Marathon/Running News: 2/15/08 - 2/22/08

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News From: Friday, February 22, 2008
	Albany Marathon (formerly the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon)
		Human Interest Story
		Snickers Marathon to get underway in Albany (WALB News) The 2008 Snickers Marathon has eight hundred runners representing thirty seven states. Organizers hope to raise about $15,000 dollars from the event for the Willson Hospice House. The race is in its second year.
	Cowtown Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		It could be the race of the decades: the octogenerians (Star Telegram) A race of the octogenerians has developed for the 2008 Cowtown Marathon. The players are Don McNelly, 87, from Rochester, N.Y. with more than 700 marathons under his belt and has been running for almost forty years versus local favorite Gene Brock, 80, from Arlington has thirty years of running experience. McNelly and Brock hope to finish in less than six hours. McNelly finished in 5:30:33 at the Austin Marathon last weekend. Cowtown organizers created a new 80-and-up age group for the two runners. Because McNelly and Brock are the only two entrants, only one will go home with the 80-plus medal.
	La Crosse Fitness Festival
		Human Interest Story
		La Crosse, Wisconsin to host marathon in '09 (WKBT) March 7th will reveal the name of the newest marathon to be added to an ever expanding list of marathons around the country. Jay Odegaard from the La Crosse Park and Rec Department wants to showcase the areas parks and scenery. Along with the marathon, Ogedaard plans on hosting a half marathon and a 5K.
		Marathon on Track for May 09 (La Crosse Tribune) La Crosses first marathon is taking shape for the spring of 2009. Jay Odegaard, La Crosses recreation coordinator, told the citys Board of Park Commissioners on Thursday the event is set for May 3, 2009. The La Crosse Fitness Festival will feature a marathon, a half-marathon, plus 5k and bike events.
	Nagoya Int'l Women's Marathon
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Knee injury to keep Osaki out of Nagoya Marathon (Daily Yomiuri) Chisato Osaki, a promising runner expected to debut in the marathon distance at the 2008 Nagoya International Women's Marathon, will not be racing due to the lack of training in the wake of a knee injury. Osaki, who was seventh at the world road running championships, had been hoping to join Reiko Tosa on Japan's team to this summer's Beijing Olympics seeing that this was the last of the Olympic Qualifiers. Mizuki Noguchi and Tomo Morimoto are competing in the elite field.
	Napa Valley Marathon
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Distance runner, triathlon competitor Reiner to run in Napa Valley Marathon (Napa Valley Register) Ginger Reiner, a Princeton graduate and high school math teacher, wants to achieve an Olympic Trials qualifying mark at the 30th annual Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon. The B qualifying standard which Reiner is gunning for is a time of 2:47:00. Reiner's current personal best was a 2:49:18 at the 2006 Chicago Marathon.
	Odds And Ends
		Human Interest Story
		Athletes 'have all they need' in New Zealand says Lorraine Moller (Stuff.co.nz) Former Olympic marathon medallist Lorraine Moller refuses to "believe this rubbish" that New Zealand sport needs more funding. Moller was brought to New Zealand by the Lovelock Davies Foundation to run two coaching clinics on Lydiard training methods in Wanganui and Auckland. Arthur Lydiard's running methodology has been practiced by running greats Sir Murray Halberg, Peter Snell, John Walker, Dick Quax, Rod Dixon, Allison Roe and Moller herself who was a bronze medalist at the 1982 Barcelona Olympics.
		Daves Seven Magnificent Marathons (Express & Star) Sure, a lot of people have run 7 marathons. And even more have run 7 marathons in 7 states. And there are those who have run 7 in 7 continents. Dave Heely will attempt to run all 7 marathons in all 7 continents and he is doing it in 7 days. Not bad for a man who is blind. The efforts that Dave Heely will put forth will raise money for the charity Guide Dogs for the Blind.
		Beware the chair -- 25 years later, new lifestyle includes endurance races (McCook Daily Gazette) Randy Andrews, 54, finished the "Rocky Raccoon Ultra 100 Trail Marathon" in a personal best time of 26:45:17. Andrews who began running twenty-five years ago was a smoker who weighed in at 215 pounds. Andrews kicked the nicotine habit and competed in his first 100-mile race in Utah in 2001.
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Kiplagat returns to Puerto Rico 10km (IAAF) The Worlds Best 10K known for having a starting line-up of the world's top elite athletes each year will feature four-time winner Lornah Kiplagat in the 2008 race. Dutch-based Kenyan Kiplagat had suffered an injury to her right calf at the 2008 Dubai Marathon in January; but her coach and husband, Peter Langerhorst, feel that she is ready to race. The women's field will also include Ethiopia's Eligayehu Dibaba and Romanias Luminta Talpos among others.
	Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon (formerly the National Marathon)
		Human Interest Story
		SunTrust new lead sponsor of National Marathon (Baltimore Business Journal) SunTrust Banks Inc., one of the largest financial institutions in the region, has taken on the role of title sponsor for the 2008 National Marathon. SunTrust also sponsors the Richmond Marathon and Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach. National Marathon was sponsored by Wirefly in 2007.
	Taipei International Expressway Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		200 'fat' police officers to join marathon (The China Post) Two hundred overweight policemen were among a thousand policemen in northern Taiwan who registered to take part in the 2008 Taipei Marathon. The National Police Agency currently promoting a "get lean by weight loss" program and encouraging all overweight policemen to get more exercise. Those officers with a body mass index (BMI) larger than 27 were encouraged to take part in the event.
	Tiberias International Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Marathon great-gran participates in Tiberias Marathon (The Jewish Chronicle) Great-grandmother Flora Frank from the United Kingdom ran the Tiberias Marathon in 5:45. She has now finished sixteen marathons on behalf of the charity and plans to walk/run the 2008 London Marathon.
News From: Thursday, February 21, 2008
	City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
		Human Interest Story
		Hall of Fame Beverages to Participate at the L.A. Marathon and 'The Show' Beverage Convention in Las Vegas (Fox Business) Coming off a successful visibility campaign at the Grammy Awards, Hall of Fame Beverages and its Hydropower brand of functional waters will be on the L.A. Marathon route for the 2008 race. Samples of Hydropower throughout the event.
	Cowtown Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Thirty Cowtown Marathons, and one man has run them all (Dallas Morning News) Jim Gilliland said the friendships cultivated have been the highlight of his tenure as he prepares for the Cowtown Marathon's thirtieth anniversary. Gilliland has served as race director since the first Fort Worth Cowtown Marathon in February 1979. He has seen the race grow from 210 to over 13,000 runners.
	Ft. Lauderdale A1A Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		A1A Marathon a huge success: Colgan already working on '09 (Sun Sentinel) A1A Marathon race organizer Chris Colgan, of Exclusive Sports Marketing, has been monitoring the positive feedback for the events that attracted 5,001 registered runners for the full, half, kids and 5K races. Colgan probably had one of the most original ways of measuring the event's success. "The difference was 90 cubic yards of garbage instead of 30 cubic yards," Colgan said.
	Knoxville Marathon
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Knoxville Marathon's route tweaked for a safer finish (Knoxnews.com) The 2008 Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon will see record numbers and a few changes to their course for the fourth anniversary of their race. The marathon will still start at the Clinch Avenue Bridge and end at the 50-yard line inside the University of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium; but slight tweaks to the route will be beneficial to participants. A few minor changes are an out-and-back section on the west end of the course will be more of a turnaround and the entry into the stadium will be asphalt paved Gate 25.
	Odds And Ends
		Non-Marathon/ Other Running
		Ritzenhein joins USA 8 km championships field (IAAF) Dathan Ritzenhein will take on fellow Olympian Alan Webb in a renewal of one of Americas leading long distance rivalries at the Central Park Challenge. New York's Central Park has been a lucky place for Ritzenhein whom in 2007 earned a spot on the 2008 Olympic Team with a second place finish in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Mens Marathon and winning the Healthy Kidney 10K in a Central Park record of 28:08 months earlier. Top distance runners Abdi Abdirahman and Jorge Torres will be joining the elite field as well.
		Human Interest Story
		Kenyan athletes accused of organising violence in political tribal clashes (Times Online) As violence continues along tribal lines in Kenya following the December 2007 Presidential election, witnesses in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret have reported that some of Kenyas best distance runners funded, organized and commanded tribal gangs involved in some of the worst violence in the country in January. In a report published today researchers from the International Crisis Group agree that wealthy Kenyan athletes have emerged as benefactors of tribal militia, taking over the role from traditional elders. The International Crisis Group claims that Olympian Lucas Sang who was stoned to death was commanding a Kalenjin gang at the time. There is no further proof of these allegations.
		Bhudhia injured while playing cricket (NDTV.com) Kid marathon runner known for his finish at the 2005 Delhi Marathon Budhia Singh had to undergo a CT scan at a local hospital after a bad fall while playing cricket. Bhudhia who has been staying at the Sports Hostel for the past few months since his separation from his coach Biranchi Das has been diagnosed as healthy. The eight year old appeared normal and was seen chatting with people who had come to visit him including his estranged coach Biranchi Das who rushed to the hospital on hearing the news.
News From: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
	Boston Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Thomas Hamilton to run fourth marathon for Charity. (Holbrook Sun) Thomas Hamilton will run the famed Boston Marathon this coming April and he aims not only to finish the race but to raise over ten thousand dollars along the way for Miles for Miracles right inside the city of Boston. Last year 177 runners raised over one million for the worthy cause.
	City of Los Angeles Marathon (L.A. Marathon)
		Human Interest Story
		KNBC, KVEA Broadcast Of LA Marathon Marks Sixth Year (KNBC) The City of Los Angeles Marathon will go prime time for the sixth consecutive year. The multi platform pursuit involves over three and a half hours of race footage in two different languages.
	Disney World Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Disney Marathon Raises $7.6 Million (CF News 13) The 2008 Disney Marathon's participants have raised $7.6 million going to 19 charitable organizations in Central Florida and elsewhere across the country. $5.5 million will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, $900,000 goes to the AT Children's Project to cure a rare childhood disease and another $1 million was raised for various other charities. Thirty four thousand runners participated in the Disney event weekend.
	Houston Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Hannah honored for marathon job (Chron) Previous Race Director of the Houston Marathon David Hannah was inducted into Running USA's Hall of Champions last week in recognition of his contributions to the sport. Race Director for twenty three years, Hannah guided the marathon as it grew from 700 runners to 10,000. Hannah retired in 2003, but since then has focused his expertise on Running USA.
	Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Shami to run Lake Biwa Marathon (Japan Times) World silver medalist Mubarak Hassan and two-time winner Jose Rios of Spain will be running the 2008 Lake Biwa Marathon. The Japanese roster includes Satoshi Osaki, sixth at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Tomoyuki Sato and Mitsuru Kubota will be formidable competition. This is the last of the qualifiers for the Beijing Olympics for Japanese men's marathon runners.
	New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		New Orleans tourism on the rise (Forbes) In the wake of Hurricane Katrina that devastated many parts of New Orleans, $1 billion has been pumped into its economy will high profile events such as the New Orleans Bowl, the Sugar Bowl and Bowl Championship Series football games, Mardi Gras and the NBA All-Star game and the Mardi Gras Marathon. A record number of over five thousand runners are expected for marathon.
	Odds And Ends
		Non-Marathon/ Other Running
		Ritz, Abdi & Torres To Test Webb in Central Park Challenge (Race Results Weekly) The Central Park Challenge, a the New York Road Runners event which is hosting the 2008 U.S. Men's 8-K Championship, will have a competitive field which includes Alan Webb, Dathan Ritzenhein, Abdi Abdirahman and Jorge Torres to name a few. Webb, who has not raced since the 2007 Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile, will meet old high school rival, Ritzenhein who is fresh off a win at the 2008 US Cross Country Championships. Fifty athletes are expected to line up for the Central Park Challenge, which will follow an invitational 8-K for women and an open 8-K race.
		Training/ Health
		Achilles Tendon Surgery Advances Speed Recovery (Earth Times) New procedures are helping achilles tendonitis patients get back on their feet faster. New arthroscopic techniques can provide a minimally invasive option to removing bone spurs and bursas without significant damage to the Achilles tendon. Normally, fixing these problems can require invasive surgery and weeks to months of recovery; but modern technology is offering less invasive treatments and speedier recovery times.
		Human Interest Story
		Young Athlete Aims to Break World Record: Running a Marathon on Seven Continents for Seven Charities (Earth Times) Twenty-four year old Erin Sprague has one more marathon to complete before she becomes the youngest person in the world to complete a 26.2 mile marathon on all seven continents. Erin co-founded a non-profit company called In the Running, which pairs a grassroots charitable organization on each continent with each marathon. Her last marathon is scheduled for March 2008 - the Antarctica Marathon.
		Non-Marathon/ Other Running
		Hall tunes up at U.S. cross country event (Big Bear Grizzly) Three months after the 2008 US Men's Olympic Marathon Trials in New York winner Ryan Hall did not set out to win the 2008 US Mens Cross Country Championship in San Diego. Hall is focusing on the marathon distance is aiming to win the London Marathon and possibly the Olympic Games in Beijing. He took fifth place at the Cross Country Championships.