happier and enjoy our lives. We need to put our attention on that instead of trying to do so much. It’s something I struggle with all the time.”

We don’t get validation for resting, relaxing, and being present because there’s no tangible thing to show for it. There’s no “be really calm often” challenge on Strava. But the bigger rewards are great. You just have to trade in immediate dopamine hits for a much more balanced, happier life.

Simple, right?

“One thing I’m doing, and asking my athletes to do, is to write down your intentions,” Nypaver said. “One of my intentions is to chill out more this summer and enjoy it. I grew up thinking it’s all about running, and I have to go all-in on running. But having other outlets, other things that I like to do, is so important.”

When you’ve reached burnout—an extended period of non-functional overreaching, prolonged rest is the only way to let the body fix itself.

“Once you are overtrained, you need to stop training,” Abbotts said. “It’s just kind of the bottom line. Maybe some people can get away with greatly reducing their training load, but most of the time you need to stop. You need an extended amount of time off.”

There’s nothing glamorous about rest. There’s no prize money in relaxing. But it’s the absolute key ingredient in extended performance, and in a much healthier, happier life.

(06/29/2023) Views: 761 ⚡AMP
by Outside Online

Training Advice from the Greatest Women Masters Marathoners Alive

While Jeannie Rice and Jenny Hitchings are busy setting masters world records, their differences in training are even more instructive than their similarities

The spring marathon season has come and gone, and it didn’t disappoint, producing sensational races and world headlines. This was particularly true in Boston and London. However, you might have heard little or nothing about two of the best marathon performances in those events.

The big media coverage went to seemingly-unbeatable Eliud Kipchoge, who finished sixth at Boston, where Evans Chebet gained his third straight World Marathon Major victory in 12 months. At the London Marathon, Kelvin Kiptum ran 59:45 for the second half, en route to a course record 2:01:27, and Sifan Hassan demonstrated that she can win in the marathon as she has at multiple shorter distances.

But 75-year-old Jeannie Rice and 59-year-old Jenny Hitchings outran them all, on an Age-Gender performance basis, both setting new world records for their age groups. Rice’s 3:33:15 in Boston won’t count, since the Boston course is considered ineligible due to its significant downhill slope and point to point layout, which allows for a tailwind boost. Still, she beat the fastest 75-79 age-group male runner by more than 20 minutes, which has likely never happened before in a global marathon. And five weeks before Boston, at age 74, she ran 3:31:22 in the Tokyo Marathon.

A week after Boston, Hitchings ran 2:45:27 in London—a marathon world record for women in the 55-59 age division. Remarkably, she’s at the high end of that age range, as she’ll turn 60 in early July. Not only that, but it was her personal best marathon in 40 years of running.

Rice was born in South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. in her mid-30s. A retired real estate agent, she now divides her time between south Florida and Cleveland. Hitchings is a longtime resident of Sacramento, California, where she works as a middle-school cross-country coach and a private running coach.

Rice and Hitchings live on opposite coasts, but they have much in common. They’ve both been running for decades, both are extremely consistent in their training, and both log multiple 20-milers in their marathon buildups. Surprisingly, neither makes a particular effort to include hill training, a staple among other top marathon runners. Both are small and lean. Rice stands 5-foot-2 and weighs 96 pounds; Hitchings is 5-foot-4 and 100 pounds.

But Rice and Hitchings also present some stark contrasts. These differences carry an important message: There are many paths to marathon success, and the best senior runners understand this. Through their experience and wisdom, they’ve learned to focus on the positives and jettison the junk.

Here’s a look at some of the major contrasts between master marathon greats Jeannie Rice and Jenny Hitchings.

Both Rice and Hitchings had previously won age-group titles at Boston. Rice chose to return there in April for emotional reasons, as Boston marked her 40th anniversary of marathon running and her 130th marathon. Hitchings selected London for technical reasons. In 2021, she ran 2:45:32 at Boston. It would have been a record except for the point-to-point course prohibition. So this spring she opted for London’s record-eligible course.

Rice: “Boston has always been a special marathon for me,” said Rice. “My preparation wasn’t the best, as I ran the Tokyo Marathon in early March, and then did some traveling. But I wanted to have my Boston celebration, and I had quite a few running friends there with me.”

