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Carmen Douma-Hussar, Steve and Sara Slattery
to Celebrate the Countdown to 2008 NEW YORK - Canadian Olympian Carmen Douma-Hussar, Americans Steve and Sara Slattery and defending champions Thomas Morgan and Aziza Aliyu lead a competitive professional field that will ring in the New Year at the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run on Monday, December 31 in Central Park, it was announced by New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg. As a special companion to this year's event, more than 200 service members stationed in Al Asad, Iraq, will run their own version of the Midnight Run at the stroke of midnight - an eight-hour time difference from New York. This is the first time NYRR has staged this race outside New York. The idea came from Staff Sergeant Jacqueline Caputi of San Diego, who ran in the Midnight Run in 2000 when she lived in Brooklyn and saw it as one of the best ways to start the New Year "with new shoes and fresh soles" underneath her. A Central Park tradition since 1979, the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run is a fun, healthy way to start the New Year and an inexpensive option for New Yorkers looking to celebrate the holiday without fighting the crowds in Times Square. For the first time ever in New York, the final 10-second countdown to midnight will have an extra boom: Fireworks by Grucci will produce a special display to conclude 2007. "The Emerald Nuts Midnight Run is a quintessential New York City event open to runners from around the world looking to start the year off right," Wittenberg said. "Whether your goal is to get started, to get faster, to get fitter or just to have a lot of fun, it's the first and best running party of the year." The New York event kicks off with a dance party, light show and costume contest and parade. At the stroke of midnight, immediately following the 10-second fireworks countdown, a spectacular 17-minute Grucci fireworks show choreographed to music will accompany runners as they participate in a non-scored four-mile fun run. For runners who want to toast the New Year en route, there will be a (non-alcoholic) champagne station near mile two. Douma-Hussar found recent success on the roads of New York City with a victory in the famed Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile in September, her second title in that event. She will be tested by Aliyu, who won last year's race in 21:56. The Slatterys, the only husband-wife duo in the professional field, will also challenge for the women's and men's titles. Sara Slattery earned gold in the 10,000 meters at this summer's Pan American Games, and Steve Slattery was the 2003 USA steeplechase champion. On the men's side, Steve Slattery will face two Midnight Run veterans in Morgan, the 2007 champion, and Christian Hesch, the course record-holder (18:28, 2004). "This race continues to serve as an important kick-off for many of our top runners, and we welcome all of them," Wittenberg said. "What better way to start the Olympic year than by racing at the stroke of midnight?" New York Road Runners will offer a prize purse of $2000, including $500 apiece to the first male and female runners who cross the finish line. Emerald Nuts will also award $1200 in prizes (in the form of American Express gift cards) to the top three male and female finishers. Professional athletes scheduled to compete in the 2007 Emerald Nuts Midnight Run (in alphabetical order): Aziza Aliyu (Bronx, NY / ETH) - two-time member of Ethiopia's team at the World Cross
Country Championships; Emerald Nuts Midnight Run women's defending champion (21:56) For more information, visit: NYRR.org |
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Return to top / Return to main page Thrilling Finishes & Record-Breaking Performances Help World Marathon Majors Usher in Brand New Era World, national and course records, thrilling finishes, more than 300,000 participants and a championship race that went down to the final day highlighted the inaugural 2006-07 World Marathon Majors Series, and ushered in a brand new era of growth and excitement in the sport. After a six month break, the excitement will continue at the 2008 Flora London Marathon on April 13, followed eight days later by the 112th Boston Marathon on April 21. Here is a look back at some of the many highlights from the 2006-07 World Marathon Majors Series: Record Breakers: Thrilling Finishes Winning Streaks Growing Fields The 2006-07 season culminated the day after the 2007 ING New York City Marathon, when Robert K. Cheruiyot (KEN) and Gete Wami (ETH) were honored as the inaugural World Marathon Majors Series champions. In addition to splitting $1 million for their victories, the two athletes are well-positioned in the race for the 2007-08 WMM crowns, with Cheruiyot tied for second and Wami comfortably in first place on the leaderboard. Current 2007-08 WMM Series
Schedule The 2007-08 WMM Series will conclude at the 2008 ING New York City Marathon. The World Marathon Majors website (WorldMarathonMajors.com) has continued to develop over the past two years. The site currently features bios on the top athletes from the 2006-07 and 2007-08 WMM Series, along with complete leaderboards. Also featured: Press Release Archive, WMM Facts & Figures and Event Histories. Return to top / Return to main page Bernd Heinrich Inducted into American Ultrarunning
