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WASHINGTON, D.C. - (October 29, 2006) - The third time was supposed to be a charm for U.S. marathoner Carl Rundell at Sunday's Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. / Arlington, Va. Instead, the end result was similar to his two previous attempts at the nation's fourth largest and world's seventh largest marathon. The former Hansons-Brooks runner and Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier experienced his own personal Groundhog Day of sorts, as Mexican Ruben Garcia again left the 38-year-old Rundell of Birmingham, Mich., at the 20 mile mark and strode to victory in 2 hours, 21 minutes, 21 seconds. |
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In winning his second marathon this year - the Miami Marathon in January (2:18:15) - Garcia, a corporal in the Mexican Navy, became only the second male to win back-to-back Marine titles, tying a similar feat by veteran U.S. marathoner Jim Hage in 1988-89. Laura Thompson of Boise, Idaho, triumphed over the women's field in a most improbable fashion. Her thoughts as she prepared for her fifth marathon were a marathon away from winning. She just wanted to finish another one of America's largest marathons and strike it from her list. A staff attorney for a federal judge, the 31-year-old Thompson turned to running in 1997 to keep fit. She ran her first marathon in Portland, Ore., in 2000, ending in 4:33:41. She followed that with New York City in 2002 (3:18:18, 141st place), Boston in 2003 (3:03:17, 51st place) and then Chicago in 2004, where she finally broke three hours - 2:58:24 - and her best finish in the 36th spot. "This race was the last on my list of big ones to do," Thompson said after crossing the line first in 3:00:23 in disbelief. Her time was the second slowest winning time in race history to Jane Killon's 3:01:34 in 1978. "I just ran. I didn't have a plan. This is a complete surprise. I'm speechless." Rundell should have been speechless, too, but he took his fate in good stride. He vowed to come back in 2008, skipping next year to compete in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City next November. "I'm not going to quit until I win this race," he stated moments after crossing the finish line and accepting a hug from his mother Hannelore. Two years ago, Rundell was in the lead with three miles left but he succumbed to the heat and four runners overtook him. Last year, he matched Garcia stride for stride until they crested the ramp onto the 14th Street Bridge at mile 20, when Garcia slowly broke away and left Rundell some nine seconds back in the race's closest finish. Garcia again hit the tape first - this time by a 3:02 margin, the sixth time a Mexican has been victorious in 31 runnings of the Marine's pride and joy distance event. Yet for more than 22 miles, it appeared that this year would be the first time a Kenyan won the only major marathon lacking a Kenyan champion in its history. With no prize money on the line, Jared Nyamboki, an affable 30-year-old elite runner from Kisii, Kenya, was focused not only on winning the race but breaking the 19-year-old event record of 2:14:01. Nyamboki, who dominated at the Army Ten Miler and the Des Moines Marathon in the past three weeks, was out alone on record pace for 11 miles before slowing into the wind. With Garcia and Rundell again running nearly stride-for-stride, they trailed Nyamboki by 2½ minutes at the halfway mark. Nyamboki still had a sizable lead at 20 miles, but a windy mile and a half later, Garcia swept right past the aching Kenyan. A mile later, Nyamboki dropped out, later explaining that a new gel he ingested on the course had greatly upset his stomach. Under sunny, but windy conditions and 40-60 degree temperatures, a race record 20,979 runners finished. 31st Marine Corps Marathon MEN WOMEN Find full results at: MarineMarathon.com |
Return to top / Return to main page Contact: Richard Finn, (212) 423-2229 | rfinn@nyrr.org Marathon World Record Holder Paula Radcliffe
Selected as 2006 Abebe Bikila Award Winner NEW YORK - (October 27, 2006) - Marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe, who has six victories in seven marathon starts and owns four of the five fastest women's marathon times in history, will receive the 2006 Abebe Bikila Award, it was announced Friday by New York Road Runners president and CEO and ING New York City Marathon race director Mary Wittenberg. Every year since 1978, New York Road Runners has given the prestigious award to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to distance running, particularly through a spirit of deep commitment to the sport. Nine-time New York City Marathon champion Grete Waitz will join Wittenberg in presenting the award to Radcliffe, the first British recipient, at the United Nations before the start of the Continental Airlines International Friendship Run on Saturday, November 4, the day before the ING New York City Marathon. The Continental Airlines International Friendship Run is a fun run through Midtown Manhattan that annually attracts a field of more than 20,000 people from around the world. "Paula is a champion in life," said Wittenberg. "From smashing records to ensuring that her athletics success benefits others through her philanthropy, Paula is someone who inspires and cares." Previous winners of the Abebe Bikila Award include Lasse Viren, Grete Waitz, Alberto Salazar, Bill Rodgers, Tegla Loroupe, Stefano Baldini and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Last year's honoree was the 2004 women's Olympic Marathon champion, Mizuki Noguchi of Japan. "It is a great honor for me to receive such an award," said Radcliffe. "The name alone represents so much for distance running and it is a huge privilege to join the list of outstanding athletes and previous winners who have done so much for our sport. I am sincerely grateful to New York Road Runners for this honor. I already have a special place in my heart for New York and this only adds to it." Radcliffe, 32, owns the women's marathon world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 25 seconds which she set at the 2003 Flora London Marathon. She has won London three times, including her marathon debut there in 2002 when she finished in 2:18:56, setting what was then a women's-only world record. In her second attempt at the 26.2-mile distance later that year, Radcliffe knocked more than 90 seconds off her London time by running 2:17:18 at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Those two races, coupled with gold medals at the European Championships and Commonwealth Games that summer, earned her the IAAF Athlete of the Year and BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in 2002. Returning to London in 2003, Radcliffe again lowered her record (by nearly two minutes), and after struggling with injuries and illness in late 2003 and early 2004, the three-time Olympian won the ING New York City Marathon 2004 in a thrilling sprint finish with Kenyan Susan Chepkemei. Radcliffe won by three seconds in the closest women's finish in New York history. She garnered her third London victory in 2005 and captured the gold medal in the marathon at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki. Raised in Bedfordshire, England, Radcliffe's early athletics success came in cross country running, where she won the 1992 World Junior title, defeating 1996 Olympic gold medalist Wang Junxia. She missed the 1994 season with injury, but returned in 1995 with a fifth place finish at the IAAF World Championships 5000 meters, a result she would duplicate at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Although she won the silver medal in the 1999 World Championships 10,000, she finished a heartbreaking fourth at that distance in both the 2000 Olympics and 2001 IAAF World Championships. Radcliffe's relative lack of a sprint finish may have hurt her on the track, but her ability to set a punishing pace was perfectly suited to road racing, and she won scores of major road races including back-to-back victories at the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships. In addition to her spectacular talent and her commitment to the sport, Radcliffe has been an outspoken critic of performance-enhancing drugs in athletics, and has made several high-profile condemnations of "dirty" athletes. Radcliffe wears a red ribbon while competing to show her support for blood testing as a means of catching drug cheats. Inspired by her own battle with asthma, Radcliffe is widely admired for her patronage of asthma charities. She is Asthma UK's team captain. She leads the sport from smashing records to negotiating her contracts pursuant to which children benefit from her athletic success. Radcliffe and husband, Gary Lough, are expecting their first child in early January. Radcliffe has not competed since December 31, 2005 when she won the San Silvestro Vallecana 10K in Madrid, Spain in a course record time of 31:16. Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian marathoner who was the first runner ever to win two Olympic Marathons (Rome, barefoot, in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964). Just five years after his second Olympic victory, Bikila was in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down until his death in 1973. He remained an outspoken advocate of the marathon and was instrumental in drawing marathon running out of obscurity and into the international limelight. Past Winners of the Abebe
Bikila Award presented by New York Road Runners Return to top / Return to main page Arizona's "Ragnar Relay Del Sol" Unique Overnight Relay to Debut in 2007 PHOENIX - (October 26, 2006) - The Ragnar Relay Series, the nation's largest series of overnight running relay races has selected the Phoenix area as the site for its newest relay named the Ragnar Relay Del Sol. Ragnar Events, LLC the company behind the Ragnar Relay Series also owns and operates the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back and the Ragnar Relay Great River. The Del Sol is a 192 mile running relay that will begin in Wickenburg and end in Scottsdale, Arizona. Runners begin the relay on Friday, March 30, 2007 and run through the night, finishing sometime the next day. According to Dan Hill, Race Director of the Ragnar Relay Del Sol, Phoenix was chosen for its unique geography and local zeal. "We like to launch these relays in areas of the country that are geographically unique and beautiful. The Wasatch Back features the Rocky Mountains, the Great River runs along the Mississippi River and the Del Sol showcases the stunning desert geography. Add to that, the fact that Arizona has a strong tradition of outdoors minded people and we believe we have a race that will quickly become the largest relay race in the country." Relay teams consist of 12 members. Each team member runs three legs, ranging between 3 and 8 miles. Because legs vary in length and difficulty, runners of various skill levels can find legs that suit them. "The Del Sol is accessible for less intense runners and yet challenging enough for the most competitive runners" says Hill. Organizers believe that this unique format of racing will quickly catch on in the area. "This race is so different from anything most runners have experienced. Running is typically a solo sport, and this race is all about the team. This dynamic adds a dimension that traditional races lack" says Tanner Bell, Race Development Director. About the Ragnar Relay Series Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director |