Hitchings: “London was on my marathon ‘bucket list’ anyway, and it gave me a great opportunity to set an age-group world record,” said Hitchings. “Since my 2:45 at Boston didn’t count, I figured I should take a crack at London while I was still in the age group.” [She will turn 60 in early July.]

Rice has always been self-coached. Hitchings, a running coach herself, has had a longterm coach-athlete relationship with Chicago-based Jenny Spangler. Spangler won the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in 1996 and ran a 2:32:39 marathon in 2003, after turning 40.

Rice: “I’ve been approached by people who wanted to coach me, but they seemed expensive and had other demands I didn’t like. I listen to what my friends do and what others are doing in training. I try to run 50 miles most weeks, and a bit more before my marathons. But I don’t actually follow a schedule. Mostly I just train the way I feel. I’m still running strong and beating records, so I must be doing something right.

“I know it’s possible that a coach could help me the way Gene Dykes’s coach helped him, but it’s also possible that things could go wrong. I like to decide my training according to how I feel each day.”

Hitchings: “I coach other runners, and I could certainly coach myself, but you know what they say about doctors who treat themselves: They have a fool for a patient. I think that can also apply to athletes who coach themselves. It’s just smarter to have someone looking over your shoulder, and adding some perspective.

“I’m one of those who’s often guilty of running too fast on my easy days, or getting excited and going too hard when I’m training with friends. Jenny [her coach] holds me accountable for those kinds of things. She has a great personal performance record that I respect a lot, and has been coaching for many years.

“It’s also important to me that she’s a female coach of my own age. She understands what I’m going through and dealing with in terms of female physiology.”

Both runners say they enjoy a relaxed morning cup of coffee before launching into their days. But Rice is up earlier, and often out the door quicker. Hitchings needs more time to be ready for a solid run.

Rice: “I like to get my run done early, so I have the whole day in front of me when I get back home at 7:30 A.M. or so. I’m usually running by 6 A.M. In Florida, where I spend my winters, that can be important for the cooler weather.

“But on days when I’m going 20 to 23 miles, I’ll get up at 3:30 A.M.  and begin running at 4:30 A.M.  I’ll go two hours on my own, and then join a local training group for their morning loop, which gives me another hour or so.”

Hitchings: “I coach a number of people who can roll right out of bed and start running. I’m not one of those. My favorite time to run is about 8 A.M. or 8:30 A.M. in the morning. I like my coffee first, and the morning newspaper, and I always make sure to get a light breakfast in my stomach. Since my favorite place to run is the American River Parkway, that gives me another 15 minutes of drive time before I get going.

“There have been times when I had to be a noontime runner, and that was OK, too. But 4 P.M. or 5 P.M.? That’s not going to happen. By that time of day, I’m too tired or depleted.”

This one is easy for Rice, who has never been injured except for a fall (and banged-up knee) in 2021 that cost her several weeks of running. Hitchings also considers herself relatively injury-free, but she has encountered an assortment of typical runner injuries through the years: Achilles tendinitis, piriformis pain, and surgery for Haglund’s deformity (a bony growth at the back of the heel resulting from mostly genetic causes).

Rice: “I go to the gym three times a week for a light strength workout, some pushups, and some stretching. But it’s not a serious session at all. I also golf for fun; I really enjoy golfing.”

Hitchings: “I try to do light weight work as much as I can, and I ride my bike 20-30 miles a week outdoors, and do Peloton indoors. Recently, I added Pilates once a week to improve my strength and mobility.

“Also, Jenny and I have agreed to take one hard running day out of my weekly schedule. I used to do speed work of some kind on Tuesday and Thursday, and a long weekend run. Now I’m down to speed on Wednesday, and a weekend long run that often has some tempo-pace segments.”

While both are clearly fit, Rice and Hitchings say they enjoy a wide variety of foods, and have no particular restrictions in their diets. Both enjoy wine drinking. Hitchings admits to a sweet tooth, too, but desserts are not a problem for Rice.

