Running News Daily

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Multiple World Cross-country champion Geoffrey Kamworor has withdrawn from the London Marathon.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: 152 ⚡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: 206 ⚡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: 191 ⚡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: 239 ⚡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: 311 ⚡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: 321 ⚡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: 260 ⚡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: 338 ⚡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: 384 ⚡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: 322 ⚡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: 329 ⚡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: 350 ⚡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: 451 ⚡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: 318 ⚡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: 397 ⚡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: 467 ⚡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: 373 ⚡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: 410 ⚡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: 400 ⚡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: 372 ⚡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: 400 ⚡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: 446 ⚡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: 485 ⚡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: 602 ⚡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: 538 ⚡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: 538 ⚡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: 400 ⚡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: 608 ⚡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: 612 ⚡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: 526 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson

Three days after her 75th birthday, Jeannie Rice runs 3:33 at Boston Marathon

Three days after her 75th birthday, Jeannie Rice of Mentor, Ohio, added the women’s 75+ age group world marathon record to her impressive resume, winning her age category at the 2023 Boston Marathon by 20 minutes and crossing the line in 3:33:15.

Rice not only beat the previous record of 3:38:56, held by Norway’s Vera Nystad. She also beat Nystad in the race, who finished second to Rice in 3:53:52. Nystad is three years older than Rice, and originally set the record at age 77, when she ran 3:38 at the 2022 Berlin Marathon.

This masters record isn’t Rice’s first over the marathon distance. She also holds the women’s 70+ record of 3:27:50 from the 2018 Chicago Marathon. Her time of 3:38 is remarkable, and it shows that age really is just a number. 

Rice averaged a mind-blowing five minutes per kilometre pace for 42.2 kilometres at age 75. That’s eight and a half consecutive 25-minute 5 Ks. 

Rice considers herself a snowbird, as she lives and trains in her hometown of Mentor, Ohio for six months of the year before heading to Naples, Fla., for six months every winter.

This is Rice’s second marathon in the last six weeks. In March, she won the women’s 70+ age category at the 2023 Tokyo Marathon in 3:31:22 to receive her six-star finisher medal–completing all six Abbott World Marathon Majors.

(04/21/2023) Views: 615 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson

Boston Marathon preview: will Kipchoge break the course record?

The 127th Boston Marathon is bound to be historic, for two main reasons: it’s the 10-year anniversary of the 2013 Boston bombing. And the men’s marathon will host the world’s fastest marathoner, Eliud Kipchoge, for the first time. Kipchoge is obviously the favourite to win, as he furthers his quest for all six Abbott World Marathon Majors. But nothing comes easy, and here’s why Boston might be Kipchoge’s toughest test yet.

The course and weather

The Boston Marathon course looks like it should be fast, but it isn’t. You start out in the distant suburb of Hopkinton, 150 m above sea level, and cruise downhill for the first eight miles before heading back uphill to finish at sea level in downtown Boston. The course runs almost entirely from west to east, meaning the wind will either be with or against you, which adds variability to the results. 

Earlier this month, Kipchoge told Nation that he’s ready for any challenges the Boston course throws at him. “The weather can be unpredictable, but I am trying to be an all-weather man,” said the reigning back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. Kipchoge also said he and his training partners designed a hilly long-run route in Kaptagat, Kenya to emulate the Boston hills, involving 40+ kilometres of rolling hills at 2,500 metres above sea level.

Kenya‘s Geoffrey Mutai holds the course record of 2:03:02 from the 2011 Boston Marathon, when there was a 20 km/h tailwind. Unlike at other marathon majors, pacers are not allowed at Boston, meaning Kipchoge will have to set a 2:02 pace from the get-go if he wants the course record.

Kipchoge’s competition

The 2023 Boston Marathon features of five of the last six marathon majors winners (the only one missing is Amos Kipruto, who will attempt to defend his London Marathon crown on April 23).

Usually, the former Boston champion is the favourite heading into race week, but that isn’t the case when you have the world record holder making his first appearance.

Last year, reigning Boston champion Evans Chebet had a season to remember, becoming the first marathoner to win Boston and NYC in the same year since Mutai did it in 2011. Chebet is fast, and he’s a bit of a tactician, which can work in his favour if Kipchoge mistimes his move. Chebet’s best performance is from the 2020 Valencia Marathon, where he took the win in 2:03:00 (the eighth fastest time in history).

Chebet’s training partner and Kenyan compatriot, Benson Kipruto, is one of the best tactical marathoners in the world. He’s a two-time major marathon champion (Chicago 2022 and Boston 2021) and in both wins he has showcased his ridiculous speed, dropping a 13-high 5K split between kilometres 35 and 40. Kipchoge will need to find a strategy to manage the two-headed dragon of Kipruto and Chebet, who are both familiar with the course and know what it takes to win.

Kipchoge, Kipruto and Chebet will be the main contenders to watch, but there are a few other candidates who could either pull off an upset or get dropped by Kipchoge around kilometre 35, starting with Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay. Geay has always been the bridesmaid but never the bride–he was second in Valencia last December, fourth at Boston in 2022 and seventh at the 2022 World Championships. The 2:03-flat runner ranks inside the top 10 for all-time in the marathon but has yet to win a major–will he get his first win in Boston?

Shura Kitata of Ethiopia was the last man to beat Kipchoge in a marathon major, which happened on a wet day at the 2020 London Marathon. Kitata’s results have been up and down since his 2020 win, but he bounced back last fall, placing second at the 2022 NYC Marathon. Like Kipruto, Kitata is much more of a tactical racer than a speedy one. His personal best of 2:04:49 was set as a 21-year-old at the 2018 London Marathon.  

A dark horse who might be a familiar name to many Canadians is the 2022 Ottawa Marathon champion, Adualem Shiferaw of Ethiopia. Shiferaw won Ottawa in a course record 2:06:04 on a warm and windy day in the nation’s capital last year, and has only lost one marathon since 2018 (he was 2nd at the 2022 Riyadh Marathon). This is Shiferaw’s first marathon major, and he has little to lose. If you are looking for a sleeper pick, Shiferaw could certainly catch a few people by surprise. 

Prediction

Kipchoge will win this race, but he won’t do it in course record time. The conditions won’t be perfect, and there’s too much uncertainty and variability around the Boston course for him to go out at a 2:01 or 2:02 pace. If I had to guess, Kipchoge will execute a similar race strategy as he did in the Tokyo Olympic marathon, where he sat with the lead group for 25 km and then took matters into his own hands, winning by a minute and a half.

Although he may not have the Boston experience, he is the fastest athlete in the field. What matters to Kipchoge first and foremost is getting the victory, and he’ll execute whatever race strategy it takes to get the job done. Look for him to sit on former champions Chebet and Kipruto early on, and make his move around the 25- to 27-kilometre mark before the Newton Hills, then ride the roar of the crowd home to Boylston Street.

Canadian Running pick: Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) – 2:05-mid 

Stay tuned for our women’s marathon preview.

How to watch

The 2023 Boston Marathon will be broadcasted on TSN 5 beginning at 8:30 a.m. E.T. on Monday, April 17. The men’s open race will begin at 9:37 a.m. E.T. and will likely conclude around noon E.T. 

Canadian Running will be your home for the 127th Boston Marathon, featuring live-tweeting for April 15th’s B.A.A 5K and the Boston Marathon. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for news and updates. 

(04/15/2023) Views: 573 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson

Boston Marathon gambling proposal denied by Massachusetts Gaming Commission

The ppMassachusetts Gaming Commission reportedly rejected a proposal from the sports betting company DraftKings requesting that in-state residents be allowed to place bets on the outcome of the 2023 Boston Marathon. The report from casino.org noted that the gaming commission turned down the DraftKings request after the Boston Athletics Association (B.A.A.) specifically asked that it be denied.

The commission voted unanimously against the proposal. Scott Stover, the chief marketing officer of the B.A.A., sent a letter to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, requesting the commission deny the proposal due to a lack of time to prepare.

“At this moment, there is not sufficient time for the Boston Athletic Association, nor its many partners and agencies, to coordinate and fully ensure proper protocols are in place to support such a proposal for wagering on our event,” reads the letter, which was presented to the gaming commission on Thursday morning.

