MARATHON NEWS

BOSTON (USA):
When Florence Kiplagat and Moses Mosop make their marathon debut in
Boston next Monday at the
115th edition of the oldest marathon, they will not be the first
husband-and-wife pair to compete in the same 42-kilometer race. But they
will
be the highest rated couple to have lined up for the annual race. For
the
double world champion (CC and HM) Kiplagat this will be her marathon
debut.
Mosop has also two world medals (CC and track) and is going to debut
too.
Defending champion Teyba Erkesso of Ethiopia
returns, as does last year’s runner-up, Tatyana Pushkareva of Russia.
Dire
Tune of Ethiopia, the 2008 winner and 2009 runner-up, will again be on
the
starting line. American Kara Goucher, the third-place finisher in 2009,
hopes
to move up the podium steps. “Queen Catherine” Ndereba, of Kenya, the
only woman to win Boston four times, will make the trek from
Hopkinton to Boylston Street
for the seventh spring. Kim Smith offers another compelling New
England angle. A New Zealand Olympian, Smith competed collegiate
for Providence College
and still trains in nearby Rhode
Island under coach Ray Treacy. In February, the
29-year-old won the Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon in a breakout
personal best of 1:07:36, the fastest half marathon ever run on U.S.
soil.
Ndereba leads the field with a PB of 2:18:47, set in 2001, but the speed
behind
her is formidable as five of the world’s 10 fastest marathoners of 2010
will be
chasing the olive wreath: Cherop (2:22:43), Tsegaye (2:22:44), Mohammed
(2:23:06), Caroline Kilel (2:23:25) and Tune (2:23:44). Altogether,
eight women
have personal bests under 2:24. Reigning champion Robert Kiprono
Cheruiyot
leads the male field. Geoffrey Mutai leads the line-up as the second
fastest
man in the world last year with a 2:04:55 best. Joining him are 2:06 men
including top American Ryan Hall, Gilbert Yegon, Tadese Tola, and Evans
Cheruiyot. The event will bring $132.2 million in spending impact to the
Greater Boston region, according to Greater Boston Convention &
Visitor
Bureau President and CEO, Patrick Moscaritolo. This year there will be
26,923
official runners including 4,307 runners from outside the United States.
An estimated 500,000 spectators line the 26.2-mile course each Patriots’
Day to
view the Marathon in person. Boston marathon website informs.

LONDON (GBR): Two-time Virgin London marathon
champion Irina Mikitenko is aiming to score a third success in London on Sunday.
Mikitenko scored her first victory in 2008 and retained her title in 2009. But
she is facing a very strong line-up which includes last year’s winner Liliya
Shobukhova, who last year became the first Russian winner and then went on to
win the Chicago marathon and the Marathon Majors series overall ranking. Also
on the starting line on Sunday is 2007 winner Zhou Chunxia from China, last year’s runner-up Inga Abitova from Russia and
strong Kenyan athletes Edna Kiplagat, who won last year’s New York City
Marathon and world half marathon record holder Mary Keitany. In the build up to
Sunday’s marathon Russian title defender Liliya Shobukhova revealed she
believes Paula Radcliffe is in with a chance of winning the Olympic title on
home ground next year and added the 37 year old Radcliffe is not to be
underestimated. With her eyes fixed on competing in the London Olympic Games
Shobukhova already confirmed she will not run the London Marathon in 2012.
Letsrun.com writes that in the men race are seven sub-2:06 runners, including
two sub-2:05s. That’s incredibly impressive considering only 24 men in history
have gone sub 2:06. Defending champion Tsegaye Kebede is the favorite. Others
to be considered are Kenyan Patrick Makau ranked number one in the world last
year. The 2nd fastest Kenyan in the history James Kwambai is also in, former
world champion Jaouad Gharib, reigning world champion Abel Kirui, world silver
medalist Emmanuel Mutai, European champion Viktor Rothlin, former NYC Marathon
winner Marilson dos Santos. Interesting entry comes from Martin Lel who last
time finished a marathon at Olympic Games in Beijing. Three US runners will debut in London, mainly
Moroccan-born US HM champion Mo Trafeh. Ethiopian Bazu Worku is out due to food
poisoning.