Rice: “Breakfast is usually oatmeal with fruit and nuts. At lunch and dinner, I enjoy a green salad with some sort of seafood or fish on top. I’ve never liked sweets and don’t crave them, but I love cheese and nuts. That’s my big downfall—cheese and nuts. The only supplements I take are calcium with vitamin D, B-12, and magnesium.”

Hitchings: “I eat  ‘clean,’ a well-balanced diet with an emphasis on carbs. I simply don’t feel good if I eat heavy, creamy, or fried foods. I get most of my vitamins and minerals from real foods, though recently I’ve added Athletic Greens to my routine.

“When I’m in heavy marathon training, I find it hard to maintain my weight, so I’ll have some protein shakes and maybe one chocolate bar, muffin, or pastry per day. I’ve got a drawer full of vitamins, calcium, collagen, and iron supplements, but I never seem to stick with any for long. It’s just too much.”

While realistic about their futures, neither Rice nor Hitchings sound the least bit intimidated by the unwritten future. Despite aging, both are driven to perform. They hope to keep running hard and fast, and chasing age-group records. Both plan to run the Chicago Marathon on October 8, as it will be the site of this year’s Abbott World Marathon Majors Wanda Age Group Championships.

Rice: “Getting faster at 75 is almost impossible, but this year I’m going to run a few road miles to work on my speed. I’ve won my age group in every World Marathon Major but London, so I want to get back to London in the next several years. I want to run the Sydney Marathon, the Ho Chi Minh City Marathon, and, of course, I must run the Seoul Marathon in the country where I was born.”

Hitchings: “I’m running faster at 60 than I’ve ever run in my life. My time in London was literally my lifetime best, and I’ve been running a long time. Sometimes I get asked, ‘When are you going to stop running?’ My answer is always: ‘Why would I stop?’ I’m still getting faster, and I’m still enjoying it.”

Rice, though 15 years older, feels the same. It’s fun winning major marathons, of course, especially when she beats most men her age. In local and regional races, she challenges herself to finish as high as possible in the masters division against females three decades younger (and sometimes wins outright).

“I love competition,” she says. “I’m motivated to train hard, and I’m excited about setting more records as long as I can. Maybe into my 80s.”

Running is about finish times, sure, but it’s even more about attitude. Find the goal that’s right for you, and go after it. This is the approach both Rice and Hitchings have followed successfully, and neither plans to change course now, no matter how many candles adorn their next birthday cake.

Both are on a shared mission, and they’d like others to join them. As Hitchings says: “I think if we keep a positive attitude and motivation, we can go out there and do much more than people think. It’s important to show others that we can defy the way aging has been defined for us for so long.”

(06/24/2023) Views: 12,613 ⚡AMP
by Outside Online

At 69, Bobby Kersee is track's 'mad scientist' and as influential as ever

Four years ago, the man associated with speed more than any track and field coach in the world felt himself slowing down, and he did not know why.

Since he was born in Panama in 1954 to a Panamanian mother and U.S. Navy father, Bobby Kersee has always been restless, a self-described wanderer with energy that matched his athletes. But in 2019, feeling unusually sapped, he called his doctor in St. Louis. Blood tests produced results dangerously far beyond the norm. Pancreatitis kept him stuck in a hospital for four weeks.

Once discharged, Kersee gave up red meat and alcohol.

What he would not quit was track.

Forty years after coaching his first world champion Kersee, now 69, paced relentlessly for four hours on Thursday while watching his training group at West Los Angeles College.

“Everyone kind of says the same thing: You know, he's different in terms of he's basically a mad scientist,” said Athing Mu, the 20-year-old reigning Olympic and world champion at 800 meters who switched to Kersee’s coaching in September to expand her range. “He knows what he's doing.”

Under cloudy skies at the track high above Culver City, nine athletes in his training group, dubbed Formula Kersee, ran tailored workouts and waited for his every word, from the barked “let’s go!” to commands about mechanics he hollered to athletes mid-run. He lifted hurdles, held court with reporters and stopped only to film block starts with his iPhone.

At an age when he might have become anachronistic, Kersee and his methods still represent sprinting’s gold standard, associates and athletes say. Invigorated by a training group that describes itself as a family and could be dominant into the next decade behind headliners Mu and 23-year-old 400-meter hurdles world champion and world record-holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Kersee said his career has no discernible finish line.