Stover continued, noting that “the Boston Marathon is a trademarked and protected name, and the Boston Athletic Association has not granted permission for DraftKings to use their trademark in relation to this proposal.” In the proposal, DraftKings was asking to allow for wagers on the outright winners, the top 20 professional men and women, as well as an over/under on the winning times.Sports betting and single-game wagers have been legal in Canada and some American states for the past couple of years, but races have usually opted out from gambling sites in both countries.

There will be many eyes on the 127th Boston Marathon on April 17, as this year’s race has attracted big names, including marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge and his fellow Kenyan (and two-time Olympic medallist) Hellen Obiri. If the proposal had gone through, the public would have been allowed to place wagers on many possible outcomes, including whether Kipchoge would win his fifth Abbott World Marathon Major. 

In recent years, sports betting has had a boom in popularity in the U.S. and Canada, increasing viewership across many sports. Adding events like the Boston Marathon and other races to mainstream betting outlets could have a positive impact on the sport’s marketability and can increase athlete earnings and broadcast revenue. The door is open for the race to ponder sports betting on the 2024 race.

(04/08/2023) Views: 786 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine

Red Sox icon David Ortiz named 2023 Boston Marathon Grand Marshal

On Friday, the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced that MLB Hall of Famer and Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz will serve as Grand Marshal for the 127th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 17.

The three-time World Series champion will serve as the 2023 Grand Marshal, kicking off the race with a speech in Hopkinton, before the 30,000+ entrants from 122 countries make the 42.2km journey down to Boylston Street. Ortiz will ride in the lead vehicle, and will reach the finish shortly before race champions break the finish tape out front of the Boston Public Library.

This year’s race marks the 10th anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. In the wake of the 2013 bombing, Ortiz gave a memorable speech to Bostonians at Fenway Park before the Red Sox game. He took on the role of a leader on the Red Sox from 2003 to 2016, embodying the spirit of the city on and off the field.   

Ortiz, 47, won’t be the only former Boston sporting legend taking part in this year’s race; former Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, who led the Bruins to a 2011 Stanley Cup, will be running the marathon for The Hoyt Foundation. This will be Chara’s first marathon.

The 127th Boston Marathon has many storylines, but the most interesting one will be how the greatest marathoner in history, Eliud Kipchoge, fares in his Boston debut. The 38-year-old marathon world record holder is on a quest to win all six Abbott World Marathon Majors; he currently has four wins, missing only Boston and New York. (He is also a two-time Olympic gold medallist.)

(03/31/2023) Views: 467 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine

Kipchoge steps up preps with eyes on Boston Marathon title

Eliud Kipchoge is targeting a course record at next month's Boston Marathon even as he steps up preparations for the April 17 race.

Speaking to NN Running Team, Kipchoge who is regarded as one of the greatest marathoners of all time, said: "I just don't want to participate at the sixth Abbott World Marathon Major. I want to win it with a course record. It will be another milestone since I already have course records from the Tokyo, London and Berlin marathons.

The Boston Marathon course record stands at 2:03:01, set by Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai in 2011.

The two-time Olympic Marathon champion who lives and trains in Kaptagat added: "All is well as far as training is concerned. I think I am in the right direction heading towards April."

"It is the right time now to train on the 'Boston route' here in Kenya. It is an uphill and tough course of about 40km. Training at high altitude is good since it can help one breathe well and run fast."

Kipchoge is also keen on defending his Berlin Marathon title on September 23.

"Berlin and Boston are two different races on different continents. Berlin is a flat course. Boston on the other hand, is uphill and needs a lot of patience and hard work to go through," said Kipchoge.

"Boston is unpredictable and sometimes the weather is challenging but I am trying to be all-rounded."

(03/27/2023) Views: 606 ⚡AMP
by Evans Ousuru

Cam Levins becomes the first Canadian runner to break 2:06, running to a fifth-place finish in Tokyo

On Sunday morning in Tokyo, Cam Levins of Campbell River, B.C., solidified himself as the fastest marathoner in North American history at the 2023 Tokyo Marathon, placing fifth in 2:05:36 to shatter his previous Canadian record of 2:07:09 and breaking the long-standing North American record of 2:05:38.

The 33-year-old marathoner has put Canadian distance running on the map, once again, nearly winning the Tokyo Marathon. Levins ran the perfect race, staying patient early on and making all the right moves to contend for the victory. 

With one kilometre to go, Levins was in a group of five runners vying for the win, but Ethiopia’s Deso Gelmisa sprinted away with 400m left, winning the 2023 Tokyo Marathon. 

It was an Ethiopian sweep of the podium in Tokyo, with Gelmisa taking the win in his first Abbott World Marathon Major, in 2:05:22. His compatriot, Mohamed Esa, finished one second back for second, and Tsegaye Getachew was third (2:05:25).

Levins said, going into the race, that he was shooting for a time of 2:05 after his spectacular half-marathon record run of 60:18 in early February. 

His time of 2:05:36 (pending ratification), breaks U.S. marathoner Khalid Khannouchi’s North American record of 2:05:38 from the 2002 Tokyo Marathon. American Ryan Hall is the only athlete to run faster than Levins, 2:04:58 at the 2011 Boston Marathon (though Boston is considered non-record-eligible by World Athletics since it is a net downhill, point-to-point course). 

Cam Levins now has four of the six fastest Canadian marathon times in history.

In potentially her last major marathon, Canada’sKrista DuChene ran her fastest time in four years, clocking 2:38:53 for 19th overall. The last time DuChene, 46, broke the 2:40 mark was at the 2019 Berlin Marathon, where she ran 2:32:27.

(03/04/2023) Views: 733 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine

2023 Tokyo Marathon Six Star Finishers going for GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS

On Sunday March 5, more than 3,000 participants in the Tokyo Marathon will be aiming to complete their AbbottWMM Six Star journey and achieve a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title in the process.

Going for the record of the ‘most people to earn a Six Star Medal at a single marathon’, runners in the Six Star program will contribute to the record attempt by completing the Tokyo Marathon and collecting their Six Star medal after crossing the finish line. This race signals the final Major of their journey which also includes the Boston, TCS London, BMW Berlin, Bank of America Chicago and TCS New York City Marathons.

Tokyo will mark a major milestone for the Six Star program as the total number of finishers since the program began will pass 10,000. The previous largest contingent of Six Star finishers at a single Major was 732 at the Tokyo Marathon in 2019. It was only back in 2019 when the 5,000 Six Star finishers mark was reached at the Boston Marathon, showing the increased interest and appetite for this global challenge in recent years.

Dawna Stone, CEO of Abbott World Marathon Majors said, “We are thrilled that the Tokyo Marathon is back in full force this year and is once again able to welcome international runners. We will see an unprecedented number of Six Star finishers in Tokyo, and we are delighted to be able to celebrate this moment in partnership with the Guinness World Records and the Tokyo Marathon.”

Katie Forde, SVP Brand & Digital at Guinness World Records added: “It’s our privilege to be working with World Marathon Majors and to be attending the Tokyo Marathon to verify an achievement which, due to the pandemic, is at least three years in the making. Good luck to all participating runners, we’ll see you at the finish line.”

To celebrate their additional race-day achievement, a commemorative medal is on sale now, giving Six Star runners a chance to show off an impressive three medals post-race [Tokyo Marathon, Six Star and Guinness World Records]. Once the record has been ratified on race day, an official presentation will be made to the Tokyo Marathon Foundation.

(02/13/2023) Views: 698 ⚡AMP
by Running USA

Defending champion Kipruto to take on Bekele, Kamworor, Farah, Tola and Kiptum at London Marathon

The 2023 TCS London Marathon elite men’s field will be a landmark occasion when, for the first time in history, two men who have run inside 2:02 will be together on the same start line at the World Athletics Platinum Label road race on 23 April.

Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, the second-fastest man ever with a PB of 2:01:41, and Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum, the winner of the 2022 Valencia Marathon and the fastest marathon debutant in history (2:01:53) have both been confirmed for the race.

With Ethiopian duo Birhanu Legese (2:02:48) and Mosinet Geremew (2:02:55) also in the field, it means this year’s London Marathon will have four of the five fastest men in marathon history on the start line.

