Marathon/Running News: 7/8/08 - 7/15/08

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News From: Tuesday, July 15, 2008
	Great Wall Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Rusk High Grad Runs Great Wall of China Marathon (TylerPaper.com) Jennifer Dyess, a Rusk High School graduate who works as an English teacher in China, placed seventh in the 20-29 womens age division and was 33rd overall in the Great Wall of China Marathon. Normally a 3:45 marathoner, Dyess expressed the enjoyments and challenges of running the race which she finished in 5:03. Portions of running on the Wall itself is like running on the side of a cliff with no guardrails.
	Olympics 2008 (Men)
		Non-Marathon/ Other Running
		Gebreselassie Named to Ethiopian Olympic Team (CBCSports.ca) World Record Marathon Holder Ethiopias Haile Gebrselassie, considered the worlds greatest distance runner, has been named to his countrys Olympic team for the 10,000m. Despite Gebrselassies decision against running the marathon due to poor air quality, the Ethiopian Federation is allowing him to return to the 10,000 meter track race. Geb is no stranger to the track being the former world 5,000m and 10,000m record holder and having won gold medals in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games at 10,000m, and four consecutive IAAF World Championship gold medals at 10,000m between 1993 and 1999.
	Olympics 2008 (Women)
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Beijing Olympics: Radcliffe Given Until Eve of Marathon to Declare Her Fitness (Guardian.co.uk) World Record Marathon Holder Paula Radcliffe, who has been sidelined with a stress fracture at the top of her left femur, has been unable to train properly for the past ten weeks as the Beijing Olympics marathon date closes in. After receiving a check-up, UK Athletics is giving a deadline of less than twenty-four hours before the Olympic marathon in Beijing by which to confirm her fitness to race. Radcliffe is receiving such privilege since she is a world record-holder, a world champion and one of Great Britains only hopes to medal.
News From: Monday, July 14, 2008
	Knysna Forest Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Kites, Naval Parade, Marathon Mark The End of Krysna Oyster Fest (The Herald) The Knysna Forest Marathon started in biting cold at 7am on Saturday with runners lining up for the start beginning at 4:00am. There was also a three-day display featured kite flying, kite ballet and kite fighting.
	Missoula Marathon
		Post-Race Review/ Results
		Runners Compete In Missoula Marathon (KPAX-TV) Over 1,100 runners covered the roads of Missoula on Sunday to take part in the second annual Missoula Marathon and almost 400 completed the 26.2 mile course before lunch.
		It's Better The Second Time Around: Missoula's Bassett, Kalispell's Schuster Win Second Missoula Marathon (The Missoulian) Over 1,000 runner's hit the streets for the 2008 Missoula Marathon. The race started shortly after 6:00 AM.
		Human Interest Story
		Missoula Marathon is One Stop On Australian Couple's 8-race, 8-country Journey (TheMissoulian.com) Sue and Andrew O'Brien, from Melbourne, Australia, picked Missoula Marathon as their only U.S. stopover as they run eight marathons in eight countries over the course of eight weeks. Their debut run began with the 87 km (54 miles) Comrades marathon, then through courses on Mauritius, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Alberta, Canada. The couple will fly to Thailand for the Pattaya Marathon, then onto the Swiss Alpine Marathon finally the Townsville Marathon back in Australia.
	Pattaya Queen's Cup Marathon
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Pattaya City Is All Set For The Pattaya Marathon 2008! (Pattaya City Daily News) The Thailand based Pattaya Marathon will stage its fourteenth event this month. There will be multiple events for race weekend marathon, half marathon, a wheelchair race, a 10K and 5k race.
	Twin Cities Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Salazar Will Join at Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Events (MarketWatch) Former Olympian and World-Record Marathon Runner Alberto Salazar who was named Honorary Captain of Medtronic Global Heroes will join twenty-five runners benefiting from medical technology at the 2008 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon or Medtronic TC 10 Mile. Heroes program celebrates the accomplishments of runners who enjoy the benefits of medical devices to treat conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, spinal disorders, chronic pain, or neurological disorders, and whose continued passion for running serves as an inspiration to others. Salazar received a Medtronic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implanted following sudden cardiac arrest in 2007.
News From: Sunday, July 13, 2008
	Missoula Marathon
		Post-Race Review/ Results
		Local Man Takes First Place In Missoula Marathon; Kalispell Teacher Is Women's Winner (The Missoulian) Local runner Elliott Bassett won the 2008 Missoula Marathon in just over 2 hours and 44 minutes. Jamie Schuster, a Kalispell teacher, took home the top honors in the women's race in a little over 3 hours and 15 minutes.