His coaching, primarily of sprinters and hurdlers, has brought his athletes at least one gold medal in 10 consecutive Summer Olympics, a litany of world championships and world records and, for Kersee, veneration, criticism and influence.

As the first professional meet held at UCLA’s Drake Stadium since 1990, and a key early tentpole in USA Track & Field’s attempted plan to grow its U.S. fanbase before the 2028 L.A. Olympics, this weekend’s Los Angeles Grand Prix is both a callback to a time when track’s popularity soared and, its organizers hope, a harbinger such times can return.

Outside of Sebastian Coe, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the 1,500 who has since ascended to lead track’s global governing body, World Athletics, few figures have spanned both eras as prominently as Kersee.

Athletes and associates credit his ability to turn seemingly outlandish goals and times into tangible results to an ability to know what they need. Malachi Davis, who has overseen McLaughlin-Levrone’s training since she turned professional, likened Kersee to a conductor, his whistle and yellow stopwatch replacing a baton to direct “a beautiful dance of confidence and knowledge.”

Many coaches can teach how to run fast and build a race plan, McLaughlin-Levrone said, but Kersee understands “how to break it down piece by piece.”

Robert Forster, a Santa Monica-based physical therapist who has worked with Kersee’s athletes since 1983, said Kersee understands the “work-rest ratio” better than any coach, and does not overtrain where other coaches might double down on mileage. Forster has seen Kersee send an athlete home to rest just from the look on their face, and likes to tell a story about the 2016 Olympics, that Kersee later confirmed. Allyson Felix, the Los Angeles native who under Kersee became the most decorated athlete in track’s history, was nursing a severely sprained ankle and the physical therapist told Kersee it needed to be iced 20 minutes every hour. Forster did not expect, however, that Kersee would stay up the entire next night icing the ankle as Felix slept.

Kersee was an early adopter of technology, upgrading his video cameras at a Westwood electronics store years before he could film block starts of sprinters Jenna Prandini and Morolake Akinosun on his iPhone and zip the footage to an iPad on the infield of the West L.A. track.

Yet the Kersee mystique has endured as much because of his grasp on psychology as biomechanics — feeling for when to push and when to pull back.

Brandon Miller, a top 800-meter hopeful who began working with Kersee in September, has heard other athletes describe Kersee as “crazy.” He disputes that characterization, but noted that Kersee knows to stoke his competitiveness entering a workout’s final repetition with four words: “OK, what you got?”

“I've never met any coach like him,” Mu said. “He's not going to make you do anything that's for his sake. You know, it's gonna be all for you and the benefit of you and your career. And so, I come in here, I knew that he was very intentional, and that's something I needed, especially if I want my career to be long.”

Raised by a grandmother as an “A-train baby” bouncing between the Bronx and Queens, Kersee lost his mother, Daphne, when he was 14, before moving to San Pedro for high school.

He put himself through college at Long Beach State by working at a youth correctional facility in Whittier, where Kersee watched wards from midnight until 8 a.m. After graduating, he had two jobs: Track coach at Cal State Northridge, and counselor at another youth facility in Chino. He took over UCLA’s track and field program in 1980 and that provided enough money to be comfortable. Coaching Greg Foster to his first world championship in 1983, and watching his athletes win six golds and four silvers at the Los Angeles Olympics one year later, provided the final confidence he could sustain coaching as a career.

But he did not leave behind the edge required to do his former jobs.

“I used to work in the prisons, so you can’t walk into the prisons being Mother Teresa,” he said. “And then I did find myself carrying a little bit too much of that to the track. I had to calm myself down and say, 'Wait a minute, you’re not working with a warden.'”

Once, an elderly woman approached Kersee in an airport in Indiana and told him she did not like what she had seen from Kersee or the other famed coach with the B.K. initials: Bobby Knight. He did not belittle his athletes, he said, but he also didn’t leave room for interpretation about who ran the workout. The edge created a mystique that “he's crazy,” Miller said. “But he's not. I feel like everybody has preconceptions of everybody but you won't really know unless you're there and you're with them every day.”