In addition, the defending champion Amos Kipruto of Kenya and world champion Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia will also return to London, along with multiple world and Olympic champion Mo Farah and two-time New York Marathon winner Geoffrey Kamworor.

Kipruto’s win at last year’s London Marathon was the biggest victory of his career and his first Abbott World Marathon Major triumph. “Winning last year’s TCS London Marathon was an incredible experience for me,” said the 30-year-old, who was second at last year’s Tokyo Marathon behind world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge and third in the 2019 World Championships. “I am now preparing hard for this year’s race and I can’t wait to return to London as the champion.

“London always has a really strong field and this year is the same so I know I will face a battle to defend my title, but I’m confident and looking forward to it.”

Tola, who won the world title in Oregon last year, will be one of several men aiming to prevent Kipruto from winning back-to-back titles. Tola, 31, is in a fine run of form over the 26.2-mile distance, winning the 2021 Amsterdam Marathon and finishing third at the 2022 Tokyo Marathon (behind Kipchoge and Kipruto) before winning his world title last summer.

Also in the field is last year’s runner-up Leul Gebresilase of Ethiopia, and the second-placed finisher in London in both 2020 and 2021 Vincent Kipchumba.

The new holder of the Oceanian marathon record Brett Robinson, who ran 2:07:31 in Fukuoka last year, returns to London after finishing eighth in 2022. Japan’s 2018 Boston Marathon champion Yuki Kawauchi is making his London Marathon debut in what will be his 114th marathon. By finishing in London, Kawauchi will be eligible for his Abbott World Marathon Majors six star medal for finishing all six major marathons: London, Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, Chicago and New York.

The elite women’s field will be announced tomorrow.

Elite men’s field

Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) 2:01:41

Kelvin Kiptum (KEN) 2:01:53

Birhanu Legese (ETH) 2:02:48

Mosinet Geremew (ETH) 2:02:55

Amos Kipruto (KEN) 2:03:13

Tamirat Tola (ETH) 2:03:39

Kinde Atanaw (ETH) 2:03:51

Leul Gebresilase (ETH) 2:04:02

Vincent Kipchumba (KEN) 2:04:28

Seifu Tura (ETH) 2:04:29

Mo Farah (GBR) 2:05:11

Geoffrey Kamworor (KEN) 2:05:23

Yuki Kawauchi (JPN) 2:07:27

Brett Robinson (AUS) 2:07:31

Dewi Griffiths (GBR) 2:09:49

Rory Linkletter (CAN) 2:10:24

Chris Thompson (GBR) 2:10:52

Tom Gröschel (GER) 2:11:03

Ben Connor (GBR) 2:11:20

Joshua Griffiths (GBR) 2:11:28

Frank Lara (USA) 2:11:32

Luke Caldwell (GBR) 2:11:33

Weynay Ghebresilasie (GBR) 2:11:57

Emile Cairess (GBR) debut.

(02/02/2023) Views: 822 ⚡AMP
by World Athletics

Canadian Cam Levins to headline 2023 Tokyo Marathon

We are just over a month away from the first Abbott World Marathon Major of the calendar year, the 2023 Tokyo Marathon on March 5, and headlining the list of elites is none other than Canadian record-holder Cam Levins. 

Last year, Levins had a season to remember, setting personal bests in the half-marathon and the marathon. His record-setting 2:07:09 performance came at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, where he shattered his own record by two minutes to finish fourth overall—the highest-ever finish by a Canadian male in the marathon at a major championship.

He followed that up with a half-marathon personal best at the 2022 Valencia Half Marathon, where he finished 19th in 61:04.

“I am excited to head back to Japan for another opportunity to compete in a major marathon,” Levins said on Instagram.

The last time Levins was in Japan, it was for the 2020 Olympic marathon in Sapporo, where he ended up finishing 72nd place. “The Olympics were a low point for me,” Levins said in an August 2022 interview. “I felt I was right there, but I realized I was so far behind the best in the world.”

With his time of 2:07 at Worlds, Levins ended the year as the top North American marathoner in the world, according to World Athletics. 

Levins will need another magical performance to contend with some of the world’s best marathoners in Tokyo. The men’s field features nine sub-2:05 runners, including 2022 Amsterdam champion Tsegay Getachew, London 2021 champion Sisay Lemma and his former training partner and Japanese 5,000m (and formerly, the marathon) record holder, Suguru Osako.

The 2023 Tokyo Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, March 5. On Feb. 12, Levins will compete in the Vancouver First Half in the lead-up to his marathon. 

(01/31/2023) Views: 711 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson

B.A.A. announces pregnancy deferral accommodations for all B.A.A. events, including Boston Marathon

The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced today accommodation enhancements pertaining to runners who are expecting or have recently welcomed a child into their families. Pregnancy and postpartum deferrals of entries will now be available for registered participants at all B.A.A. events, including the Boston Marathon (April), B.A.A. 5K (April), B.A.A. 10K (June), and B.A.A. Half Marathon (November).

“In listening to our participants and stakeholders, the desire from mothers and expecting mothers to participate in our races –particularly the Boston Marathon—while also focusing on building a family was clear,” said Jack Fleming, President and Chief Executive Officer of the B.A.A. “Women who are entered in a B.A.A. race and want to expand their family will be able to do just that without giving up a chance to participate at a future B.A.A. event.”

Any athlete who is a registered entrant in a B.A.A. event and is or becomes pregnant prior to race day and chooses not to participate due to such circumstances will be eligible to receive a deferred entry into one of the next two subsequent future races. The new pregnancy and postpartum deferment policy is effective immediately, and includes athletes who are entered in the Boston Marathon by way of qualifying time or invitational entry. 

Athletes seeking a pregnancy or postpartum deferral may submit a request in writing to registration@baa.org any time between receiving confirmation of acceptance into the event and up to 14 days before race day. Upon receipt of a pregnancy or postpartum deferment request, the B.A.A.’s Athlete Services team will be in contact with the athlete and will request confirmation of pregnancy from a physician, registered midwife, or other medical professional.

“We at the B.A.A. are always looking for ways to improve the participant experience starting at the point of registration, and have been collaborating to create this policy for many months,” said Susie Cleary, the B.A.A.’s Director of Athlete Services. “This new deferral accommodation has been implemented with the goal of supporting mother runners along their journey at all our events, from the 5K distance through the marathon.”

If an athlete becomes pregnant again during a pregnancy or postpartum deferral period, they may request a second consecutive pregnancy or postpartum deferral. This would permit the athlete to defer their race entry for a subsequent two-year period. The B.A.A. will allow up to two consecutive pregnancy deferral requests per athlete. Policy details will be posted on www.baa.org soon.

The pregnancy deferral opportunity is an accommodation in addition to the registration insurance currently offered to Boston Marathon participants, which covers refunds for a variety of situations, including pregnancy. All other rules and requirements for race entry after a pregnancy or postpartum deferral will apply, including payment for future registration entry fees.

In addition to deferrals, the B.A.A. will be enhancing accommodations for recent mothers on race weekend. For more than a decade, mothers have been provided the opportunity to utilize designated tents at the start and finish of the Boston Marathon for lactation pumping. In response to the overwhelming support of this program and the accompanying medical device transport program (where race officials transport devices such as breast pumps from the start to finish), the B.A.A. plans to share additional accommodations as race day approaches. The B.A.A. is currently consulting a group of mother runners to help facilitate best practices at our events. More information will be shared with participants over the coming months.

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. Since 1986, the principal sponsor of the Boston Marathon has been John Hancock. The 127th Boston Marathon is scheduled to take place on Monday, April 17, 2023. For more information on the B.A.A., please visit www.baa.org.

(01/25/2023) Views: 629 ⚡AMP
by Boston Athletic Association

Boston Athletic Association announces 2023 Boston Marathon men´s field

The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced today the men’s professional field for the 127th Boston Marathon, featuring 15 men who’ve run under 2:07 for the marathon distance, as well as multiple Abbott World Marathon Major race champions, Olympic and Paralympic stars.

Today’s announcement expands upon four previously announced men’s entrants including world record holder and double Olympic gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge, reigning Boston Marathon champion Evans Chebet, 2021 winner Benson Kipruto, and two-time victor Lelisa Desisa. A total of 109 men’s athletes from 21 countries are in this year’s professional field across the men’s Open, Wheelchair, and Para Athletics Divisions.

