Event Operator 

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. OTTAWA (23-May) -- Mercy Chelangat, the 2022 NCAA 10,000m champion for the University of Alabama, is finally ready to step up to the marathon.  The 27 year-old Kenyan, part of the Hoka Northern Arizona Elite team in Flagstaff, Ariz., will run the 42.195-kilometer distance for the first time here on Sunday at the 51st Tartan Ottawa International Marathon, and she's excited that she chose the Canadian capital to make her marathon debut. "We had like a couple of options, and we liked this one because it's closer; I didn't have to travel really far," she told Race Results Weekly in an interview this morning.  She continued: "I don't really like a lot of pressure, so I really didn't want to put myself in a (World Marathon) Major and have that kind of pressure put on me.  So, we just decided to do this one." Still, Chelangat will be running with some fast women, including Kenyans Visiline Jepkesho (2:21:37 personal best) and Philes Ongori (2:23:32), and Ethiopians Meseret Gebre (2:23:11) and Bontu Bekele Gada (2:23:39).  She said that she has a simple race plan. "Just try to hang if my legs will allow me," Chelangat said with a laugh.  "I will try to hang as much as possible because we have some pacers who are going to help us, so I'm just hoping to hang with them as much as I can." To get ready for Sunday's race, Chelangat returned to her native Kenya in February and March and began to lay down her base.  Before this training block, she had never run 100 miles a week.  But, after informally joining-up with some training groups in Kenya that kind of mileage became the norm, according to her coach Jack Mullaney. "Right after the Houston Half in January she went back home to Kenya," Mullaney said in an interview.  "For about six weeks she started hopping in with a few marathon groups over there.  I think she really understood what it meant to be a marathoner when she did that.  She was over there training and I happened to text her and I said, 'Mercy, that was a hundred-mile week this week.'  She goes, 'Oh, it was?'" Mullaney explained that except for her long run and rest days, she was basically doubling 10K every day. "Seeing the level of what it takes to be an elite marathoner was really pivotal for her to take that next step in training," Mullaney said.  She's now put in eight 100-mile weeks in the lead-up to this before she started tapering." After returning from Kenya, Chelangat did one race as a fitness test.  Still deep into her marathon miles, she ran a solo 1:10:32 at the OneAmerica Mini-Marathon, a half-marathon in Indianapolis on May 3.  She ran the first eight miles conservatively, then cut down to a 5:10 per mile pace by the finish.  She clocked 1:10:32 and felt very comfortable. But, all of the accumulated miles had left her fatigued and needing a lot more food. "Really tired," she said when asked how her body had responded to marathon training.  She continued: "I'm really hungry in the mornings now; I eat a really good breakfast. I make sure I'm eating through the day, for sure." Chelangat and Mullaney are clearly on the same page as far as the goal pace for Sunday.  Both said that 5 minutes and 30 seconds per mile (or a little faster) through 30-K would be great.  That should give her enough remaining energy to drop down a little for the last 12 kilometers and shoot for a 2:23 finish.  The women's course record here is 2:22:17 by Gelete Burka of Ethiopia in 2018. "She can really turn her brain off for the first half to 30-K of this thing and just tuck in behind the pacers," Mullaney said.  He continued: "We feel like 5:25 to 5:30 (pace) is a pretty good range for her on Sunday." But like every first-time marathoner, Chelangat sees getting to the finish line as her primary goal. "Finishing is going to be a success for me, because this is a new distance for sure," said Chelangat.  "So, I don't know how my body and my legs will respond.  Now I've done my part of training, I've done everything I could, but we don't know.  Getting to the finish line will be success for me, for sure." PHOTO: Mercy Chelangat of Hoka NAZ Elite at the pre-race press conference for the Tartan Ottawa International Marathon (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)  

On the heels of a wildly successful 2025 Flying Pig Marathon weekend, we talked with Doug Olberding, President and CEO of Pig Works, about what’s next for one of the country’s most beloved running events. A longtime board member and passionate supporter of the Flying Pig, Doug stepped into the CEO role in 2024 after more than 25 years teaching sports studies at Xavier University. He’s not just an academic—he’s also a runner who’s completed seven marathons and helped develop the economic impact report that showcases the event’s value to the Cincinnati region. In this conversation, Doug shares his vision for the future of Pig Works, how the team builds on tradition while embracing innovation, and why community is at the heart of everything they do.

(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Published with permission. (16-May) -- A woman running a 2:38:49 marathon.  A man running a 14:06 5K.  A woman running a 34:34 10K.  A man running a 1:04:14 half-marathon. What did all of those 2024 road running performances have in common?  They all generated a $1000 prize money payment, just four of a total of 235 one thousand dollar (or one thousand euro) payments recorded by Race Results Weekly (RRW) last year.  RRW sifted through the results of thousands of road races to determine what it took to make $1000 in prize money. Not surprisingly, the range of those performances was very broad, from truly world-class marks to times more typically associated with recreational runners. For instance, in the marathon --where RRW flagged 90 one thousand dollar payments (45 to men and 45 to women)-- the average time to earn $1000 was 2:39:10 for women and 2:16:37 for men.  The average finish place for $1000 payments was 5.4 for women and 5.5 for men.  The range of times to earn $1000 was huge, from 2:23:52 to 3:10:24 for women, and 2:07:09 to 2:30:50 for men. At the top end of the performance scale, Kenya's Linet Masai finished seventh at the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon last October in 2:23:52 and earned €1000 (equaling $1080 at the time).  On the men's side, Italy's Eyob Faniel finished seventh at the Zürich Maratón de Sevilla in 2:07:09, also earning €1000.  For comparison, running the same times at the TCS New York City Marathon a week later, both Masai and Faniel would have earned $100,000 and been the race winners (theoretically, at least). At the other end of the scale, American Meredith Steely ran 3:10:24 (2nd place) at the high-altitude Boulderthon Presented by Puma in Colorado and earned $1000, the slowest marathon mark in the RRW list.  At the same race Esteban Trujillo finished second on the men's side and clocked 2:30:50.  His performance was also good for $1000. Looking across the most popular distances, these were the fastest and slowest performances to earn $1000 (or €1000): Fastest marks to earn $1000:                     Men        Women Mile             3:51.9     4:20.4 5K                13:44      15:25 10K               27:29      30:38 Half-Marathon   59:21    1:07:08 Marathon      2:07:09    2:23:52   Slowest marks to earn $1000:                     Men        Women Mile             4:09.1     4:44.5 5K                14:10      16:47 10K               30:23      36:38 Half-Marathon 1:08:21    1:18:35 Marathon      2:30:50    3:10:24 Comparing results over a range of distances and events highlighted the diversity of the global road running scene.  Some races use pacemakers and are speed-oriented, while others are held championship-style with no pacers.  Some events have flat courses at sea level, while others are contested on hilly courses at altitude.  Some events pay larger appearance fees in relation to their prize money, while others pay no appearance fees and only offer prize money.  Some races have travel budgets which allow top athletes to participate no matter where they live, while others have no travel budget and can only support athletes who live near the race. In addition many organizers offer special prize money for home-country athletes, and this is especially true in the United States.  For instance, Race Results Weekly only credited Henry Wynne for the $1000 he earned for eighth place at the Asics Falmouth Road Race last August.  However, he also earned an additional $2000 for being the second American. A complete list of all of the payments is here (file sorted chronologically, from January to December): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TVlun8M7xh4ysw3GLstGNTRsTAPOGoK7sYy-uRGkiuw/edit?usp=sharing PHOTO: Erika Kemp finishing fifth in 15:25 at the 2024 Boston 5-K presented Point32Health where she earned $1000 in prize money (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

Running USA’s Virtual Roundtables resumed the important conversations sparked during the 2025 Industry Conference and will now continue on a quarterly basis. These sessions provide a valuable forum for professionals across the running industry to reconnect, exchange ideas, ask questions, and seek advice from peers within their specific sectors. By extending the dialogue beyond the annual conference, the roundtables help foster collaboration, innovation, and shared problem-solving throughout the year.

Running USA’s Virtual Roundtables resumed the important conversations sparked during the 2025 Industry Conference and will now continue on a quarterly basis. These sessions provide a valuable forum for professionals across the running industry to reconnect, exchange ideas, ask questions, and seek advice from peers within their specific sectors. By extending the dialogue beyond the annual conference, the roundtables help foster collaboration, innovation, and shared problem-solving throughout the year.