Just as when he built his vaunted World Class Athletic Club in the 1980s, he will only train those he can coach hard and have chemistry. His athletes typically train Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He treats Monday Zoom calls with the group as though he is re-interviewing for the job. It’s more convenient than years before, he said, when he recalled gathering before dawn in Europe to address their complaints with him.

“I think we have that understanding that I’m going to listen and respect them,” he said. “But my job is to get the job done for them individually and collectively but you hired me. And if you hired me, let me do my job.”

That job, essentially, can be reduced to one thing: Imparting confidence in his plan. And no one does it like Kersee, said Davis, who sprinted professionally before aiding McLaughlin-Levrone.

“He's a competition coach, so the time it counts, you feel confident,” Davis said. “And your head coach is basically your general and then competition is basically war. And yes, you prepare for war but that final voice, that presence, that action, that essence, that’s Bobby. And he earned that by what he’s accomplished throughout his career.”

Kersee allows that age has softened him. As McLaughlin-Levrone recalled last August, Kersee earned her trust when he saw her overwhelmed with emotion at a 2020 practice and handed her a paper showing a wheel of emotions, saying he had trouble expressing himself, too.

Though accustomed to criticism of himself for years — he joked he would be buried in a track, and "probably as much as people hate me, they’ll put me in lane one, because I’ll be stepped on the most" — he worries about how the inundation of social media affects athletes’ mental health. He has traveled to support the singing ambitions of Formula Kersee sprinter Chloe Abbott. This spring, a smiling Kersee was featured on TikTok when his athletes remade the opening credits of the 1990s sitcom “Family Matters.”

Four decades into his career, he has “a whole lot of knowledge and a whole lot of patience,” he said. “But still, don’t let grandpa get out of the chair.”

Ato Boldon was never coached by Kersee during his sprinting career but has known him for 31 years, since they overlapped at UCLA, and has seen a “golden-hearted” side to the coach. He also described Kersee’s coaching equivalent as either Knight or San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich.

“Everybody under him wins,” said Boldon. “But it’s not necessarily a democracy.

“... As time has gone on, people are like, ‘Wow he’s so this or he’s so that, he’s so abrasive.’ Listen, do you want results, or do you not want results?”

No one argues that Kersee gets results. The most common criticism is how rarely his athletes compete en route to smashing records and claiming gold.

Among athletes, meet directors, agents and track officials who see a need for the sport’s biggest stars and strong competition to draw in casual fans, it has become a question of how to unite what is best for the top athletes’ futures with what is best for the sport’s growth. The tensions surrounding the discussion are not dissimilar from the way “load management” in the NBA has sparked concerns whether it will turn off fans from the regular season.

Because many top athletes train under Kersee, he has become a focal point. There is also his history of pulling athletes late before a meet, sometimes because of injury, and sometimes as a power play, as in 1994, when a dispute over pay led him to withdraw Gail Devers from a high-profile Los Angeles indoor meet.

The topic reignited last week when he withdrew Mu and McLaughlin-Levrone from the Grand Prix, a meet for which he serves as co-promoter. It came soon after telling Track & Field News in February that even he would like to see McLaughlin-Levrone run more often, and told The Times in March that there was no reason meets in the U.S. couldn’t draw thousands if the sport’s leaders banded together to promote strong competitions.

Asked about the balance of what is best for his athletes, or the sport, Kersee this week called it a byproduct of limited sponsorship money within the sport, which incentivizes performances at the biggest meets, which often require qualification earlier in the season. Only a handful of stars make big money and can afford to be choosy. He contrasted it with the NFL and NBA, where athletes can still earn a paycheck while resting.

“I think it’s a little tougher on our athletes to try to balance out wanting to run for the public and run for our sport and also knowing if I run too much or make one little mistake it might cost me making a team,” Kersee said. “That if I go out there and run five or six races I’m going to get to the point of, 'OK why is he running me so much and she gets injured over there, did she really need to run?'”

McLaughlin-Levrone released a statement after being pulled from the Grand Prix field that she “regrettably” would not be competing, citing her coach’s choice. It also said she trusted his judgment, which the world record-holder echoed again Thursday.

