Contact: Ryan Lamppa, (805) 696-6232; ryan@runningusa.org

RRIC Annual Marathon Report 2006
Record number of U.S. marathons with 1,000 finishers or more; ING New York City largest ever; record 5 marathons with over 30,000 finishers

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - (May 20, 2007) - As the 2007 spring marathon season winds down marked by the trend-setting 10th Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego on June 3, Running USA's Road Running Information Center presents its annual marathon report and overview, and 2006 was another record setting and noteworthy year - with a few surprises - for the 26.2 mile distance in the United States and world-wide as the following tables, summaries and lists attest.

2006 Marathon Snapshot
In the U.S., there was a 2.2% increase in finishers for the same 302 marathons for 2005 and 2006, while outside the United States, the same 156 marathons in both years showed a slight decline of 0.8%.

Year Estimated U.S. Marathon Finisher Total
1976 25,000
1980 143,000
1990 224,000
1995 293,000
2000 353,000
2003 365,000
2004 386,000
2005 395,000
2006 410,000
Note: the above finisher estimates reflect an adjustment from previous RRIC estimates because the marathon universe (i.e., the number of marathons with full results) is more complete.

To answer the demand for the 26.2 mile challenge, new marathons continue to be launched across the country, and over the past 5 years, the U.S. has averaged over 20 inaugural marathons a year. In 2006, there were three inaugural marathons - Denver, Tulsa World Route 66 and OBX - with more than 1,000 finishers with OBX in North Carolina leading the way with 1,519 finishers.

Marathon Growth Fuels New Records
Last year in the U.S., a record 61 marathons had at least 1,000 finishers. The previous record was 58 U.S. marathons in 2004 and 2005 (tie). Thirty years ago, during the First Running Boom, there were only 12 U.S. marathons with 1,000 finishers or more.

In addition, 2006 set a record as the largest 100 U.S. marathons produced 360,597 finishers or a 3,606 average per marathon (the old top 100 record was 350,258 finishers / 3,503 average in 2005). Fifteen years ago, the top 100 marathons in the U.S. had 215,551 finishers, a 2,156 average size. In other words, the top 100 largest U.S. marathons in 2006 were 67% larger on average than in 1992.

More fast times, more slow times
The upcoming 10th edition of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon is an example of how walkers and charity fundraisers have helped marathons grow. Groups such as Team in Training have produced many slower finishers - in fact 2,857 participants (18% of the field) took more than 6 hours to complete the course. Of that slower, mostly walking group, 76% were women. Another event known for slower participants is Honolulu which had 10,428 over 6 hour finishers (42% of the field). But the event with second largest group of over 6 finishers (8,499) is LaSalle Bank Chicago which is also known for its fast fields. Nationwide the number of runner/walkers finishing a 2006 marathon in over 6 hours was approximately 11% of the total and of those, 63% were women.

While more relaxed participants are bringing up the rear, the number of marathoners running better than 4 hours has also increased. As Table 2 illustrates, the number of sub-4 hour finishers has more than doubled at the Boston and Chicago marathons in the last decade. Overall, about 30% of 2006 marathoners finished in less than 4 hours. Of those, 76% were male. The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon and ING New York City Marathon lead the way for finishers under 3 hours with 982 and 889 respectively. Chicago also had the most top 10 finishers in 2006 (5 men and 5 women).

Record five marathons with over 30,000 finishers in 2006
The ING New York City Marathon again retained the title as the world's largest marathon based on its 37,866 finishers in 2006 - that total also broke its record as the world's largest ever (36,856 finishers in 2005). For the first time ever, five marathons - ING New York City, LaSalle Bank Chicago, Flora London, Paris and real,- Berlin - surpassed the 30,000 finisher total and eight marathons - the five above, Honolulu, Marine Corps and City of Los Angeles - recorded over 20,000 finishers. The U.S. again had 7 of the 15 largest marathons in the world. For the largest marathons last year, see the below.

2006
World's Largest Marathons (based on finishers):
1) ING New York City, NY 37,866 (largest ever)
2) LaSalle Bank Chicago, IL 33,635
3) Flora London, GBR 33,237
4) Paris, FRA 30,739
5) real,- Berlin, GER 30,118
6) Honolulu, HI 24,573
7) Marine Corps, DC 20,910
8) City of Los Angeles, CA 20,333
9) Boston, MA 19,682
10) Conenergy Hamburg, GER 16,375
11) Rock 'n' Roll, CA 15,759
12) Naha, JPN 15,108
13) Chosun Ilbo Chunchon, KOR 12,745
14) Stockholm, SWE 12,943
15) Ford Cologne, GER 10,434