“The Boston Marathon is known for its competitiveness, with many races decided in the final meters on Boylston Street,” said Mary Kate Shea, B.A.A. Director of Professional Athletes. “This year’s field brings together athletes who’ve excelled at both speed and championship-style racing. Combined with the women’s professional field announced on Monday, this will be the fastest and most decorated Boston Marathon across all of our divisions in race history.”  

Behind Kipchoge and Chebet, the fastest man in the field will be Tanzanian national record holder Gabriel Geay, who finished runner-up at the Valencia Marathon last month in 2:03:00. Geay has had success racing on the roads of Boston, winning the 2018 B.A.A. 10K, placing fourth at last year’s Boston Marathon, and finishing in second and third at the B.A.A. Half Marathon in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

“I am excited to be returning to the Boston Marathon this year,” said Geay. “I fulfilled a dream by racing in Boston last year, but my goal is to one day win the race, and I hope that 2023 will be my year. Thank you, Boston for the opportunity!”

Joining Geay will be past Abbott World Marathon Majors winners including Albert Korir of Kenya (2021 New York City champion), Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea (2015 World Championships gold medalist and 2016 New York City champion), and Shura Kitata of Ethiopia (2020 London Marathon champion). Brazilian Olympian and national record holder Daniel Do Nascimento will make his Boston debut, as will Ethiopia’s Herpasa Negasa, a 2:03:40 marathoner.

Last year’s seventh-place finisher and top American, Scott Fauble, returns for his fourth Hopkinton-to-Boston race, and will be joined by 50K world record holder CJ Albertson. After a 2:08:16 marathon debut in Chicago last year, Conner Mantz will take on the Boston course for the first time. He is coached by Olympic marathoner Ed Eyestone.

“I love the Boston Marathon. It’s one of the greatest sporting events in the world,” said Fauble. “It has a way of bringing the best out of people.”

"Boston is such a historic marathon, and I want to be a part of that history,” said Mantz. “I love the aspect of racing with no pacers and hills that break up rhythm, and Boston has both of those. When you add in the competition Boston is bringing this year with Eliud Kipchoge and many others, it makes the race so exciting!"

Ben True, a Maine native and four-time winner of the B.A.A. 5K, also is part of the American field. B.A.A. High Performance Team members Matt McDonald, Paul Hogan, and Jonas Hampton will have the hometown edge; McDonald set a new B.A.A. club record and lifetime best of 2:09:49 in Chicago last fall.

American Daniel Romanchuk will return as defending champion in the wheelchair division, coming off a 1:26:58 victory last April. Romanchuk also won Boston in 2019 (1:21:36), though he looks to be challenged by wheelchair marathon world record holder and reigning Paralympic marathon gold medalist Marcel Hug. Hug returns in search of his sixth Boston Marathon title and holds the Boston course record of 1:18:04. In 2022 the Swiss ‘Silver Bullet’ won the B.A.A. 5K in 10 minutes, 5 seconds, a course record time.

“Nothing can compare with the excitement and anticipation at the Boston Marathon,” said Romanchuk. “I’m incredibly excited and honored to be part of what should be a great race through the hills and all the way to Boylston Street.”

Aaron Pike, last year’s wheelchair division runner-up, and Ernst van Dyk, a ten-time Boston winner, are also racing. A $50,000 course record bonus is available to any open division or wheelchair division athlete who breaks a course record.

Paralympians Matthew Felton and Atsbha Gebre Gebremeskel lead the Para Athletics Division in the T46 classification (upper-limb impairment). American record holder and Massachusetts native Chaz Davis will look to defend his T12 (vision impairment) Para title.

Headlining the T62 and T63 classification are Marko Cheseto Lemtukei and Brian Reynolds. Cheseto Lemtukei earned a victory in 2:37:01 last year, while Reynolds set a pending T62 world record of 1:25:46 at the B.A.A. Half Marathon in November.

“A perfect society is one that sees diversity of its members as her strength,” said Cheseto Lemtukei, who returns as a two-time Boston Marathon Para Athletics Division champion.

The 127th Boston Marathon will be held on Monday, April 17, 2023 – Patriots’ Day in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts—and will feature 30,000 participants. 

(01/11/2023) Views: 865 ⚡AMP
by Boston Athletic Association

Sydney chasing Kipchoge in race to join world’s ‘major’ marathons

Sydney Marathon officials are in talks to bring the greatest marathon runner in history, Eliud Kipchoge, to the 2024 race and help Sydney secure a prestigious new status as a world “major” marathon.

The Sydney Marathon, which began in 1999, is bidding to formally become one of the world’s leading 42.195km races, alongside legendary events such as the London Marathon and the New York Marathon.

Similar to tennis and golf, the top six marathons in the world – Boston, Berlin, Tokyo, Chicago, London and New York – are known as the “World Marathon Majors”. Each event attracts elite fields, and huge amounts of amateur applicants, every year.

Many marathon enthusiasts set out to collect a six-star medal, earned by running in each of the majors.

In coming years, however, the medal is likely to be upgraded with the organisation taking on three candidates for potential entry into the elite club: Sydney, Cape Town and Chengdu in China.

The Sydney Marathon announced its candidacy in July and the evaluation process runs for three years. It is already regarded as the strongest candidate.

“It’s a big deal for a number of reasons,” Sydney Marathon race director Wayne Larden said. “The main one is just the sheer volume of runners that take part in these events. Every single one of the Abbotts World Marathon Major events is oversubscribed by between 250,000 and 400,000 runners.

“Which means when we become a major, our numbers are going to leap, with people wanting to get that seventh star. We are expecting a huge boost in numbers, a massive increase in economic impact.”

Though recently upgraded on World Athletics’ ranking system to a “platinum” marathon – making it the eighth best in the world – the Sydney event is relatively modest compared to the majors, which have about 50,000 finishers. Sydney usually has about 5000 finishers, although many thousands more compete in the half-marathon and 10km events run simultaneously.

Destination NSW is backing Sydney’s candidacy for major status and the reasons are straightforward, says Larden. With tens of thousands of tourists coming to race each year, studies show cities gets a massive financial boost. The Chicago Marathon generated almost $600 million for the city’s economy this year.

Sydney must meet certain criteria for two years in a row over the next three years before a vote of other race directors can upgrade it to a major. The tourism and grandeur components are well-covered, with the race route including the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House as a finish line.

But Sydney will also have to increase its finishers to 15,000 and support the race in bigger numbers like the other major marathons, where there is a culture of people lining the course to cheer on runners, entertainment and a festival atmosphere.

“There are benchmark things, you either have it or you don’t. Is the air clean? Is it a marketable city? Do people want to visit? These are things we have; Sydney is a beautiful place and a global destination,” Larden said.

“More specific things, there are a few key things. We have to triple our number of finishers in the marathon, we have to engage the Sydney community and get them out on the course, like what runners experience in Boston or New York or London. We have to get people out and cheering people on their journey.”

The Sydney Marathon course – which this year saw the fastest time ever run in Australia by Kenya’s Moses Kibet (two hours, seven minutes, two seconds) – will also be altered slightly, replacing the narrow sections of course winding along the edge of wharves at Pyrmont, with more roadway. And it will become a standalone race, with a half-marathon and shorter runs done a day before.

Australian marathon legend Steve Moneghetti, who won the Berlin Marathon in 1990 and is an adviser to the Sydney Marathon, believes the event can be the equal of any in the world.

“I can tell you that in all the world’s top marathons, and I ran a fair few of them, that no one has anything close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House on the course. They are iconic,” he said.

“You name me any city in the world and if you can name a better start/finish than that, then you’ve got me. That’s the selling point.

“It is really exciting. And I was a bit surprised, I thought, ‘The world marathon majors? Hey the six is the six and that’s that’. When I sort of considered it, I thought, ‘Yeah, why should it be just those six?’ Marathon running is booming around the world and it’s nice to think they are open to adding to it and Sydney is in the running for it.”

Kipchoge is undisputedly the greatest marathon runner ever, and proved as much by breaking the world record in Berlin in September, running 2:01.09.