“He has a plan and he is going to work it out to perfection,” said Boldon, who will call Saturday’s meet as part of NBC’s broadcast team. “It might not benefit USATF, it might not benefit the fans, but you tell me, what moment stood out most from last summer's world championships?”

It was McLaughlin-Levrone’s stunning 50.68 time to win the 400-meter world title and lower her own world record. The run cut through the noise to make SportsCenter. It also left McLaughlin-Levrone sore for days, she said. Seeing her parents in the stands, for the first time after becoming the first woman to run under 51 seconds, she told them “that hurt, so bad.”

“We've been very calculated in when we run and I think it's yielded us great results,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “Bobby always uses analogies and he's like, 'You don't take the Ferrari out every day for a drive. You take it out when it needs to come out and it does its things and you put it back in the garage.' So, your body can only be pushed to a certain level so much in your career.

“You only have so many races in your legs and I think we're really strategic about which ones we choose to run. Obviously I know the sport wants to see a little bit more and I think we're trying to figure out how to do that in a safe way that we can still accomplish our goals and give them something to look forward to.”

For McLaughlin-Levrone and Mu, the question is not whether they will make this summer’s world championships in Hungary, or next summer’s Paris Olympics, but which events — possibly plural — they will run.

When Kersee evaluates whether to bring an athlete into his coaching, he also looks for their potential range. He thought he lost his job coaching Felix when he told the 200-meter star during his interview that he would have her run the 400.

Mu and McLaughlin-Levrone’s youth and potential range is one of the sport’s most speculative discussions; news about their upcoming races create instant headlines. The duo are “two of maybe the most talented athletes he’s ever had,” Boldon said.

Their world championships last summer gave McLaughlin-Levrone an automatic berth into the upcoming world 400-hurdle field, and Mu an entry into the 800. With that secured, Kersee has focused on running McLaughlin-Levrone in the open 400 meters, where Marita Koch’s world record of 47.60 has been effectively unapproachable for 38 years — only four women have run even faster than 49 seconds in the past 20 years. She once thought 47.60 was “impossible.” Not anymore.

“It's a very daunting number to look at, I'll tell you that,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “But at the end of the day, I think if we can take the 400 hurdles to 50.6, I think 47.6 isn't too far off.”

In addition to her 800-meter world title, Mu once owned the collegiate 400-meter record and ran on the U.S. 4x400-meter relay team that won Olympic gold in Tokyo.

“I'm still super young and I have not touched the surface of a lot of things yet,” Mu said. “But I do have visions, which is like really big goals of competing in obviously the Olympics again, and then worlds and hopefully, doubling up.”

Would that mean the 800 and 400, or the 800 and 1,500?

“Hopefully both,” she said. “I mean, I would love to have a chance to do 4/8 and then go ahead and do the 8/15 at some point.”

Maybe this explains why Kersee moved so quickly across the track during practice. There was no sign he had once slowed down.

“I’m glad,” he said, “I have that Energizer Bunny still in me.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

(06/04/2023) Views: 1,011 ⚡AMP

For Mother's Day, Krista DuChene reflects on balancing the marathon and motherhood

This Mother’s Day, we present a new video about retired 2016 Olympian, Boston Marathon podium finisher and Canadian 50K record holder Krista DuChene entitled “Seven Years Later,” in which the Marathon Mom reflects on a career spent balancing running and motherhood.

“Well, the one thing that’s the same is that I’m still making pancakes every day for the kids,” DuChene laughs, while commenting that her kids are a lot bigger now. (She and her husband have two sons and a daughter–Micah, Seth and Leah–ranging in age from 17 to 12).

DuChene commented in the earlier video that she got faster after each baby; it was only after she’d had her kids that she competed as an elite runner. 

At the Montreal Half-marathon in 2014, the Brantford, Ont. runner suffered a fracture in her femur and had to be carried from the course by Canada Running Series’s Alan Brookes. Less than a year later, she returned to racing and qualified for the 2016 Olympic team in Rio, along with Lanni Marchant. Her six Abbott World Marathon Majors, including a third-place finish at the 2018 Boston Marathon, also came after her injury, which could have ended her career.