U.S. Largest Marathons (based on finishers):
1) ING New York City, NY 37,866 (largest ever)
2) LaSalle Bank Chicago, IL 33,635
3) Honolulu, HI 24,573
4) Marine Corps, DC 20,910
5) City of Los Angeles, CA 20,333
6) Boston, MA 19,682
7) Rock 'n' Roll, CA 15,759
8) Walt Disney World, FL 10,148
9) Medtronic Twin Cities, MN 8,196
10) Portland, OR 7,724
11) P.F. Chang's RnR Arizona 7,436
12) Grandma's, MN 6,912
13) Philadelphia, PA 6,198
14) New Las Vegas Marathon, NV 6,016
15) Freescale Austin, TX 5,646
16) Chevron Houston, TX 5,414
17) St. George, UT 4,762
18) Nike Women's, CA 4,212
19) Cincinnati Flying Pig, OH 4,179
20) San Francisco, CA 4,086

Source: Running USA - RunningUSA.org

Return to top / Return to main page

Ritzenhein Wins Healthy Kidney 10K and $20,000 Central Park Record Bonus
By Jeff Watson, Running USA wire

NEW YORK - (May 19, 2007) - With a grimace of exertion that quickly flipped into a full-fledged smiled, American Dathan Ritzenhein took a deep breath, pumped both fists in the air and broke the finishing tape on Saturday at the 3rd Healthy Kidney 10K as the fastest man to ever run 10K or 6.2 miles in New York City's Central Park.

In his first race in over three months, the 24-year-old Ritzenhein used an unrelenting opening pace and two downhill surges in the final miles to snag a new Central Park course record of 28 minutes, 8 seconds and perhaps more impressively score a 17-second upset victory over pre-race favorite and two-time defending champion Craig Mottram of Australia.

"I'm just thrilled," Ritzenhein said. "For me to get back on track like this is so important to jump-start my season."

Ritzenhein's winning time eclipsed the old Central Park 10K record of 28:10 set by Kenyan Paul Koech in 1997 and produced a $20,000 record bonus for Ritzenhein who donated his $7500 first place prize to the National Kidney Foundation.

"I really wasn't paying too much attention to the clock out there because the record really wasn't that important for me today," said the 2004 Olympian. "But it is now because that is a pretty nice chunk of change."

After dominating the previous two editions of the Healthy Kidney 10K with winning margins of 23 seconds in 2005 and 24 seconds in 2006, the six-foot-two Mottram, 26, towered over the field in both stature and pre-race hype.

The loss to Ritzenhein left him visibly frustrated.

"It was a solid effort, but I'm disappointed," Mottram said. "I've had a solid run over the past few years, and I have improved every time I have gone out and raced, but this year has been a bit harder. I've got a lot of expectations and a good whooping now and again is hopefully going to help."

Saturday's victory over Mottram was likely one of the biggest in Ritzenhein's career in which he rose to national prominence after winning the Foot Locker National High School Cross Country Championships in both 1999 and 2000.

Since that time, Ritzenhein has won an NCAA cross country title, set the U.S. collegiate 10,000 meter record and represented the United States at the Athens Olympic Games, but has also been hampered by several injuries including a mild one suffered after the USA Cross Country Championships this past February.

Since sustaining his most recent injury, Ritzenhein has moved to Eugene, Ore. from his long-time base of Boulder, Colo. and spent up to 130 miles a week on a special underwater treadmill through much of the late winter and early spring as he recuperated.

He is now confident that he has learned his limits and that the significant base he built up in training for the ING New York City Marathon this past fall will help him prove that he belongs in the lead group of U.S. professional runners.

"I don't think I ever left," Ritzenhein said. "Maybe I didn't fulfill people's expectations, perhaps expectations I didn't necessarily want, but you have to come to terms with it. I have had a lot of difficult times, but I have bounced back from disappointment a lot. It's fuel for me."

Ritzenhein's record-setting run began under cool conditions and partly cloudy skies as a field of 20 pro runners assembled by the New York Road Runner's Club and 5,400 plus runners set off for a clockwise loop around Central Park.

Mottram took control of the race early on, surging in the first quarter mile and towing Ritzenhein and Kenyan Richard Kiplagat to a 4-meter gap over the rest of the field by the half-mile mark. Once content that he had a race on his hands, Mottram then settled back down on the pace and the majority of the pack regrouped to come through the opening mile in 4:37.

The pack hit the second mile in 4:36 and third mile in 4:30 as they rolled through the hills at the northern portion of the park.

By the race's halfway mark, Ritz and Mottram were running shoulder-to-shoulder in front of a tightly grouped pack of five runners that also included Kiplagat and Ethiopians Demesse Tefera and Chala Lemi.

As they reached the northeast corner of the park and started their journey south toward the finish line, Ritzenhein began to exert his authority and ratcheted up the pace on a long gradual uphill. This move strung the field into a single file and Tefera, Lemi and Kiplagat soon fell off the pace to finish third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Together at the front through a fourth mile of 4:38, the stage was set for a duel between Mottram and Ritzenhein over the course's final miles.

In what many suspected was a move to break the favored Aussie's kick, the Michigan native struck first using a long downhill to open up his stride and build a lead of five seconds at the 4.5 mile mark.

Refusing to give up his title that easily, Mottram hung tough and used the subsequent uphill on the course to catch back up to Ritz and the pair crossed the five-mile point together with a quick 4:20.

After allowing Mottram to stick with him for a few meters, Ritz struck a knockout blow surging on another downhill and building another five-second lead on Mottram who was showing the first signs of stress in the whole race.

"The strange thing is that you have got to concentrate the whole time," Mottram said. "I had a lapse in a little bit of concentration, and just before five miles, I got annoyed at myself and probably worked a little too hard up that hill to get back on. I got back on, but I had used everything I had to get there, and that was it. I was done."

With Mottram broken, Ritzenhein began his race against the clock and the course record.

"Once I got down to the flat I saw the clock at six miles and I thought I could really hammer home right now," Ritzenhein recounted. "I knew I had it then, I just felt amazing."

3rd Healthy Kidney 10K
New York, NY, Saturday, May 19, 2007

1) Dathan Ritzenhein (USA / OR), 28:08*, $27,500
2) Craig Mottram (AUS), 28:25, $5000
3) Demesse Tefera (ETH), 28:31, $3000
4) Chala Lemi (ETH), 28:38, $2000
5) Richard Kiplagat (KEN), 28:41, $1000
6) Matt Gonzales (USA / NM), 28:50, $750
7) Martin Fagan (IRL), 28:54, $500
8) Andrew Letherby (AUS), 29:16, $250
9) Michael Aish (NZL), 29:23
10) Patrick Gildea (USA / TN), 29:29
*Central Park record (previous record 28:10, Paul Koech (KEN), 1997)

Complete results and race photos at: NYRR.org

Return to top / Return to main page

Team USA Set for BolderBOULDER International Team Challenge
U.S. women and Sara Slattery to defend titles; Culpepper leads the U.S. men

BOULDER, Colo. - (May 20, 2007) - Team USA has had great recent success at the BolderBOULDER International Team Challenge as the U.S. women have won four of the last five team titles as well as five of the past six individual crowns, while the U.S. men took home the 2004 title, and this year, another strong Team USA contingent has been put together to compete against some of the world's best road runners and teams. Four of the six 2007 Team USA members are local residents, and all six are altitude trained for the May 28th Memorial Day annual 10K event. Below is the 2007 BolderBOULDER Team USA:

U.S. MEN
Alan Culpepper, 34, Lafayette, CO - the 1995 graduate of the University of Colorado won his most recent (and perhaps most satisfying) national title at the USA Cross Country Championships in Boulder last February. In 2006, the two-time Olympian was 5th at the Boston Marathon and in 2004, the Olympic Marathon Trials champion. At the BolderBOULDER, Culpepper has run well and in 2004, the 2002 race runner-up was a member of the first winning U.S. men's team at the International Team Challenge; 10K track PR = 27:33.93 (2001).

Edwardo Torres, 26, Boulder, CO - like Culpepper, he is a graduate of the University of Colorado. In 2001, Torres helped his school win its first NCAA Cross Country Championship and was an All-American at 10,000 meters in 2002. Torres has run 28:28 for 10,000 meters twice this April and finished 10th overall at the USA XC Championships held in Boulder last February.

James Carney, 27, Boulder, CO - the Penn State grad recently moved to Boulder from California, and on April 29, the 2004 Olympic Trials track qualifier set a 10,000 meter personal record of 27:43.64 at the Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, California.

U.S. WOMEN
Sara Slattery, 25, Boulder, CO - the surprise winner of the 2006 BolderBOULDER returns to defend her crown as well as the team title. The University of Colorado graduate won the 2005 NCAA 10,000m title; 10K track PR = 31:57.94 (2006).

Elva Dryer, 35, Albuquerque, NM - the two-time Olympian has been part of three winning U.S. teams at BolderBOULDER including last year, and the four-time USA road champion - including the 2007 U.S. half-marathon titlist - won the 2005 race; 10K track PR = 31:21.92 (2005).

Kate O'Neill, 27, Mammoth Lakes, CA - the Yale graduate was a 2004 Olympian at 10,000 meters and is near top racing form after returning from post-2004 injury. O'Neill is a member of Team Running USA which includes three-time BolderBOULDER champion Deena Kastor; 10K track PR = 31:34.37 (2004).

At the 2007 BolderBOULDER International Team Challenge, there are 19 teams representing 12 countries. On the men's side, the nine teams include: USA, Team Colorado, British Commonwealth Composite Team (Australia, New Zealand and Tanzania), Ecuador, Ethiopia, England, Kenya, Mexico and Morocco, while the women's 10 teams include: USA, Team Colorado, Japan, England, Ethiopia, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Morocco and Romania.

The International Team Challenge runs after the Memorial Day Tribute on Monday, May 28. Team introductions in Folsom Field on the University of Colorado campus precede the professional races. The women's race starts at 11:30am and the men's race starts at 12:20pm.

Teams compete on a 10K 5-lap criterium course along Folsom Street with one lap through Folsom Field. Spectators can watch both races along Folsom Street or from inside the stadium on the BuffVision big screen TV. The BolderBOULDER is also telecast live on the Denver CBS affiliate, KCNC-TV Channel 4 from 9:00am-1:00pm on race day. The post-race press conference will be at 1:30pm at Folsom Field, Club Level.

The International Team Challenge, started in 1998, is the largest international road racing team competition held annually in the United States. International teams are made up of three runners per gender. The teams compete for one of the largest non-marathon prize purses in the world. Monies are awarded in both team and individual categories. Teams are scored cross-country style with points awarded on the basis of finishing place. The team with the lowest score for all three runners is the winner. Ties are broken by the position of the third-place finishers.

The BolderBOULDER 10K is the 2nd largest road race in the USA and the 5th largest in the world. The race, a Running USA Founding Member, attracts up to 50,000 runners, walkers and wheelchair racers, and draws professional racing teams from all over the world. More than 150,000 spectators watch the festivities from inside the stadium and along the course. The 29th BolderBOULDER will be held on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28. For more information, visit: BolderBOULDER.com or call (303) 444-7223.

Return to top / Return to main page

McNeil, Colita Win Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon
Purple Heart Iraq vet takes second in men's marathon; over 9,000 participate in three races at 30th edition
Race report from Leigh Greenfelder

CLEVELAND - (May 20, 2007) - Participation in the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon surged by more than 15 percent for its 30th edition on Sunday, with Northeast Ohio runners among the top finishers in nearly every race category.

In the marathon, it was a neck-and-neck competition for nearly 13 miles with Brian McNeil of Charlotte, N.C. pulling ahead of runner-up, Gerado Avilla of Flushing, Mich. around mile 23. McNeil, 23, completed the 26.2 mile course, which has been recognized by Running USA as one of the fastest marathons in the country based on median times, with a time of 2 hours, 31 minutes, 6 seconds. Avilla, 32, a Purple Heart recipient and active duty soldier stationed in New York, who was injured in 2004 in Iraq, ran 2:32:19. Gregory Byrnes, 23, of Pittsburgh was third in 2:36:07.

The top three women in the marathon each set a personal record. Claudia Colita, 29, from Romania won the women's race in 2:48:41, while Laura Brosius, 22, of Saline, Mich. finished second (3:03:43) and Stow, Ohio native Cindy Kasper, 33, was third this year, one place higher than her 2006 finish, in 3:05:05.

The increasingly popular half-marathon, in its third year at the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon, was dominated by Ohio runners. The top six male and top four female finishers were all Ohio residents. Derrick Butler, 26, of Cincinnati set a course record in 1:07:54. Fred Keiser, 36, of Cleveland who was the 2005 marathon winner, claimed second in the 13.1 mile race with his 1:09:18 and Ryan Hochstetler, 25, of Wooster, finished third (1:10:23).

Anjanette Arabian, 33, of Rocky River, was the unchallenged women's half-marathon champion at 1:21:58. Eva Miller, 27, of Hudson, was second in 1:25:07 and third place was claimed by Tracy Meder, 27, from Stow, with a 1:26:44.

Official results for the 10K race were not available at press time because an undetermined number of runners ran off the official course. Race officials will attempt to determine the number of runners who ran off course and plan to extend prize money to top finishers affected by the error.

As of Sunday morning, 9,077 participants were registered to run, walk or wheel in one of the three races that were part of the 30th Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon.

30th Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon
Cleveland, OH, Sunday, May 20, 2007

MEN
1) Brian McNeil (NC), 2:31:06, $1000
2) Gerado Avilla (MI), 2:32:19, $500
3) Gregory Byrnes (PA), 2:36:07, $300
4) Ray Appenheimer (OH), 2:36:54, $200
5) Jeff Snider (OH), 2:37:56, $100

WOMEN
1) Claudia Colita (ROM), 2:48:41, $1000
2) Laura Brosius (MI), 3:03:43, $500
3) Cindy Kasper (OH), 3:05:05, $300
4) Anna McClaugherty (OH), 3:06:57, $200
5) Tricia Brau (OH), 3:08:58, $100

Race results at: ClevelandMarathon.com

Ryan Lamppa, Running USA Media Director
(805) 696-6232
Ryan@RunningUSA.org | www.RunningUSA.org