Association's Hall of Fame Bernd Heinrich becomes the second man, following the recently deceased Ted Corbitt, and the female trio of Sandy Kiddy, Marcy Schwam and Sue Ellen Trapp, to be selected to the American Ultrarunning Association's Hall of Fame. Heinrich, 67, has perhaps the most fascinating and colorful history of all of the members of the Hall. He didn't start out as an American. Born in 1940 to a Polish family living in western Poland, he almost immediately became assimilated by the Nazis as a German. At age 10, his family migrated to the U.S., and he eventually became a citizen. Bernd Heinrich has achieved global notoriety for his professional career as a Physiological Ecologist and Entomologist. Recently retired as a professor of Zoology at the University of Vermont, he is generally considered the world's leading authority on topics as diverse as the physiology of bumblebees and the sociology of ravens. Heinrich holds a Ph.D. in Zoology, has been both a Guggenheim Fellow and a Harvard Fellow, and has been awarded two honorary doctorates. He has published over 100 scholarly papers, over 50 professional book reviews, over 35 book chapters, over 70 articles for magazines and newspapers as diverse as Outside, Runner's World and the New York Times and has authored over 15 books on various aspects of the natural world. Some of his popular writings in recent years have explored the physiological propensity of humans toward long distance running. But none of that is why he is only the second U.S. man, behind the legendary Ted Corbitt, to enter the Ultrarunning Hall of Fame. His world-class ultra career was short, but it left a sweeping impact on the sport. Heinrich didn't get serious about competitive running until his late 30s. After winning the masters division of the Boston Marathon in 1980 just after turning 40, he decided to move up in distance and immediately achieved success, setting a U.S. Masters record 3:03:56 for 50K in his first ultra. The following year, in only his second ultra, he ran what many observers consider the race of his life, becoming an instant national legend. The preeminent road ultra in the country was the AMJA combined 50 Mile / 100K in Chicago. Barney Klecker, who had set the World 50 Mile record of 4:51:25 the previous year, was back and all eyes were on him. He won again, in 5:05:04, but now the gaze of all eyes switched to the unknown who was hot on his tail, 41-year-old Bernd Heinrich. Heinrich broke the World Masters record with a second-place 5:10:13, and then shocked everyone by deciding at the last minute to continue on for the full 100K distance. His final time of 6:38:21 established both a new World Masters Record and a new absolute Open U.S. record. The latter would stand for 14 years. Two years later, running uncontested in a small 24 hour track race in 90 degree daytime heat, Heinrich set a new U.S. record of 156 miles, 1388 yards. This one would hold up for 7 years. For the next two years, he continued his racing policy of one serious ultra per year. Next after the 24 hour came the track 100 mile, where he ran 12:27:01 for a new absolute U.S. record by almost a half hour. Though subsequently surpassed by Rae Clark on the roads, it still stands today, over 23 years later, as the U.S. track record. The last of his national marks came the following year, as he ran 7:00:12 for 100K on the track to become and first and only man to hold both the track and road versions of the same ultra distance record. That one currently remains intact as well. After less than a half-decade, Bernd Heinrich ended his competitive ultra career, focusing more on his professional one. He returned to ultras many years later, at the age of 61, to set a U.S. Masters 60-64 age group record of 6:39:55 for 50 miles. Note on AUA Hall of Fame Policy: to be considered for the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame, candidates must be either retired from serious competition for 10 years or have reached the age of 60. Return to top / Return to main page Save Our Kids: The Obesity Crisis Conference RICHMOND, Va. - The Save Our Kids: The Obesity Crisis Conference, which was sponsored by the Golden Rule Foundation, Kraft Foods and the Robins Foundation and organized by the Sports Backers on Tuesday, December 11, 2007, brought together national experts in physical education, health education, fitness and nutrition together to discuss solutions to Central Virginia's childhood obesity problem. Over 175 attendees participated in presentations by 19 speakers from across the country, including: Jordan Parks, regional outreach manager for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Washington, DC; Dr. Billy K. Cannaday Jr., Superintendent for Public Instruction for the State of Virginia; Tracy A. Fox, President, Food Nutrition & Policy, Bethesda, MD; and Ms. Beth Kirkpatrick, Director of Education, POLAR USA. The conference concluded with a call to action from the Honorable John M. O'Bannon III, Delegate of the 73rd District, Virginia House of Delegates and chairman of the Joint Subcommittee Studying Childhood Obesity in Virginia's Public Schools, that concerned citizens should push their legislators to support his efforts to craft the recommendations of his subcommittee's November 13th meeting into legislation. O'Bannon's joint subcommittee recommends the
following: In addition, many attendees were impressed with Kirkpatrick's assertion that physical education programs work best when students are encouraged to exercise according to their own level of fitness with their heart rate as the guide. According to Kirkpatrick, this strategy allows for greater individualization in exercise methods, an improved sense of accomplishment by students and a greater tendency to continue with vigorous exercise into adulthood. Edmund O. Acevedo, PhD, Professor and Chair, Human Performance, Virginia Commonwealth University, also highlighted the need for a regional coalition for physical activity and nutrition to push for community- and government-initiated lifestyle changes. The Sports Backers are leaders in the region's battle against childhood obesity through Fit For Life, a free incentive-based youth fitness program for school children. In addition, they organize many community parent-child fitness events such as the First Market Kids Mile, the James River Scramble Junior and the Richmond Times-Dispatch Kids Run. They also award $40,000 in scholarships annually to qualified high school scholar-athletes. Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director |
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