On one of the nastiest days the Boston Marathon has ever seen, no one was more shocked than DuChene herself to find that she had reached the podium. “Knowing what the weather was going to be like was definitely an advantage to me, because it was going to be cold and wet and rainy and snowy, and I think there was even hail at the start,” she says in the video. “And it was an excellent opportunity for me to go out there and prove that I could be tough in those conditions, when many people dropped out of the course … It wasn’t until I saw it on someone’s phone, in writing, that I believed it! That was a pretty special moment.”

Another was the day she broke the Canadian 50K record in Hamilton in 2021. The pandemic was in full force, and DuChene says the enforced isolation took a toll on a lot of kids, including her daughter, Leah, who was overcome with emotion when her mom crossed the finish line. “I held her shoulders, and I’m like, we did it, we did it!” says DuChene. “I really felt like she was part of that moment with me.”

DuChene’s last marathon was the 2023 Tokyo Marathon on March 5, where Cam Levins set the Canadian marathon record for the third time. DuChene also broke a Canadian masters record in that race, lowering the mark for women age 45 by more than a minute (2:38:53). It was a great way to end a stellar career–one that means as much to her family as it does to her.

(05/14/2023) Views: 851 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine

Five things all runners can learn from London Marathon champion Sifan Hassan

Two-time Olympic champion Sifan Hassan made her marathon debut at the 2023 London Marathon, and she won in heroic fashion–making a comeback after stopping twice to stretch an impinged hip. Heading into the race, Hassan said she went through the typical pre-race antics that every runner has: why did I decide to do this? Did I train enough? I don’t know what to expect.

Hassan executed her resiliency, showing that anything can be possible and how normal it is to question everything before your race. Here are five takeaways from the 2023 London Marathon champion.

1.- It is OK to be nervous!

Even after setting world records and winning multiple Olympic medals in her career, Hassan said she was excited, yet very nervous about her marathon debut in London.

Runners are only human, and most put in countless hours of training into a goal race–so being nervous is not a bad thing. Nerves are just runners’ sympathetic nervous system (SNS) kicking in, which is one of two components of the body’s central nervous system. The SNS releases two hormones in response to high-stress situations–epinephrine and norepinephrine (also known as adrenaline and noradrenaline), which result in that feeling of having butterflies in your stomach.

According to research, nerves are a good thing, and they can help your body perform better. Nerves help your reflexes become faster and improve blood circulation before exercise. 

2.- Put expectations to rest

Before the London Marathon, the 2019 world 1,500m champion said during a pre-race press conference she did not change much in her training and had no goal time in her mind. “The marathon is a different distance for me; I do not know what to expect, but I want to try it,” said Hassan.

If you are trying a new distance or race, you will not know what to expect until you finish. Try to leave your expectations behind and embrace the experience. There’s a good chance you’ll surprise yourself. 

3.- Trust yourself

There are a million training tips online on what to do before your first marathon or how much mileage you should run per week, but not all tips will work for you. Hassan said she did not change up much of her training and kept a similar schedule similar to her 2020 Tokyo Olympics build.

It is okay to take advice, but there’s no 100 per cent blueprint on how to train for the marathon since all runners are different. Find out what works for you, and stick with it.

4.- Don’t be afraid to stop

Hassan might be the first woman to win a marathon major while stopping twice to walk. She clarified after the race that she had hip tightness and found that the pain only increased as she continued to run. Once she stopped, walked, and stretched out the discomfort, she started running again, eventually catching the lead group around 35 km.

Running is a high-impact sport on your joints and muscles. If there is any tightness or tenderness, it can usually be better to stop and quickly address the issue rather than running and doing more damage. 

There is a negative connotation around stopping during a race, but a short walking interval can also break up the monotony and help you deal with the mental challenges or discomfort you may be feeling. This tip is helpful for runners doing longer distances (like a half or full marathon) for the first time.

5.- Have fun out there

Although trying something new can bring challenges, have fun and enjoy the experience. Hassan had no thoughts of winning the London Marathon beforehand, she just wanted to try something she wasn’t used to doing, which ended up working in her favor, leading to her first Abbott World Marathon Major win.

(04/25/2023) Views: 713 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson