Author Archives: bw_admin

38th BMW Berlin Marathon: Lidia Simon, Eri Okubo Ready for Action

Saturday, September 24, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Lidia Simon (ASICS) and Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC) are fit and peaked for tomorrow’s BMW Berlin Marathon, annually one of the world’s fastest events. A year ago, our group featured Tomo Morimoto taking 3rd, and Adriana Nelson in 6th.

As usual, race director Mark Milde has assembled a world class field, including for only the third time in world marathon history, both the men’s (Haile Gebreselassie) and women’s (Paula Radcliffe) world record holders racing in the same event.

Lidia trained all summer in Boulder for Berlin. In tomorrow’s race, she will be looking to post a fast time to put her in strong consideration for selection by the Romanian Athletics Federation for next year’s marathon team for the London Olympics. Lidia is also aiming to become the first woman in Olympic history to compete in five (!) Olympic marathons.

Eri is also in top shape, and Coach Manabu Kawagoe will have her going out at 2:28-2:29 shape, in line for a big PB. In her last marathon, Eri was 2nd in Stockholm in June.

Berlin’s weather forecast for tomorrow is for a temperature in the low to mid-50s at the start, rising to an eventual high near 70 later in the day.

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Note from David Monti/Race Results Weekly on watching the race broadcast:

These Ambien pills are taken in the evening, exactly as much as you plan to fall asleep and want to fall asleep all the following days.

PROGRAMMING NOTE – WATCH BMW BERLIN MARATHON IN THE USA ON UNIVERSAL SPORTS

Fans in the USA can watch the BMW Berlin Marathon, either on-line or on television, for no charge. The race will be carried by Universal Sports as follows:

. LIVE: On-line at UniversalSports.com, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2:45 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. (link on homepage)

. TAPE DELAY: On television on Universal Sports, Sunday, Sept. 25, 8:00 p.m.

To find the Universal Sports television channel, go to UniversalSports.com and click TV CHANNEL FINDER in red at the top of the page. On broadcast (over-the-air) television it usually a sub-channel of the local NBC affiliation. For instance, in New York City it is 4-4.

ENDS

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Patrick Rizzo on US Team for Pan Am Games

Thursday, September 22, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Patrick Rizzo (Mizuno) was officially announced this week as part of the USA team for the 2011 Pan-American Games. The Games will take place in Guadalajara, Mexico, from October 14th – 30th. Patrick will represent the United States in the men’s marathon on October 30th, starting at 8:30 a.m. local time. Click here for the USATF press release announcing the full team, and here for the full track and field timetable.

Patrick will tune-up for Guadalajara by racing the USA 10 Mile Championships in Minneapolis on October 2nd.

Click here for the link to the Guadalajara 2011 English-language website.

 

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World Marathon Majors Establishes Position on World Records within Women’s Road Running Performances

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Press Release today from the World Marathon Majors

World Marathon Majors Establishes Position on World Records within Women’s Road Running Performances

BOSTON – September 20, 2011

Background: At the 2011 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, the IAAF Congress passed a motion to change the standard by which women athletes achieve world record performances in road races. By the new criterion, only times achieved in all-women competitions would be acknowledged for world record purposes, and performances achieved in mixed conditions would now be referred to only as “world best”.

The new criterion means that Paula Radcliffe’s 2003 Marathon mark of 2:15:25 is no longer the world record but now a world best, and that her 2005 London time of 2:17:42 is the world record.

Statement from the World Marathon Majors and the Association of International Marathons: The boards of both World Marathon Majors (WMM) and Association of International Marathons (AIMS) have reviewed the recent Congress decision and believe that it does not represent what is required by the sport of road running.

They further believe that there should be two world records for women’s road running performances, separately recognising those achieved in mixed competition and women’s only conditions.

AIMS and WMM will continue to acknowledge both types of performances as world records and will discuss this matter further with the IAAF, recognising that:

a)      The vast majority of women’s road races throughout the World are held in mixed conditions.

b)      The current situation where the fastest time is not now recognised as a record is confusing and unfair and does not respect the history of our sport.

WMM and AIMS congratulate the IAAF for introducing world road records and for continuing to support road running through its labelling scheme.

Notes:

AIMS represents more than 300 races worldwide, the vast majority of them road races. WMM members are Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York. Both bodies are represented on the IAAF Road Running Commission and have leadership roles within road running.