PADOVA (ITA): The 12th edition of
the Maratona Sant’Antonio in Padua will feature the
return of Ben Chebet who won this marathon in 2009 in 2:09:42, which
stands as the course record and the only time under 2:10 in the history
of the
Padua Marathon. The weather forecast is expected to be ideal for
marathon
running with overcast sky and temperature around 14°C. Chebet also won
five
marathons in his career: Innsbruck 2005, Trieste 2006 Carpi 2008,
Thessaloniki
2008 and Florence 2009. Chebet will take on Italian Denis Curzi, who
took part
in the European Championships in Barcelona,
Aredo Tadese from Ethiopia,
winner at the 2010 Florence Marathon in his debut over the distance and
Kenyan
Peter Some Kimeli, winner at the 2010 Rome Ostia Half Marathon in his
first
ever race outside Kenya.
The women’s race will feature Kenyan Florence Chepsoi (PB 2:32:18 in
Prague last year), Ethiopia’s Tiruwork Mekonnen Lemma
(2:31:17 in Rome 2010). Italian hopes will be carried by Ivana Iozzia
who will
be looking to repeat her win in Padua
in 2005 which earned the Italian Marathon title. The field is completed
by Brazil’s Michele Das Chagas, winner in Porto Alegre in 2010, and
Ukraine’s
Olena Biloshuk, winner in Utrecht
in 2010. The Padua race will be run on a new
course from Campodarsego to Prato della Valle, one of the biggest
squares in
Europe in the heart of Padua.

BELGRADE (SRB): This weekend’s 24th Belgrade Marathon,
Sunday April 17, adds a fourth trophy – the ‘Kenth Andersson’ – to the trio of
illustrious names already remembered by the event organisers. Informs Pat
Butcher. The Kenth Andersson Trophy, in recognition of the 20 years that the
former Swedish national champion dedicated to helping in the development of the
Belgrade Marathon and allied events, is to be awarded for an ‘extraordinary
contribution to the development and promotion of the Belgrade Marathon’. It
goes without saying that Andersson, who died earlier this year in Belgrade, aged 66, would
have been first in line for such an award. Andersson’s contribution to the
Belgrade Marathon was immense: as an athletic manager he engaged international
elite runners, as an associate he opened many doors in the European and world
athletics circuit, as a friend he helped building the image of all the events
organised by the Belgrade Marathon Ltd – Belgrade Marathon, Belgrade Race
Through History and Ladies’ Race, the events that are today the pride of
Belgrade and Serbia. The three trophies already awarded to event winners, the
‘Fred Lebow,’ to the mens’ and women’s marathon winners; the ‘Franjo Mihalic’
to the best national marathoner; and the ‘Djoko VjeÅ¡tica’ to women’s
half-marathon winner recall, in order, the creator of the New York Marathon
(who was a supporter of Belgrade Marathon); ex-Yugoslavia’s greatest distance
runner (now 92), and one of the founders of the Belgrade Marathon. For the race
itself home favorites will be Olivera Jevtic and Mirko Petrovic, international
fields are not yet announced.

VIENNA (AUT): On Friday is expected arrival of
running super star Haile Gebrselassie in Vienna,
Austria for the
half-marathon on Sunday.

HAMBURG (GER): The Hamburg
marathon reports it will receive 255 minutes of live television coverage on
German television channel NDR and will be fully covered by the Hamburg city radio on
May 22nd.

HALKIA WANTS TO RETURN

ATHENS (GRE): 2004 Olympic 400 m hurdles winner Fanni
Halkia completed last autumn his ban from competitions and now informed Greek
federation SEGAS that she wants to compete again. Her two years ban finished
last September. She will prepare in Cyprus in next weeks, Greek media
are writing. Before returning to competitions she must have three negative
doping tests within three months.

SWEDEN NEWS

STOCKHOLM (SWE): Steeple record holder Mustafa Muhamed
will not be able to compete at World Championships in Daegu. It is because of
his calf muscle injury. It happened after training camp in Kenya with
overworked thighs and knees. He cannot run a marathon until the autumn. In the
mean-time he switched from steeple to marathon. Top high jumper Linus Thornblad
changed coaches. He ended his cooperation with Yannick Tregaro and will start
work in Malmo
with coach Morgan Persson (30). Thornblad was not able to jump indoors due to
an injury. Another high jumper Emma Green is now back in full training after
the injury from January and hopes to be in top shape for Daegu.

