The Great Australian Run took place on the weekend, attracting in the realm of 4000 participants to the 15 kilometer fun run held in the city of Melbourne, Australia.

The race had some big-name draw-cards including Ethiopian distance king Haile Gebrselassie, Australia’s Craig Mottram and Kenyan Patrick Makau.

Gebrselassie, suffering from jet-lag, still managed to dominate his rivals, wining the inaugural event in 42 minutes and 40 seconds.

Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie burnt off his rivals for a commanding win in the Great Australian Run through the city streets here on Sunday.

Makau trailed in 35 seconds behind Gebrselassie to take second in 43:15, with well performed Australia athlete Collis Birmingham beating Olympian Craig Mottram for third placing in 43:35.

Kenya’s two-time world marathon champion Catherine Ndereba easily won the the women’s event in 50:43, Ndereba, 36, was second behind Romania’s Constantina Dita in this year’s Beijing Olympic marathon, but finished well ahead of sixth-placed Dita in the shorter event.

New Zealand’s Alice Mason was second in 51:27 and third-placed Lisa Weightman was the leading Australian in 51:31.

Click on the following link for a more thorough report on the Great Australian Run of 2008.

Technorati Tags: Craig Mottram, Haile Gebrselassie

Photo courtesy of jdiggans

Passing through Italy on your travels?

Why not add one the country’s best distance races to your schedule?

Runnerworld UK have an article titled, The Top 10 Italian Races, as selected by Runner’s World Italy’s Deputy Editor Vittorio Nava.

Vittorio writes:

From the thrill of running on the Formula One track at Monza to the more visceral delights of some of the world’s greatest cities, Italian races boast both ancient and modern pleasures for the visiting runner. For the best pre-race carbo-loading in the world and architecture to die for Italy has a wealth of breathtaking races.

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Technorati Tags: Distance Running, Italy

Photo courtesy of Martineric

Marilson Gomes dos Santos crossed the line first in this years New York Marathon in a wind affected time of 2:08:43. He ran down Moroccan Abderrahim Goumri in the final kilometer to take the men’s race in a dramatic fashion in the closing stages of the race. Goumri finished in a time of 2:09:05 ahead of Daniel Rono (2:11:22) and the aging Paul Tergat who could only manage 4th on this occasion coming home in 2:13:10.

“I never lost hope,” Dos Santos said.

“When I got into Central Park, the people got me going and inspired me to win the race.”

Paula Radcliffe, made up for a poor Olympic and now seems back to her best with a strong finish to take out the women’s title in 2:23:56. In doing so, she became the second woman to win the New York City Marathon three times. She crossed the line 1 minute, 47 seconds ahead of Russian Ludmila Petrova, with debutant American Kara Goucher only another 10 seconds behind.

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Technorati Tags: Abderrahim Goumri, Daniel Rono, Gete Wami, Kara Goucher, Ludmila Petrova, Marilson Gomes dos Santos, New York Marathon, Paul Tergat, Paula Radcliffe

WHAT do you get when you put together the greatest distance runner in history, a worthy challenger and a fast course?
According to Haile Gebrselassie, you’ll get a 15km world record. Organisers of the Great Australian Run have laid out a fast course through the streets for the November 30 event. Can the Ethiopian Marathon World Record holder pull it off? Point your browser to the link to Read more about The Great Australian Run of 2008.

Technorati Tags: Craig Mottram, Great Australian Run, Haile Gebrselassie, World Record

by Martineric

World record holder Paula Radcliffe will attempt to get her marathon career back on track when she lines up for the 2008 ING New York City Marathon on Sunday 2nd of November against 2007 Boston champion Gete Wami of Ethiopia.

Radcliffe had a disappointing performance in the Beijing Olympic, where injuries plagued her preparation. She finishing 23rd in a time, well below her best at 2:32:38.

Only year ago Radcliffe, 34, notched up an inspiring victory in New York, only 10 months after the birth of her first child in January 2007, pulling away from Wami in the final mile to capture the title in 2:23:09.

Radcliffe holds the women’s Marathon World record of 2:15:25, set in 2003 in London and also four of the five fastest times in women’s marathon history. She has won seven of the eight marathons she has finished, Beijing her only failure.

Paula remains unbeaten in New York which she has won twice, a third win would put her into second place for the most wins in the event, but still a long way behind Grete Waitz of Norway who has notched an amazing 9 victories in the event.

Other challenges will be 2:24 marathoner Dire Tune of Ethiopia plus Marathon first-timers Kim Smith (10,000m PB: 30:35) of New Zealand and America’s Kara Goucher (10,000m PB: 30:55).

Points will be up for grabs in the World Marathon Majors that awards $500,000 to the top points earners over the 2007-2008 period. Gete Wami is currently in equal first with 65 points with Paula in equal 8th place on 25 points.

Technorati Tags: Gete Wami, Grete Waitz, Marathon, Paula Radcliff, World Marathon Majors

Rocking San Jose this weekend will be the 3rd Annual Rock ‘N’ Roll Half Marathon, what is unique about this event is that there are Live Bands at every mile. If you can muster the energy, post-run you can stick around for the Headliner Concert in Cesar Chavez Park, where Creedence Clearwater Revisited will pump out their hits hits like “Fortunate Son,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” “Born on the Bayou,” “Proud Mary,” and many more.

Celebrating the good times and dancing like no one is watching, will likely be the last thing Kenyan distance athlete Patrick Ivuti will have on his mind, at least until after the race - he is tipped to win the 21.1km distance.

Chasing Ivuti and a total prize purse of over $50,000 will be fellow Kenyans Charles Munyeki and defending champion MacDonald Ondara, who will lead an exciting men’s field that includes U.S. Olympian Adam Goucher, who ran a sub 28:00 10,000m at the Olympic trials.

“I’m looking forward to racing in San Jose,” said the Kenyan Olympian who won the Bank of America Chicago Marathon last year and is also a double World Cross Country silver medalist, “I hear that the course is fast and flat, which should make for a very competitive race.”

The women’s elite field will be led by Yuri Kano of Japan, winner of the Sapporo half marathon earlier this year in a sub-70 minute time of 1:08:57 with British Olympian Kathy Butler, a five-time NCAA Champion at the University of Wisconsin, and Ethiopian Azalech Masresha, the winner of the 2007 Reims half marathon.

The 3rd annual road race is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 5 near San Pedro Square in downtown San Jose. The route will take runners through downtown, Japantown and the Rose Garden area with the finish line at Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

Follow the link to find for a more detailed race report.

Technorati Tags: Adam Goucher, Azalech Masresha, Charles Munyeki, Kathy Butler, MacDonald Ondara, Patrick Ivuti, Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon, San Jose, Yuri Kano

Here is some news for you Aussies, the great Haile Gebrselassie, who just made history by slipping under 2:04 in the Berlin Marathon, will compete in Melbourne’s Great Australian Run on November 30th.

Starting in Albert Park the course will cover 15kms on Melbourne City roads, visiting some of it’s most famous landmarks, before returning to Albert Park for the finish. The event is to be televised internationally, so will be witnessed by millions around the globe being shown as part of the existing ‘Great Run’ series of programs.

The legendary endurance king will take on Australia’s Craig Mottram over the 15km event. The Ethiopian clocked 2:03:59 to win his third straight Berlin Marathon yesterday, beating the mark of 2:04:26 he set over the same flat course last year.

He also became the first runner to win the race three times.

Follow the link for full details on the the Great Australian Run.

Technorati Tags: Craig Mottram, Great Australian Run, Great Run Series, Haile Gebrselassie