The 2016 and 2020 Olympic gold medallist became the first man to run a marathon in under two hours in 2019, in an event that didn’t qualify for a record.

Kipchoge, 38, has vowed to collect a six-star medal before he retires, but Sydney hopes to lure the Kenyan to Australia even before it becomes an extra point on the medal, with an appearance in 2024. Kipchoge running in Sydney would give the race a major boost of global credibility, and be a big help in meeting the targets for finisher and crowd numbers, too.

“He would definitely bring Sydneysiders out. He is like Usain Bolt on a track - when Bolt ran, the stands were full,” Larden said.

“We are talking to Kipchoge’s management and have been since we got nominated. He wants to finish the six next year, so our goal is to try and get him to Sydney in 2024, as that big drawcard.”

Moneghetti said having Kipchoge run across the Harbour Bridge in 2024 would be a massive coup: “To say you ran in a race when Kipchoge ran, that’s a selling point. That’d be huge.”

(01/07/2023) Views: 805 ⚡AMP
by Iain Payten

Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat upgraded to 2021 Boston Marathon champion

Edna Kiplagat of Kenya has officially become a two-time Boston Marathon champion. The BAA elevated Kiplagat to 2021 Boston Marathon winner on Tuesday after the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) handed down a six-year suspension to former 2021 champion Diana Kipyokei. Kipyokei tested positive for triamcinolone acetonide (a corticosteroid)–a banned anti-inflammatory substance–post-race in Boston.

Kipyokei was also suspended for providing misleading information in her attempts to explain her use of the substance, including “fake documentation which she alleged came from a hospital,” according to the AIU. Kipyokei’s provisional suspension was announced Oct.14, but began on June 27 and her six-year ban has been backdated to June.

Kiplagat is now a two-time Boston Marathon champion, after winning the race in 2017 (she also ran to second in 2019). Kiplagat, 43, is widely regarded as one of the all-time greats in distance running.

Dubbed the “Queen of Persistence,” Kiplagat has competed at both the Olympic and World championship marathons, taking gold twice at the World champs in 2011 and 2013, and silver in 2017. Kiplagat has run all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors.

The Colorado-based athlete won the Abbott World Marathon Series VIII (2013–14) and was named the Series V (10–2011) champion following the disqualification of Russian athlete Liliya Shobukhova. 

Kiplagat won both the London Marathon (2014) and New York Marathon (2010) with many second-place finishes. In 2021 she won the 7-mile (11.3 km) Falmouth Road Race, running away from the field in the second half of the race to break the tape in 36 minutes, 52 seconds.

 

(12/21/2022) Views: 599 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne

Kenyan graffiti artist Bankslave creates a mural for the GOAT in downtown Nairobi

The marathon world record holder, Eliud Kipchoge, was on hand with his kids for the unveiling of a mural in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in his honor.

Kipchoge posted the mural on his social media with his two sons, Griffin and Jordon. The mural was created by renowned Kenyan graffiti artist Bankslave, who is well known in Nairobi as a voice of social change and expressionism.

The mural is located on Nairobi’s Kenyatta Avenue, which is the main road that enters the city’s central park (Nairobi National Park). In the past, Bankslave has also created murals of Barack Obama and Muhammed Ali. This isn’t the first time Bankslave has sketched the Kenyan marathon star—he made a mural of him and Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie inside a coffee shop in 2021.

The 38-year-old marathoner is a two-time Olympic champion with 10 Abbott World Marathon Major victories to his resume. Kipchoge has won four of the six majors and is set to compete at the Boston Marathon for the first time in April 2023 before setting his sight on the 2024 Olympic Marathon in Paris.

The bottom of the mural reads 1:59:40, representing Kipchoge’s mind-boggling sub-two-hour time at the INEOS-1:59 event in 2019, where he became the first man to (unofficially) break the two-hour barrier. The top of the mural has his famous inspirational quote, “No Human is Limited.”

An NFT (non-fungible token) of the Kipchoge mural is up for sale on the blockchain website OpenSea and has been listed for three Ethereum coins (approximately $5,100). 

(12/12/2022) Views: 785 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine

Did You Know the Boston Athletic Association Has a Membership?

Joining isn’t as simple as you might think.

The 1983 Boston Marathon champion Greg Meyer is a member of the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.). So is Bobbi Gibb, women’s champion during the “pioneer era” of the marathon in 1966, ’67, and ’68. 

But Kathrine Switzer, who made headlines in Boston in 1967, is not. Nor is Meb Keflezighi, the 2014 champion. 

Tom Grilk, the CEO who retired in April, has been a member since 1987. The new CEO, Jack Fleming, is not. 

Michael O’Leary, M.D., a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and chairman of the B.A.A.’s Board of Governors (which is essentially the same as a board of directors) has been a member of the B.A.A. since 1989. All 13 Governors (10 men, three women) are members—they have to be, in order to be picked to serve on the board. 

Scott Peterson, a Miami-area corporate finance professional, is a member, and he has his membership listed prominently on his LinkedIn profile. When asked by Runner’s World about it, Peterson, a marathon veteran, called the group “like-minded people who support the running community.” He said, “It’s a real honor for me and anyone to be part of the membership of B.A.A.” 

But what is this selective group, exactly? Who are they? And how are they chosen? 

A local mystery

Information about membership on the B.A.A. website is scant, which cloaks the group—intentionally or not—in secrecy. Several people who are deeply involved in the Boston-area running community told Runner’s World they did not know such a group existed. (There is also a B.A.A. Running Club, which is open to runners in the Boston area, but it is different from the membership.) 

Chris Lotsbom, a B.A.A. spokesperson, answered multiple questions from Runner’s World about the membership via email. He said the group currently has 174 people. 

He also explained that the membership model goes back to the B.A.A.’s founding in 1887. The marathon started 10 years later, in 1897. 

The organization had, in its earliest days, a building with a pool, indoor track, bowling alley, and boxing room, among other amenities, like a golf club, for its dues-paying members. The B.A.A. was similar to other athletic clubs across the country, most notably the New York Athletic Club, which still exists. 

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the B.A.A. lost its headquarters building and its other properties. All that remained was the marathon, the bylaws of the organization, and a small group of members. 

The members kept the B.A.A. and the marathon going. And they remain to this day, written into the organization’s bylaws to promote “the common good and the health and welfare of the general public and the encouragement of the general public to improve their physical condition.” 

Tom Derderian, executive producer of Boston: The Documentary and author of Boston Marathon: Year-by-Year Stories of the World’s Premier Running Event, takes a skeptical view of the leadership back in the day. 

“The B.A.A. expected that their investments in the 1920s would continue to grow,” he wrote to Runner’s World. “The stock market crash and Depression and World War II removed all B.A.A. assets, leaving the Association with only its name, an indoor track meet, the Boston Marathon—and the founding attitude that only B.A.A. members could know what was best.” 

The modern-day membership 

Today, as with any group, some members are actively engaged in day-to-day matters of the organization, attending meetings, voting, lending expertise, or volunteering at B.A.A. events. Others are not involved at all. 

“For us today, membership is a valuable asset when tapped into,” Fleming said in a call with Runner’s World. “There’s still work to be done, but leadership and staff rely on the members for a variety of things. They serve on committees. They provide guidance in areas, their expertise. So finance, real estate, of course, running, community, the professional side, technology.” 

For example, when the B.A.A. wanted to buy a building in Hopkinton near the marathon starting line, the organization got real estate advice from some of the members during the process. 

They have also helped with recent diversity initiatives. 

“Several B.A.A. members were significant in the establishment of the Boston Running Collaborative, which seeks to increase the fitness and participation of minorities in running,” Lotsbom wrote. “In this respect, membership is a resource which complements the staff’s day-to-day work.”

The way the bylaws are written, the Board of Governors are nominated from the membership. So the 174 members influence the direction of the B.A.A. through the Governors, who oversee the CEO. 

The B.A.A. doesn’t track the demographic makeup of the membership, but Lotsbom wrote that, since 2010, the group has attempted to improve its diversity. 

Thaddeus Miles, who founded the Run to Wellness 5K in Roxbury several years ago, was invited to join the membership two years ago by Tom Grilk. Miles recently showed up at his first in-person membership meeting post-pandemic. He counted only one other Black member among what he estimates were 50 attendees, plus Adrienne Benton and Keith McDermott, who are on the Board of Governors. 

Three people who are familiar with the membership said that many members work in the medical professions or financial services industry in the Boston area. 

There is a family component as well, according to the B.A.A. O’Leary’s father, also a physician, was a member of the B.A.A. who was responsible for the physicals administered to marathon runners in Hopkinton during the race’s earlier years. A descendant of Walter Brown, who founded the Boston Celtics and was the B.A.A. president from 1941–64, still starts a division of the marathon to this day.

Members pay a nominal fee—$50—each year to belong. In exchange, they get one waiver each year into the marathon. They still have to pay the entry fee ($375), but they can run themselves without qualifying, transfer the waiver to a friend or family member, or donate the number to a charity. 

Miles, who is on the steering committee of the Boston Running Collaborative, gives his waiver for a marathon entry every year to a runner of color who otherwise wouldn’t be able to qualify for the race. 

For the thousands of runners every year who try to qualify but fail, or who fundraise for one of the charity teams as a way of gaining entry to Boston, the existence of a small membership group might rankle. Lotsbom said fewer than 180 entries are allocated for members annually (out of a field size of 30,000) and less than half are ultimately used.

“The B.A.A. gets to choose whom they want to invite to run the race, and the B.A.A. decides the terms by which it will invite people to participate in its iconic annual event,” said Robert Wang, the founder of the World Marathon Majors Challenge group on Facebook. (The group’s 18,000 runners are seeking to run all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, but they have no official affiliation with that organization.)

“If the B.A.A. wanted to invite everyone whose last name starts with ‘Y’ to run the Boston Marathon, that would absolutely be the organization’s prerogative,” Wang said. 

I’d love to be a member. How do I sign up? 

There’s the rub. Right now, no such sign-up mechanism exists. You have to know a current member or someone on the Board of Governors. 

“Potential members are traditionally nominated by a board member or another current member, and apply with a résumé along with specific comments as to why they wish to join the B.A.A.,” Lotsbom wrote. “From there, the nominees are seconded by a Governor, and voted on by the board. The membership is made up of those who have expressed an interest in the B.A.A., B.A.A. activities, and its mission.” 

Fleming acknowledged that the relative obscurity of the membership and the lack of clear guidelines for becoming a member could be improved. 

“We should make it known more,” he said. “And we should have more public ways of making it easier to have their interest become known. Raise your hand. We should make it easier for that to occur.” 

In an era when running’s leaders are trying to make the sport more inclusive, how does the B.A.A.’s membership fit into the landscape? Is it a quirky echo of the organization’s past? Or an impediment to diversity in today’s world? Does a quiet group of invitation-only members pass the sniff test in 2022? 

Tiffany Chenault, a sociology professor at Salem State University who is an ambassador for the Boston chapter of Black Girls Run and part of the Boston Running Collaborative, said in a call that she didn’t recall hearing about the membership, and she wondered how much influence the group holds. 

“I’m curious,” she said. “I have questions.”

John Hanc, a longtime Runner’s World contributing editor and author of The B.A.A. at 125: The Official History of the Boston Athletic Association 1887-2012, knew of the group’s role in the B.A.A.’s founding, but he didn’t realize it still existed. 

“Today we know the B.A.A. for the marathon and its other major running events,” Hanc said.

“But we have to remember that its history is rooted in the 19th century. Back then, it was very much an athletic club, with all of the exclusivity and, by 21st century standards, perhaps unnecessary and stuffy protocol that came with institutions like it at the time. Over the decades, the organization has morphed into a powerful force in the modern running movement. But some vestiges of that past still remain. While we of course want to see greater diversity in every aspect of the sport, this remnant of the old B.A.A. strikes me as fairly harmless.”

The B.A.A. in 2022 is facing very modern challenges, however. John Hancock, the longtime marathon sponsor, announced that 2023 would be its final year. Will a company want to replace Hancock? And critics have said the B.A.A. has been slow to embrace diversity in its ranks and events. Where does the membership group fit into that? 

Does a leadership structure that evolved from the 19th century, and with a Board derived from a membership group, still serve the organization? 

Derderian isn’t certain. 

“It is a human tendency for those in charge to conclude that only they know enough to be in charge, since they have always been in charge,” he wrote, “and to keep things from changing, they have to continue to exclude control from outside.”

(12/11/2022) Views: 668 ⚡AMP
by Runner’s World

This NYC Marathoner’s Finish Went Viral, Now She Wants to Inspire Others Who Look Like Her to Run

Bailey Quinn is determined to promote fitness for all body types. 

Name: Bailey Quinn Age: 29 Hometown: Marco Island, Florida Occupation: Medical Student at Touro College of Medicine in Harlem, New York. Beginning pediatric residency in July 2023! Time Running: 2 years Reason for Running: I’m graduating medical school in May 2023, and I made up the goal of completing the New York City Marathon after my first semester ended back in December of 2019. My school is in Manhattan so doing something big and crazy seemed like an awesome way to celebrate the end of my school years.

I grew up playing every sport—volleyball, basketball, swimming, softball, tennis. I was also always heavy. I’ve been overweight my whole life. My earliest memories with my pediatrician are her telling me I needed to lose weight. I never looked like other kids, even my siblings. But that didn’t stop me from becoming an athlete. I showed up. I never missed a practice. My parents taught me from day one that you don’t have to be the best player—be the best teammate and the athlete coaches want to work with.

I also have an autoimmune disease called Addison’s disease, where my body doesn’t make the hormones cortisol and aldosterone, which regulate inflammation, your sleep/wake cycle, blood pressure, and plays many roles in organ systems all over your body.

In 2009 I was very sick—vomiting for weeks straight at times and frequently being admitted to the hospital. I was a medical mystery for years. I would get so sick I’d be in the hospital for weeks vomiting and nobody knew why. (I’ve actually torn my esophagus from vomiting so violently and so often.) I went through college at the University of Florida as a registered disabled student. I thought that was going to be my life. 

In 2016, I just started applying to medical school and I looked at my mom and said, “I can’t live like this.” That’s when I was finally diagnosed with Addison’s disease, after really pushing my doctors to look for a better answer. They ordered one blood test and my cortisol levels came back as undetectable. I will be dependent on steroids for the rest of my life.

But that has never stopped me. I did marching band at the University of Florida, and I was also on the sailing team. I call myself an endurance athlete. 

I rode a bike across America in 2014 to raise money for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. We started in Baltimore, and we ended in Seattle. And in the summer of 2020, I swam the coastline of Marco Island, six and a half miles, and I did that in three hours and eight minutes. I love open water swimming. I like grand undertakings. I’m a go-big or go-home person. And I’m also not the “typical” picture of fitness.

When I started medical school in New York City in July 2019, I knew I wanted to do something big. By the end of my first semester in December I had decided on the New York City Marathon. I thought, “I bet a lot of people think I can’t do this, so I’m going to do it.” I committed to start training and run it in 2022.

I did try to run as a kid. My mom grew up as a New York Road Runner in North Salem, New York. I tried to get into running in eighth grade, but I felt like I was a burden to my coaches. I was slow. I was the kid that they were begrudgingly waiting for during practice and meets. So I finished the 8th grade season and didn’t even think about coming back out to join the team in 9th grade. But I participated in softball, swimming, cycling, and other sports in high school. My whole life with running, before the New York City Marathon, I was met with: “You don’t belong here.”

Most of my training was endurance-based swimming and cycling because I have a slightly torn meniscus at the moment (I hurt it by slipping at a baseball game in October 2021). So, I knew I couldn’t train heavily with running, as being in medical school I’ve been too busy to have surgery to repair it. I joined a USA Masters swim team at my local YMCA in 2020 and worked with a coach who made some custom endurance plans for me. I was swimming two to three miles a day in 2020 and doing lots of long walks, building endurance.

In 2021, I started my clinical rotations, so I had less time to train, and it was more speed focused and aerobically demanding. With my meniscus tear in October 2021, I also started to do spin for a low-impact cardio workout. So, last year I was doing 45 minutes a day of Peloton or swimming and added in more jogging and walking. I did enough training to finish the marathon—that was my goal.

I ran with Team for Kids because I feel very strongly about getting kids involved in sports, particularly because I’m planning on being a pediatrician. I made a giant rainbow tutu to do the marathon in and had so much fun because that’s just who I am. I knew I was going to run/walk the 26.2 miles.

I finished at 8:17 p.m; it took me 9 hours and 19 minutes. A video of me crossing the finish line went viral on social media. It was a video of me pumped as hell to finish. I was exuding such radiant joy and just being goofy. I was just pumped that I accomplished my goal of finishing and just got to celebrate and relax. 

There was never a doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t finish. I knew my speed wouldn’t be there, but my training method absolutely worked. I felt great the whole time. My boyfriend had water and Gatorade for me at mile 23, and he finished with me. I had gels and Honey Stingers for the whole race. 

I showed up ready for a long day. For me, everything went perfectly to plan. I did most of my jogging the first half and walked most of the second. I knew I was going to be slow, and someone who looks different. I wanted to finish for me, not for a time.

Unfortunately, bullies are everywhere, and I was flooded with comments and messages about how fat I am or how I’m a disgrace to running. People see a heavy person and don’t know about my Addison’s disease and the steroids I take that also impact how I look. 

Weight is a complex thing—there is not one single factor that dictates someone’s weight and it’s impossible to tell that just by looking at them. I’ve been met with this attitude in running since I was young, and this is what keeps people out of running. But I want to be an example. I’m not going to quit or leave! I wanted to finish for the kids who look like me so they can say, “I can do a marathon too. You did it, and now I think I can.”

On the flip side, so many people have reached out and are inspired after seeing the video. The positives far outweigh the negatives, and I’m having a blast! Now I want to do the World Marathon majors. 

My next marathon will be the Chicago Marathon in 2024. I’m definitely here to stay, because I think the sport needs it. People like me are bullied out of running, and I want to change that. I want to be the person saying, “You finished! I’m so proud of you!”

Running is so accessible, and I can get the message out there. I never would have dreamed I would be here, but I am so happy and proud to say I am.

Running and the running community have made me feel like the sky’s the limit. Before this year’s New York City Marathon, I thought I just wanted to do one marathon before I die—now I want to do all six of the Abbott Major Marathons and I hope to help my mom complete her dream of doing the NYC Marathon by doing it again with her. 

I really love the person that the marathon has made me. To finish how I did and have fun, putting myself back out there as a runner despite negative experiences in childhood has made me realize I can do it! I’ll never be the fastest, but I will definitely be the most colorful. It’s all that matters! Get out there, let’s go!

These three tips have made my running journey a success:

1. Run your own race

Run for you and get out of it what you want to get out of it. Ignore what everyone else has to say about it. 

2. Use anti-chafing creams

I was running/walking for more than nine nonstop hours and I had no rashes or rubs or anything using these. 

3. Listen to your body

If you’re feeling sick or injured, test the waters—but I’m invested in the long term. So, if my body is telling me I need more sleep today, I’m going to get some sleep because I want to be able to run tomorrow. You need to push yourself when you can because that’s how you get better, but listen when your body needs rest.

Bailey’s Must-Have Gear

→ Bodyglide: I could not run without it! I’m about to be Body Glide’s number-one supporter for the rest of my marathon career. It’s great for arms and legs—everywhere! Just bathe in it!

→ Theragun Pro and Theragun Mini: I prefer the Pro for regular use but love the mini for my swim bag. They’ve been absolute game changers in my preworkout warmups and my postworkout recovery! They’s especially helpful on days when I can’t stretch as much as I would like due to time constraints—like when I’m rehabbing an injury, or when I’m doing consecutive days with endurance-style workouts (two- to three-mile swims, four to six days a week). They make my recovery time significantly faster; they made my leg recovery from the marathon a breeze. 

(12/11/2022) Views: 816 ⚡AMP

2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Set to Welcome 45,000 Participants for 45th Anniversary Event

Today the Bank of America Chicago Marathon announced the return to 45,000 participants for the event's 45th anniversary on Sunday, October 8, 2023. Runners who entered the non-guaranteed entry drawing for the 2023 race will be notified of their selection status today. Individuals still interested in participating can secure their place in the field by joining an official charity team. Since 2002, the Charity Program has generated more than $292 million for local, national and global causes, including the event record-breaking $27.6 million raised by participants in 2022.

"We're thrilled to host 45,000 participants for the first time since 2019 at the 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon," said Carey Pinkowski, Bank of America Chicago Marathon Executive Race Director. "As part of our millionth-finisher field, these participants will write their names in the event's history book during a particularly special year. We look forward to celebrating their performances, as well as the contributions of the volunteers, spectators and community members who have made the Chicago Marathon the world-class racing tradition it is today."

Runners who received an entry through the drawing will join those who guaranteed their entry into the race during the four-week application window. Guaranteed entries include Bank of America Chicago Marathon and Shamrock Shuffle legacy finishers, time qualifiers, international tour group participants, charity runners and those who deferred or cancelled entries from a previous event.

Runners who did not receive an entry through the drawing can still sign up through the Bank of America Chicago Marathon Charity Program. The 2023 Charity Program includes 180 nonprofit organizations raising funds related to 10 cause categories, including education, youth development, health care and social services. Runners who register to run with an official charity at this time are required to raise a minimum of $1,750. For a list of official charities and information on how to register by joining a charity team, go to chicagomarathon.com/charity.

For the latest event updates, registered participants and community members are encouraged to visit the Event FAQ which is available at chicagomarathon.com.

About the Bank of America Chicago Marathon

The Bank of America Chicago Marathon welcomes thousands of participants from more than 100 countries and all 50 states, including a world-class elite field, top regional and Masters runners, race veterans, debut marathoners and charity participants. The race's iconic course takes participants through 29 vibrant neighborhoods on an architectural and cultural tour of Chicago. The 2023 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, a member of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, will start and finish in Grant Park on Sunday, October 8, 2023. In advance of the race, a three-day Abbott Health & Fitness Expo will be held at McCormick Place Convention Center on Thursday, October 5, Friday, October 6, and Saturday, October 7. For more information about the event and how to get involved, go to chicagomarathon.com.

(12/09/2022) Views: 706 ⚡AMP

Kipchoge, Gebreslase and Chebet confirmed for Boston Marathon

World record-holder and double Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge and world champion Gotytom Gebreslase will make their Boston Marathon debuts on 17 April 2023, joining six former winners of the World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race.

Defending champion Evans Chebet, 2021 winner Benson Kipruto, and two-time victor Lelisa Desisa will be part of a historically deep men’s elite race. Among the returning champions in the women’s field are Edna Kiplagat, Atsede Baysa and Desiree Linden.

As the fastest marathon runner in history, Kipchoge will take on the challenging Boston Marathon course with hopes of earning his 11th win in an Abbott World Marathon Majors event. Kipchoge’s last marathon resulted in a world record of 2:01:09 at the Berlin Marathon.

“I am happy to announce in April I will compete in the Boston Marathon, a new chapter in my Abbott World Marathon Majors journey,” said Kipchoge. “Good luck to all the runners running Boston in 2023.”

Chebet stormed to a 2:06:51 win at the Boston Marathon earlier this year then ran to victory at the New York City Marathon in November. In 2022, Chebet became just the sixth man in history to win the Boston and New York City Marathons in the same year.

“To be a champion in Boston is something very special and for me it has even more meaning because it took me quite some time during my career to be competitive enough to finally win the oldest marathon in the world,” said Chebet. “I can’t wait to be back and to enjoy the great atmosphere of such a unique and historical race!”

Kipruto, a training partner of Chebet, also returns. Almost exactly one year after winning the 2021 Boston Marathon, he won the Chicago Marathon in a PB of 2:04:24.

Desisa enters Boston with vital experience, having placed in the top two four times at the Boston Marathon (wins in 2013 and 2015 and second-place finishes in 2016 and 2019). April marks the 10-year anniversary of his first victory, one in which he donated his champion’s medal back to the City of Boston in recognition of the tragedy of 15 April 2013.

While this will be Gebreslase’s first Boston Marathon, it is far from her first time racing in Boston. The Ethiopian world champion has finished runner-up at the Boston Half Marathon twice and has placed in the top five three times at the Boston 5K. Along with winning the world title, Gebreslase placed third at both the Berlin Marathon and New York City Marathons this year.

“I am very happy to compete in the Boston Marathon 2023, as Boston is one of the most famous races in the world,” said Gebreslase. “It has long been a dream of mine to win the race. When I was a young track athlete, I raced many times in Boston in indoor races and then on the roads, so I am very excited and happy to bring my career full circle and come back to Boston now as the world champion.”

Kiplagat, a two-time world champion, is still highly competitive at the age of 43. She finished fourth at this year’s Boston Marathon in 2:21:40 – 12 seconds faster than her winning time in Boston in 2017.

Baysa, the 2016 Boston Marathon winner, also returns. Also a past winner in Chicago and Paris, Baysa finished eighth at the 2021 Boston Marathon. Linden, the winner in 2018, will be racing in her 10th Boston Marathon.

The complete elite field – including additional Boston Marathon champions, Abbott World Marathon Majors winners and global medallists – will be announced in the coming months.

(12/01/2022) Views: 689 ⚡AMP
by World Athletics

Sharon Lokedi's New York City Marathon won a "major" victory for Under Armour

One thing Sharon Lokedi of Kenya and her sponsor, Under Armour, have in common is they both came into the 2022 New York City Marathon as underdogs. Lokedi, a standout collegiate athlete in the NCAA at the University of Kansas, was making her marathon debut in NYC, but since turning pro in 2019, she did not have a breakthrough performance on her resume. And every major marathon since Des Linden at the Boston Marathon with Brooks in 2018 has been won by an athlete wearing either Nike, Adidas or Asics.On Sunday, the two made history together. Lokedi became only the second woman to win NYC in her marathon debut, following in the footsteps of her Kenyan compatriot Tegla Loroupe, who won in 1994. Lokedi was the first athlete to win an Abbott World Marathon Major wearing a pair of Under Armour shoes.The shoes she wore were a World Athletics-approved prototype of the new iterations of the Flow Velociti Elite—a shoe designed for 10K and half marathon distances to help you move forward with speed and efficiency.Designed as a contender to rival the top competitors in the market, the Flow Velociti Elite is for runners who need a balance of flexibility and cushioning in their racing shoes. Every stride with the Velociti Elite is amplified by a full-length carbon-fibre plate sandwiched in a soft midsole foam, which compresses and springs back for added lift and energy return, delivering an explosive lift-off.

The UA Flow Velociti Elite comes in at 212 grams and has an 8 mm offset.When Lokedi signed with Under Armour after winning the 10,000m at the 2019 NCAA Championships, they promised her top-of-the-line footwear development and innovation, to set her up for success.

“It’s an honour to be the first Under Armour athlete to win a major marathon,” said Lokedi. “I am so grateful to be a part of a brand that builds and supports their athletes to be the best they can be.”

She currently trains in Flagstaff, Ariz., under the direction of coach Stephen Haas and Pat Casey with the UA Misson Run Dark Sky Distance Project.In 2020, when the group was founded, Haas and Casey worked with Under Armour to build a team of athletes who could train with Lokedi. Although she has resided in the U.S. since 2014, she holds Kenyan citizenship and competed at Kenyan Olympic Trials in 2021 (finishing seventh in the 10,000m).

The new variation of the UA Flow Velociti Elite will hit the Canadian market with limited availability on UA.com in the spring of 2023.

(11/12/2022) Views: 737 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine

Here is everything you need to know ahead of Sunday's TCS New York City Marathon

The world’s top marathoners have assembled in NYC for the 51st running of the TCS New York City Marathon this Sunday, Nov 6. The 2022 race returns to full capacity of 50,000 runners with a stacked field of elites in the men’s, women’s and wheelchair events. Defending champion Albert Korir of Kenya returns to defend the men’s title across the five boroughs and 2022 world champion Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia headlines the women’s field. 

How to watch:

Unless you live on the west coast, the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon will be easy to stream and follow online. The professional women’s field will begin at 8:40 a.m. E.T. and the professional men’s field at 9:05 a.m. E.T. Viewers should note that Daylight Savings Time ends in the early hours of Sunday morning, so viewers need to remember to change their clocks back an hour.

Follow @CanadianRunning on Twitter for live tweets and up-to-date news on the 2022 TCS NYC Marathon. 

Women’s elite field

At only 27, Ethiopia’s Gebreslase has achieved much success in the marathon. In 2021, she won Berlin in her debut and followed it up with a podium finish at the 2022 Tokyo Marathon and world championship gold in Eugene this past July. Gebreslase put her talent on display in Eugene, showing that she can run at a fast pace and hold her own against the world’s best marathoners. She will be the likely favourite to win NYC Sunday.

Lonah Chemtai Salpeter is the fastest woman in the field, with a personal best of 2:17:45 from the 2020 Tokyo Marathon. Salpeter was close to an Olympic medal in Tokyo 2020 but hit a wall late and ended-up 66th. She finally got her hands on a bronze medal in Eugene this summer but was bested by Gebreslase in a late surge. Since worlds and European championships earlier this summer, Salpeter has taken some downtime to prepare for a bid at her second Abbott World Marathon Major title in NYC.

Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat will also be one to watch, with the 2011 and 2013 marathon world champion hoping to extend her record of four World Marathon Major wins to five (Boston 2021, 2017, New York 2010, and London 2014). Kiplagat was awarded the 2021 Boston Marathon title after her compatriot Diana Kipyokei was disqualified due to a positive doping test. 

Many fans of the sport have long awaited the marathon debut of two-time 5,000m Olympic medallist and world champion Hellen Obiri of Kenya. She has gone through a lot of transition this year, switching training groups and moving from Kenya to Boulder, Colo., after worlds to train with On Athletics Club (OAC). It will be interesting to see how the speedy 14:18 5K runner can handle the hilly NYC course, but she could be a dark horse for the win.  

Outside of the top big names, the U.S. will be well represented in NYC by former national record holder Keira D’Amato, who ran both the 2022 Berlin Marathon and World Championships only eight weeks apart, and Aliphine Tuliamuk, who won U.S. marathon Olympic Trials in 2020 and holds a personal best of 2:26:50.

Canadian Running prediction: Gotytom Gebreslase (ETH) – 2:21:42 *CR*

Men’s elite field

Kenya’s Korir has a tough job ahead of him on Sunday as he aims to defend his 2021 NYC Marathon title. In his two trips to the Big Apple, Korir has achieved a lot of success. In 2019, he finished runner-up to his compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor in 2:08:36, then followed it up with a win and 14-second course PB (2:08:22) in 2021 for his first world major win. One thing Korir has going for him is that he is consistent. In his last six of eight races, Korir has dipped under the 2:10-mark, which is a speedy time for New York’s hilly course. 

Korir will face stiff competition from his Kenyan compatriot, 2022 Boston Marathon champion Evans Chebet, who will be hoping for a second major marathon win of the year. Chebet, 33, holds the fastest time in the field of 2:03-flat from the 2020 Valencia Marathon.

Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata will be another name to look out for, having finished second in 2018. Since his 2020 win at the London Marathon, Kitata has struggled to reach the podium in his last three races. His last race came in March, where he was sixth at the 2022 Tokyo Marathon in 2:06:12 for fifth. Can Kitata bounce back in NYC?

Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands was second to Eliud Kipchoge in the marathon at the 2022 Olympics and set the Dutch national record of 2:04:56 at the Rotterdam Marathon in April. Nageeye has shown he has the experience to be there late, but it will be interesting to see how he handles the course in his debut.

The U.S. men’s field in New York is one of its best in years, with five sub-2:09 marathoners. The 2016 Olympic bronze medallist, Galen Rupp, will make his NYC debut and lead the way for the Americans with a personal best of 2:06:07. Leonard Korir (2:07:56), Scott Fauble (2:08:52), and Marty Hehir (2:08:59) are three others to keep your eye on. Fauble had a sensational run at the 2022 Boston Marathon, where he placed seventh in a personal best time of 2:08:52.

Canadian Running prediction: Evans Chebet (KEN) – 2:07:43

(11/04/2022) Views: 864 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine