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and supported by grants from The New York City Marathon and USA Track & Field
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Team
USA California is Sponsored by Nike
and supported by grants from The New York City Marathon and USA Track & Field |
| Wire 90, Sept. 23, 2002 | |
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SONIA O'SULLIVAN ENDS MONTHS OF SPECULATION TO ANNOUNCE
THAT SHE WILL RUN THE NEW YORK CITY MARATHON Richard Finn/Amie Desautels, (212) 423-2229/2294 NEW YORK - (Sept. 23, 2002) - Ending months of speculation, Irish running legend and Olympic silver medalist, World Champion and multiple world record holder Sonia O'Sullivan announced today that she would be running in the New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 3rd. O'Sullivan was joined by Allan Steinfeld, New York City Marathon race director and President and CEO of the New York Road Runners, at a news conference at O'Neill's Irish Bar in midtown Manhattan. "We are delighted that Sonia has chosen New York for this important milestone in her brilliant career," Steinfeld said of the 2000 Olympic silver medalist in the 5000m (14:41.02). "The world has eagerly been waiting to see Sonia seriously take on the marathon distance for several years and now that she has made her decision we all can't wait to see her race on November 3rd." "New York was the most obvious choice because it's a great place to run," said O'Sullivan, who won her only previous marathon start two years ago in Dublin (2:35:42) after deciding to run just the day before the race. "I love that there are a lot of Irish in New York and I expect them to be cheering for me and that will give me great motivation." This has been a banner comeback year for the 32-year-old Sullivan after the birth of her second daughter Sophie late last year. Making her return to competitive racing in March, just three months after the birth of Sophie, O'Sullivan delighted the hometown fans in Dublin by finishing seventh in the World Cross Country Championships 4K (13:55) to help win a bronze medal for the Irish team. Again representing her country, O'Sullivan won silver medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m (15:14.85 and 30:47.59 respectively) at the European Championships in Munich in August. O'Sullivan has also been tearing up the roads this season. She raced to a stunning 10 mile world record at the BUPA Great South Run (51:00) in Portsmouth, England on Sept 8 (Lornah Kiplagat broke that mark yesterday (Sunday Sept 22) with a 50:54 clocking in Amsterdam). Kiplagat was previously announced for the NYC Marathon). Just a week earlier, O'Sullivan had run the second fasted road 5K in history with a 14:56 at the Flora Light Challenge in London. She also won the Tesco Italiano 5 mile race in Scotland in 25:16. In June, O'Sullivan finished third (31:22) in the 30th anniversary running of the New York Women's Mini Marathon 10K in Central Park. In 1998 at the World Cross Country Championship in Morocco, O'Sullivan scored the event's only women's double individual championship by winning the 8K race (25:39) and returning the next day to win the 4K race (12:20). O'Sullivan is the 1995 World Championships 5000m champion (14:46.47). She also holds the two-mile track world record of 9:19:56 set in June 1998. O'Sullivan will join the previously announced Kenyans Lornah Kiplagat and Susan Chepkemei and American Marla Runyan in one of strongest women's elite fields in the history of the famed five-borough race. This year the women's elite field will toe the line approximately 35 minutes before the elite men and open race, for the first time in any major marathon in the United States. Inaugurated in 1970 with 127 entrants, the New York City Marathon has grown into the world's premiere road race, featuring 30,000 participants, some 2.5 million live spectators, a leading elite field, and a guaranteed prize purse of more than $475,000. Broadcast across the nation and in 125 countries worldwide, the 26.2-mile footrace is the United States' most watched one-day sporting event. The New York City marathon takes places the first Sunday in November each year and is the premier event of New York Road Runners, the world's most comprehensive running organization. For more information visit www.nycmarathon.org
23rd Running of the Columbus Marathon Set for October
20th For more information: Sarah Irvin, (614) 299-8704 COLUMBUS, Ohio - (September 20, 2002) - More than 5,000
athletes are expected to participate in the 23rd running of the Columbus
Marathon on Sunday, October 20th - including participants in the all-new
Walking Division. The Columbus Marathon, a Running USA Founding Member, is a nationally and internationally renowned marathon and is consistently ranked as one of America's top 20 marathons by Runner's World. It has also been ranked by USA Today as one of the top 10 fall marathons. In addition to hosting the Walking Division, the Columbus Marathon also offers the Columbus Marathon Relay and the Children's Run for Fun. The Columbus Marathon Relay is open to teams of two or three and takes place within the marathon. Two-member teams will run 13.1 miles each; three-member teams will run 10.0, 3.1, and 13.1 miles respectively. The Children's Run for Fun will take place under the guidance of the Columbus Recreation and Parks and is open to youth between the ages of 3 and 13. The 2002 Columbus Marathon features the same highly rated course as last year with more than 10 neighborhood parties featuring 10 bands and more than 100,000 spectators lining the route. For more information, please visit www.columbusmarathon.com or call (614) 421-7866 (RUNN).
