This press release arrived on email this morning. Abbott World Marathon Majors has developed a program to reach out to more of the citizen runners of the marathons. And it also shows how Wanda Group, new sponsor of Abbott WMM, also through IRONMAN brand, owner of Competitor Group races, will influence the sport.
London Marathon, photo courtesy of Virgin Money London Marathon
NYC Marathon, courtesy of TCS NYC Marathon
ABBOTT WORLD MARATHON MAJORS ANNOUNCES
ABBOTTWMM WANDA AGE GROUP WORLD RANKING SYSTEM
AND WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
A global age group ranking system for marathon runners will launch September 2018
AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships to be held in 2020
CHICAGO, Nov. 15, 2017 — Abbott World Marathon Majors (AbbottWMM), the collective of the world’s six greatest marathons, and partners Abbott and Wanda Group announced today the creation of its first global age group marathon ranking system and age group world championships.
The new AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Rankings will launch in September 2018 and the top-ranked age group athletes will qualify to participate in the AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships in the spring of 2020. The rankings will cover age groups for men and women from age 40 to 80+.
For more than a decade AbbottWMM has celebrated the world’s best professional marathon runners and wheelchair athletes competing in the Tokyo, Boston, Virgin Money London, BMW BERLIN, Bank of America Chicago and TCS New York City Marathons, as well as at the IAAF World Championship and Olympic marathons. This celebration has been expanded through the addition in 2015 of the coveted Six Star Finisher medal for any participant who completes the ‘grand slam’ of events.
This new initiative continues the efforts of AbbottWMM to partner with industry leaders to advance the sport of marathon running, which include a comprehensive IAAF partnership aimed at eradicating doping
expanding AbbottWMM events to additional locations across the world.
“There has been huge growth in marathon age group running and now more than 125,000 runners aged 40+ participate in AbbottWMM races each year,” said Tim Hadzima, AbbottWMM general manager. “Our series has celebrated the world’s best professional athletes for more than a decade and now it is time to formally celebrate the achievements of age group marathon runners and the truly inspiring stories of these everyday champions.”
“Some of the best stories of health and achievement come from marathon runners,” said Chris Miller, divisional vice president, global brand strategy and Innovation, Abbott. “We’re pleased to recognize these men and women who lead their age classes, juggle demanding training schedules and inspire their friends and families to set big fitness goals. They’re a testament to what’s possible with good health.”
“We are pleased to be able to support Abbott World Marathon Majors’ goal to continue to grow marathoning on a worldwide basis,” said Hengming Yang, chief executive officer for Wanda Sports Holdings. “These initiatives will allow the best marathoners in the world to be able to qualify for and experience the extraordinary Abbott World Marathon Majors standard of race.”
Age Group World Ranking Details
Participants in an AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Ranking qualifying race will earn points according to their age, time and gender, aligned with the following age groups for men and women:
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-74
75-79
80+
The first qualifying period will begin on Sept. 16, 2018, coinciding with the 2018 BMW BERLIN-MARATHON and the start of AbbottWMM Series XII, and will end on Sept 29, 2019.
The best two results in select qualifying marathons over this period will count for each runner’s ranking. The top-ranked runners in every age group will qualify to run in the spring 2020 AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships. In addition, the top age group runners from any country that has been represented in the qualifying period will also be eligible to register to participate, making this event a truly global competition. The scoring system is available on worldmarathonmajors.com and is outlined below. The date and location of the first AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships in spring 2020 will be announced in due course.
Runners’ qualifying times must be recorded at a certified accurate marathon which has been nominated as an AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Ranking qualifying race. Listed below is the current list of the 25+ events around the world, including the six AbbottWMM races and Wanda Group-owned/managed marathons, that have been nominated as qualifying races to date.
AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Ranking Qualifying Races (as of Nov. 15, 2017)
Montreal, Canada
Sept. 23, 2018
Chicago, USA
Oct. 7, 2018
Lisbon, Portuga
Oct. 14, 2018
Runaway Barossa Marathon
Barossa, South Australia
Oct. 21, 2018
ASB Auckland Marathon
Auckland, New Zealand
Oct. 28, 2018
United Airlines Rock ‘n’ Roll Chengdu Marathon
Chengdu, China
Oct. 28, 2018
TCS New York City Marathon
New York City
Nov. 4, 2018
GEICO Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon
Las Vegas, USA
Nov. 11, 2018
Air New Zealand Queenstown International Marathon
Queenstown, New Zealand
Nov. 17, 2018
Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon
Singapore
Dec. 9, 2018
Tokyo Marathon
Tokyo, Japan
Feb. 24, 2019
Boston Marathon
Boston, USA
April 15, 2019
Virgin Money London Marathon
London, UK
April 2019
Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon
Phoenix, USA
2019 Date TBD
Amazing Thailand Bangkok Marathon
Bangkok, Thailand
2019 Date TBD
Humana Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon
New Orleans, USA
2019 Date TBD
Motatapu – Off Road Marathon
Queenstown, New Zealand
2019 Date TBD
United Airlines Rock ‘n’ Roll Washington DC Marathon
Washington, DC
2019 Date TBD
Marathon de Bourdeaux Metropole
Bordeaux, France
2019 Date TBD
EDP Rock ‘n’ Roll Madrid Marathon
Madrid, Spain
2019 Date TBD
St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Marathon
Nashville, USA
2019 Date TBD
Haspa Hamburg Marathon
Hamburg, Germany
2019 Date TBD
Air Zealand Hawkes Bay International Marathon
Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
2019 Date TBD
Rock ‘n’ Roll Liverpool Marathon
Liverpool, UK
2019 Date TBD
Synchrony Financial Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon
San Diego, USA
2019 Date TBD
Human Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon
San Antonio, USA
2019 Date TBD
Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Marathon
Seattle, USA
2019 Date TBD
BMW BERLIN-MARATHON
Berlin, Germany
Sept. 29, 2019
AbbottWMM is currently working to include additional marathons as qualifying
races. As events are added, the updated list will be available at worldmarathonmajors.com. Race organizers may contact the AbbottWMM team at [email protected] to obtain further details.
The Scoring System
The maximum points that can be scored in any race by an age-group winner is 4,000.
The age group winners in any AbbottWMM race will automatically get 4,000 points.
Any age group athlete who is within 29 seconds of the age group winning time in an AbbottWMM race receives 10 points less, earning 3990 points. Runners within 30-59 seconds of the winning time receive 20 points less, and those earning times within 1 minute and 29 seconds less than the age group winning time receive 30 points less, and so on.
A platinum time has been calculated for each age group and gender, using standard multiples of the ‘mean’ of the current marathon world record times for each age group and gender. Winners of any age group marathons that are not Abbott World Marathon Majors races must run faster than the platinum time for their age and gender to score 4000 points. The same points degradation according to time behind the winner applies.
If the age group winning time is below the platinum time, then the points awarded to the winner and every subsequent age group runner are reduced by the time the age group winner has missed platinum time for the age and gender of the athlete.
Platinum times for each age group are listed on www.worldmarathonmajors.com here
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