News From: Saturday, July 12, 2008
	Grandfather Mountain Marathon
		Post-Race Review/ Results
		Hill Sets New Record to Win Grandfather Mountain Marathon (GoBlueRidge.net) Garrick Hill won the Grandfather Mountain Marathon whose challenging course has runners gaining 3,000 feet in elevation throughout the race. Garrick set a new record time of 2:41:38, bettering his 2004 time by thirty-three seconds, followed by Ben Corona who was second in a 2:45:48 and Glen Mays who was third in a 2:47:22.
		Patrick Wins Two Races in Three Days (GoBlueRidge.net) Betsy Patrick won two of the first three events at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. Patrick is the first woman to complete the 26.2-mile challenge Saturday after winning the five-mile hill climb called "The Bear" on Thursday night. Jen Gapin was second in 3:23:34 and Dulce Ntabella of Cary finished third with a time of 3:26:14.
	Missoula Marathon
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Anyone's guess in predicting winner of Missoula Marathon (The Missoulian) There will be no clear cut winner of the 2008 Missoula Marathon, as Kiefer Hahn who won last year?s event in 2:43:30 has yet to register for the event. Likely to be in the lead pack is Zack Strong, winner of the YMCA Riverbank Run. In the women?s race, 2007 winner Jenny Newton will not be defending her crown.
	Odds And Ends
		Human Interest Story
		New inductees to Running Hall of Fame (Utica Observer Dispatch) Johnny Hayes, Frank Shorter, Priscilla Welch and Amby Burfoot inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame. Shorter won the 1972 gold medal and Hayes won in 1908. Welch, the reigning masters world record holder in the marathon after twenty-one years, sixth-place finisher in first womens Olympic marathon and winner of the New York City Marathon at age forty-two. Burfoot was winner of the 1968 Boston marathon as a collegian and a highly-respected advocate and journalist of running sports for more than three decades.
	Olympics 2008 (Women)
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Liz Yelling timing it right for Beijing (Times Online UK) Liz Yelling, the third woman on Great Britain's Olympic Marathon Team, is in peak shape for the Beijing Games following an incredible performance at the London 10K. Yelling has been training in Florida where heat and humidity seem to mimic the conditions she will face in Beijing. Yelling, whose second career marathon was the 2004 Athens Olympics and who placed fourth in the brutal conditions at the 2007 Chicago Marathon, will need to worry about the pollution during the event since she suffers from exercise-induced asthma.
News From: Friday, July 11, 2008
	London Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		London Marathon Runner Lesley Iles Has World's Oldest Pacemaker (TheMirror.UK) At fifty-one Lesley Iles, a London Marathon finisher, is in peak shape despite being kept alive by the world's oldest pacemaker. Iles received the pacemaker twenty-six years ago after suffering fits because her heartbeat was so slow. Iles herself is surprised at the longevity of the technology keeping her heart going
	Missoula Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Runner Quits Smoking, Aims For Finish (The Missoulian) Bridgett Moriarty used to be a pack-a-day smoker for twenty years until two years ago when she began running. Her next challenge will be to conquer her first marathon at the Missoula Marathon. Prompted by the telltale signs of aging - weight gain, decreased energy and an overall sense of not feeling good - Moriarty decided the time had come to make some major life changes.
	Olympics 2008 (Men)
		Non-Marathon/ Other Running
		Fitter, Faster but Olympic Legend Haile Gebrselassie Says Beijing Gold Unlikely (CNN) After deciding not to run the marathon distance at the Beijing Olympics, World Record Marathon Holder Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie who won gold in 1996 and 2000 in the 10,000 meter distance does not seem excited about participating in the games, "I'm not interested in the 10,000 meters. Gebrselassie is targeting the Berlin Marathon where he set the world record last year.
	Olympics 2008 (Women)
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Marathoner Radcliffe still hopes to make Beijing (Sports Illustrated) 2008 has not been the best year for marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe who withdrew from the 2008 London Marathon because of a toe injury and experienced hip and thigh problems which led to a stress fracture in her left thigh leaving her appearance at the 208 Beijing Games questionable. Radcliffe was the favorite for the gold medal in the marathon at the 2004 Athens Games but dropped out about a mile from the end, and also dropped out of the 10,000 meters a few days later with eight laps remaining. She remains hopeful to compete in Beijing as she comes down to the wire.
News From: Thursday, July 10, 2008
	Gold Coast Airport Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Cash Key To Luring Marathon's Best For Gold Coast Airport Marathon (Gold Coast.com.au) Gold Coast Marathon organizers found that the only way to lure top elite to rival the likes of the London, Boston and New York marathons, would be to pay each sub-2:10 elite runner $25,000 just to compete in addition to prize money. The race has been working with stakeholders to encourage up-and-coming athletes to participate and had been targeting Japan for faster runners. Underlying it all, they still want to make a great race for the over twenty thousand who participate in their running events.
	Houston Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Houston Marathon Events Sell Out In a Hurry (Houston Chronicle) The 2009 Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon sold out for the fourth consecutive year this week with a waitlist of about fourteen hundred people. Runners used to walk into the expo the day before to sign up, but those days are over. The race had 18,000 participants last year.
	Olympics 2008 (Men)
		Human Interest Story
		Browne Comes Up Just Short In Marathon, 10K (West Linn Tidings) In 2004, American Dan Browne made history by competing in both the marathon and the 10K in the Athens Olympic Games, a feat that hadnt been accomplished in decades; but Browne had failed to qualify in either distance for the 2008 Beijing Games. Browne, unable to find a good pace at the track trials in Eugene, Oregon last week, is not discouraged. He plans to run a fall marathon.
		Kenya Seeks To Exorcise Marathon Ghost (Daily Nation) With the history of great mid to long distance runners produced by Kenya, the country has yet to win an Olympic gold medal. Some cite the lack of financial incentive or prize money is the cause. Martin Lel (three-time London marathon winner), Sammy Wanjiru (Paris winner and world half marathon record holder), and Robert Cheruiyot (four-time Boston Marathon winner) will represent the country's incredible mens marathon team.
		Non-Marathon/ Other Running
		U.S. NBC TV to air Beijing Olympic Games for 2,900 hours (China View) U.S. NBC TV station has planned a 2,900 hours of live coverage on the coming Beijing Olympics Games spread across NBC and its cable outlets topping 2,562 hours for all previous Summer Games combined. The marathon coverage of the Olympics Games was compared by the USA Today report to coverage on the first landing of human on the moon. The Games organizer scheduled big-time morning action that NBC can air live in prime time.
News From: Wednesday, July 9, 2008
	Odds And Ends
		Non-Marathon/ Other Running
		Ritzenhein Leads Top Americans Entered in NYC Half-Marathon (Race Results Weekly) 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Team member Dathan Ritzenhein, fresh off an eighth place finish at the 10,000 meter U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, plans to run the NYC Half-Marathon. Ritzenhein whose personal best is 1:01:25 will be joined by Americans James Carney and Fasil Bizuneh and a fleet of international elite men. The womens race will feature Zoila Gomez and Colleen De Recuk.
	Olympics 2008 (Women)
		Pre-Race Review/ Lineup
		Paula Radcliffe's Understudy (BBC Sport) Hayley Haining is World Record Holder Paula Radcliffe's understudy in Britain's Olympic squad and will step up if the leading lady fails to overcome injury before 17 August. Radliffe is a veteran contender and paid professional prize-winning athlete on the distance running circuit while Haining who ran her first marathon in 2005 has a day job as a clinical pathologist at a veterinary school and is little known outside athletics circles. As Radcliffe heals the fracture of her left femur, Haining is waiting in the wings prepared for the Beijing Olympic marathon distance just in case.
	Vermont City Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Vermont City Marathon Executive Director To Retire After 17 years (Burlington Free Press) Andrea Sisino, Executive Director of RunVermont, the parent organization of the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon is leaving her position at the end of 2008 after seventeen years. Sisino has led the transformation of the Vermont City Marathon as a race and as functioning organization as well as set up training camps and youth programs for local runners. The RunVermont Board of Directors is conducting a search to fill the Executive Directors role.
News From: Tuesday, July 8, 2008
	Gold Coast Airport Marathon
		Human Interest Story
		Gold Coast Airport Marathon Organizers Consider Marathon Changes Amid Spectator Death (ABC News) A seventy-nine-year-old man was struck by a motorcycle on Sunday while crossing the Gold Coast Highway during the Gold Coast Marathon prompting the race organizers to consider rerouting the course for next year. Marathon general manager Cameron Hart says organizers will consider any recommendations from the police investigation.
	Olympics 2008 (Women)
		Training/ Health
		Deena Kastor Offers Tips On Preparing For China (NPR) With the 2008 Beijing Olympics around the corner, distance runners are coming to terms with the pollution and smog they will face on race day. Some athletes are taking extreme measures, like practicing inhaling exhaust. US Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor has another method of training - stay in the cleanest air possible, run at the hottest time of day and wear excess clothing.