VIRTUAL RACE TRAINING PROGRAM CUSTOMIZED FOR MARATHON Contact: Jenna Perlstein, (323) 993-5958 CULVER CITY, Calif. - (September 20, 2002) - The Western Hemisphere Marathon and presenting sponsor iFIT.com, have debuted a new marriage of sports and technology: a series of online training programs that have been customized for this marathon's participants. Using the iFIT.com programs - online, with a CD or with an MP3 download - runners will be able to treadmill train the actual topography of the marathon course thereby reaching peak performance levels in advance of the December 1st race day. Marathon race Director and Producer Cheryl Anker designed a Los Angeles-based outdoor training program through Off 'N Running Tours, but thought that runners in other areas would also appreciate a customized training program. She approached representatives at the online heath and fitness site, iFIT.com with her idea for a virtual training program that was race specific. "iFIT.com seemed like the ideal site to develop the sort of program I had in mind; something specific to this marathon, that would have programs for runners of all fitness levels and could also provide virtual personal trainers to keep people motivated and to monitor their progress," says Anker. iFIT.com was enthusiastic about the idea and worked with Anker to develop appropriate programs for the 5K, 10K, half-marathon and full marathon events. The resulting programs control a participant's treadmill to simulate the actual topography of the chosen racecourse. Additionally, iFIT.com photographed the racecourse - every corner, every landmark - so that participants training online can see and feel the course as they train to run it. Components of the iFIT.com Western Hemisphere Marathon training program incorporate all of the essentials provided by a gym and a personal trainer. Each event can be trained for at Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced levels, all under the guidance of virtual personal trainer, "Pete." Novice runner Sharon Gross says, "I like the discipline Pete imposes. I like that he reminds you to breathe, drink water, and maintain good posture, and that he tells you what's coming up next. I've never worked with a trainer before - real or virtual - and working out with Pete is fun and has given me the confidence to take my exercising to a new level." Users of the program prototype span a fitness range from novice to experienced to physically challenged athletes. iFIT.com monitors the training of program participants and charts the statistics of distance, speed and time, communicating with trainees by weekly email progress reports. Marathon runner Per Anell notes that his treadmill workouts are more strenuous than his street training workouts of equal length. "I think it feels harder on the treadmill because you maintain a more constant speed. When I'm running on my own, I tend to vary my pace a little bit. Also," says Anell, with this program, "you've always got a coach so you're being pushed just enough." Trainee Martha Singer sees different benefits to the iFIT.com program. For her it has rehabilitative qualities for which she plans to explore further applications upon completing the race training program. As a lifetime sufferer of lupus, fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, Singer relies on exercise to curb the pain and stiffness in her joints. The flexibility of the programs and ease with which they can be modified to the user's individual needs, provides Singer with an ideal workout program, the treadmill cushions the impact of her stride and enables her to work on stamina. Singer comments, "Because of my health problems, any exercise that jars me doesn't work... When I workout on the treadmill, there's no smacking impact; I love it. I feel exhilarated in a way that I haven't before and I feel as though I'm getting stronger and progressing. It's a great complimentary tool for other exercise as well." Website designer and producer, Dick Sandhaus is enthusiastic about the results to date, and far-sighted about the potential applications for customized race training programs. His vision for the program - the prototype for this format - was to take it "to really specific populations; people who are runners and people who are interested specifically in participating in race events. "These groups he recognized as having a different set of very demanding needs, as contrasted to the average iFIT.com subscriber. These groups "need to be able to train very effectively to target paces, and have the very specific goal of improving their times in those races," Sandhaus explains. A runner himself, Sandhaus knows his audience and is aware that not all runners have treadmills or are necessarily receptive to training on one. iFIT.com has made accommodations for this. "In addition to all of these programs that automatically run our treadmills, we have another version called, 'iFIT Outside.' We are offering CD and MP3 download versions of the very same workouts [as the treadmill programs] for people who run outside, listening to a headset," says Sandhaus. Users of the "iFIT Outside" series, may not have the precision and accuracy that the treadmill provides, they still have virtual running coach, Pete, out there with them. IFIT.com will provide Nordic Track "FlexDeck" treadmills as prizes for the winners of the 55th Annual Western Hemisphere Marathon's 5K, half-marathon and full marathon events. The Western Hemisphere Marathon training program can be accessed at www.iFIT.com. The treadmill training program is compatible with NordicTrack, Healthrider, Proform, Reebok and Weslo treadmills. Information on the Western Hemisphere Marathon or Off 'N Running Tours training programs can be obtained by contacting Cheryl Anker at 1129 Cardiff Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90035, phone (310) 246-1418 or visit, www.whmarathon.active.com |
| Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Services USATF Road Running Information Center 5522 Camino Cerralvo Santa Barbara, CA 93111 (805) 696-6232, fax (805) 696-6252 |