OTHER NEWS

GRIESHEIM (GER): Defending champions Ingalena Heuck and Stefan Koch are
the favourites for this Sunday’s German half marathon championships. Heuck has
a best 1:14:54 from 2010 and she will face Susanna Hahn, Veronica Pohl, Anja
Schnabel and Bernadette Pichlmaier. Koch will be challenged by Andre
Pollmächer, Falk Cierpinski and youngster Musa Roba-Kinkal writes
Leichtathletik.de.

FAIRFAX (USA):
Americanrunning.org informs that US
mile national record holder Alan Webb has finalized plans to move back to the
East Coast in his home state of Virginia to
train under Coach Jason Vigilante of the University of Virginia,
sources close to Webb confirmed. Webb last month amicably left Alberto
Salazar’s Nike-sponsored training program in Portland, where he had been for nearly two
years after training under his former high school coach Scott Raczko. Under
NCAA rules, Webb will have to become an assistant coach or graduate student or
such to allow him to train with heralded UVA mid-distance star Robby Andrews.

LONDON (GBR): Tottenham Hotspur have taken the first step in their
efforts to secure a judicial review to overturn the decision to hand the
Olympic Stadium to Premier League rivals West Ham United after next year’s
Games. Tottenham’s action is specifically aimed at Newham Council which has
pledged a 65 million dollar loan to finance West Ham’s move to Stratford, rather than against the Olympic
Park Legacy Company (OPLC) reports Insidethegames.

LONDON (GBR): Leading international mining group Rio
Tinto, whose headquarters are in London,
will provide all the gold, silver and copper to produce the 4,700 medals
awarded at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games writes
Insidethegames.

MELBOURNE (AUS): Although Australian athlete Sally Pearson is enjoying a
dominating home season in both the sprint and hurdle races her coach Sharon
Hannan revealed that if Pearson is to improve on her 12.50 personal best she
will have to psychologically overcome her fear about a lingering back injury.
Hannan claims Pearson had suffered from a back injury before the 2009 World
championships causing her to hold back in her hurdle races ever since. “She
gets nervous about getting too fast in the hurdles, because she’s afraid she
might hurt herself,” Hannan said for The Australian.

BUCURESTI (ROU): Best Romanian male distance runner Marius Ionescu
debuted in marathon in Rotterdam
on Sunday and clocked 2:16:11 as 13th. With that he booked his place for
Olympic Games 2012 and Daegu World Championships 2011. Romanian media are
confirming.

MELBOURNE (AUS): After two years spent combating a career-threatening
achilles tendon injury Australian Craig Mottram appears finally to have gained
the upperhand. After a strong debut over 5000m at the Melbourne Track Classic
last month, he was the first non-African finisher (21st) at the world cross
country championships three weeks ago and now Mottram believes he can win the
gold medal when competing in the 1500m at the Australian Championships this
weekend. Mottram has also already set his sights on rejoining the ranks of the
world’s best 5000m runners in Europe on his
way to the world championships in Daegu in August reports The Australian.

NEW YORK (USA): Disgraced American sprint
coach Trevor Graham has launched a broadside against the United States
Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which slapped him with a lifetime ban in 2008.
Graham saw his 30 million dollar defamation suit against the USADA thrown out
by a federal judge on March 31 and now claims that the agency did not give him
a fair trial before giving him a lifetime ban according to RJR news.

RESULTS

AZUSA (USA,
Apr 13): After first day of MtSAC Multis Sharon Day leads heptathlon with 3546
points ahead of Canadian Ruky Abdulai 3534.

GRESHAM (USA,
Apr 13): Barlow High
School’s Ryan Crouser, recovering from a back injury that
sidelined him from competition for the past few weeks, broke two all-time state
records on Wednesday in a dual meet at Barlow in Gresham. In discus with 65.10 and 21.44 in the shot put with
HS implements.

SAD NEWS

MINSK (BLR): Belarus
federation website informs that amoung persons who were killed in Minsk at the metro
station on Monday was also the 21-years old Roman Kaptyukh. He is the son of
the former world and olympic discus medalist Vasiliy Kaptyukh.

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