Performances considered for records, rankings and qualifying purposes must be achieved in accordance with IAAF Competition Rules. These include rules on course measurement, decrease in elevation between the start and finish, maximum distance between the start and finish lines.  An application for a world record will only be considered if the athlete concerned undertook doping control at the event.

Media Contacts:

Boston: Jack Fleming +1 617.236.1652 ext. 2627

London: Nicola Okey +44 207.902.0182

Berlin: Thomas Steffens +49 171.933.4836

Chicago: Robin Monsky +1 312.992.6630

New York: Richard Finn +1 212.423.2229

 

 

 
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For more information please contact the Virgin London Marathon Press Office:
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Great Weather and Fast Marks Forecast for Sunday’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon

Friday, September 16, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

A few hours after Great North is wrapping up in the UK, the field will take off at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon, the premier half on Competitor Group’s circuit. We will have five athletes from five countries in the elite field Sunday morning.

Adriana Nelson (ASICS, USA) will be looking to improve on her 69:59 PB, as well as take care of the technical matter of getting her qualifying standard for January’s US Olympic Marathon Trials; because she became a US citizen in April, Adriana’s marks before that date do not count toward her qualification for the standard. Rather than run a full marathon this autumn and risk lingering fatigue in January, Adriana is instead going to qualify at a “B” standard via a sub-75:00 half-marathon mark. After a month of training at Boulder’s 5300 foot altitude since finishing 2nd at Falmouth last month, Diane Johnson (ASICS, Burundi) is in top shape to be competitive on Sunday and also slice a very large chunk off her 74:20 PB, set at Philly last year. Mizuho Nasukawa (Sakura AC/Universal, Japan), the 2009 Tokyo Marathon champion, brings in a 71:58 PB and is testing herself midway through a current training camp in Boulder. Fiona Docherty (ASICS, New Zealand) is over some summer injury woes and prepping for an autumn marathon; in her last half, she knocked about two minutes from her PB with 72:49 at the New York City Half-Marathon in March.

On the men’s side, James Mwangi Macharia (NTN, Kenya) makes a rare race appearance outside Japan, having been with Japan’s NTN corporate team throughout his professional career. James has a 60:34 PB from the 2008 Rotterdam Half-Marathon, and is also the event recordholder for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach Half-Marathon – his 60:42 there in 2005 is still the only time anybody has broken 61 minutes in the sweltering Labor Day weekend race. James’ last half was at Sapporo in July, where he took 4th in 62:52 in another hot summer race.

Temps are forecast to be in the low- to mid-50s for Philadelphia Sunday morning, pretty darn sweet for fast running. Bret Michaels will rock the finishers with a post-race concert immediately following Sunday morning’s awards ceremony.

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Bupa Great North Run on Sunday: Freya, John, Rene

Friday, September 16, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

54,000 runners take to the streets of Newcastle Sunday morning for the Bupa Great North Run, and we have have a trio of athletes set to toe the line: reigning South African women’s half-marathon champion Rene Kalmer (adidas) looks to rebound from what she considered a disappointing performance in Daegu, while Brits Freya Murray (adidas) and John Beattie (adidas) will make their debuts at the distance. Last autumn when Freya and John took their first steps up to ten miles, they came away with a pair of impressive debuts at the Great South Run: Freya rocked that course in 52:27 for 2nd place, while John Beattie took 10th on the men’s side in a solid 48:59 debut.

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Kenyon Neuman featured in new Running Times article

Friday, September 16, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Kenyon Neuman (Team Alchemy) is put through the motions by Coach Jay Johnson for Jay’s article “Give Me 15:” in the October 2011 issue of Running Times. Coach Johnson outlines five minutes of exercises runners can do before they run and ten minutes after they run to retain their athleticism and suppleness, thereby reducing their susceptibility to overuse injuries. Yeah, you can go online and grab the article for free, but be a sport and support Jonathan Beverly and company by spending $4.99 (about the same as a tall decaf and an apple fritter at Starbucks) to get the article in its original glossy splendor. (Click here if you don’t have the $4.99 or prefer your apple fritters). Better yet, subscribe to the magazine!

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Honolulu Marathon

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC), Yumi Hirata (Second Wind AC)

Yokohama Int’l Women’s Marathon

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Louise Damen, Rene Kalmer and Yoshimi Ozaki

ING New York City Marathon

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

John Beattie, Diane Nukuri Johnson

Bank of America Chicago Marathon

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 No Comments by bw_admin

Kayoko Fukushi, Atsushi Sato, Takayuki Matsumiya