Home Page Items: Featured Stories | Weekend Results | News

Featured Stories

Boston Qualifiers...
As the year begins to draw to a close, we'll remind everyone that our list of most successful Boston Qualifying Races is continually updated with every result that we get in. The 2008 List of Best/Biggest Qualifying Races is starting to take final shape. With two months to go, it seems that the "best" qualifying list will remain similar with the addition of the Grand Rapids Marathon as a best bet for a qualifying time. Two speedy marathons - the Tucson Marathon and the California International Marathon - are still to come and we'll see if they maintain their spots int he top 10 best places to qualify for Boston... See also the complete 2007 list (as well as links for 2003-2006 qualifying race performances).

Recent Press Releases...
If you aren't checking out the Press Release page on a daily basis, you're missing out. We'll do our best to highlight the most important items - but often we can't write about everything on the home page... Don't forget this page...
Press Release Page

Weekend Results
USA/Canada Results | International Results

USA and Canada Results

Amica Insurance Seattle Marathon - Nov 30 - Seattle, WA
Stuart Burton, 37, won the 2008 Seattle Marathon in 2:33:57. Burton took control of the race about five miles in and never would relinquish his lead. Caleb Knox, 23, finished second in 2:34:13. 2005 runner-up Jesse Stevick, 26, who was fourth in 2007 and the winner of the 2007 Capital City Marathon, was third in 2:38:47.
In the women's field, 2007 runner-up Annie Thiessen, 38, was the winner in 3:02:06. Thiessen took the lead with six miles to go on her way to her eighth marathon victory of 2008. Nell Stephenson, 34, who was sixth in 2007, finished second in 3:03:29. Zosia Brown, 28, was third in 3:06:08.
Complete Searchable Results Here!

Atlanta Marathon - Nov 27 - Atlanta, GA
Running in his first career marathon, Justin Leach, 21 of Powder Springs GA, won the 2008 Atlanta Marathon in 2:39:52. Tyrone Harris, 29 of Athens AL, the runner-up of the 2008 First Light Marathon, finished second in 2:44:11. 2003 Champion Scott Lowe, 37 of Canton GA, the runner-up in 2006, was third in 2:44:32.
In the women's race, Jacquelyn King, 24 of Douglasville GA, was the winner in 3:14:57. Anca Dumitrescu, 27 of Atlanta GA, finished second in 3:18:16. Amy Marcotte, 27 of Mason OH, was third in 3:23:04.
Complete Searchable Results Here!
Read The Press Release

Baltimore Road Runners Club North Central Trail Marathon - Nov 29 - Sparks, MD
Doug Mock, 41 of Ellicott City MD, won the 2008 North Central Trail Marathon in 2:41:52. Andrew Combs, 24 of Medfield MA, finished second in 2:44:01. Luke Merkel, 25 of Washington DC, the winner of the 2007 Washington's Birthday Marathon, was third in 2:49:12.
2007 Runner-up Kristin Van Eron, 37 of Timonium MD, the winner of the 2006 Frederick Marathon and third place finisher at the 2003 Marine Corps Marathon, was the first female finisher in 3:17:57. Deirdre McCarthy Gallagher, 39 of Rockville MD, was second in 3:26:33. Katie Schmitt, 27 of Orchard Park NY, finished third in 3:30:03.
Complete Searchable Results Here!

Space Coast Marathon - Nov 30 - Cocoa, FL
Ryan Woods, 29 of Boone NC, won the 2008 Space Coast Marathon in 2:34:22. Mike Hensley, 23 of Estero FL, was the runner-up in 2:34:54. 2007 runner-up John Piggott, 43 of Williamsburg VA, the winner of the 2008 Atlantic City Marathon, was third in 2:37:46.
Mary Middlebrooks, 36 of Wesley Chapel FL, the winner of the 2006 Twisted Ankle Trail Marathon, was the first female finisher in 3:06:59. Nancy Rojas, 37 of Miami FL, finished second in 3:14:35. Nicole Howatt, 35 of Winter Park FL, was third in 3:20:07.
Complete Searchable Results Here!

Mississippi Coast Marathon - Nov 29 - Waveland, MS
Brandon Wingate, 34, the winner in 2002 and 2003 won the 2008 Mississippi Coast Marathon in 2:45:43. Chris Smith, 30, finished second in 2:47:23. Defending Champion and Gulf Coast Running Club President Leonard Vergunst, 53, who finished third at the 2008 Tupelo Marathon, was third in 2:54:43.
Denise Fairbanks, 44, was the first female finisher in 3:24:09. Kay Evans, 47, the winner of the 2008 Run With The Horses Marathon and 2008 Shiprock Marathon, was the runner-up in 3:27:48. Monica Ertel, 24, finished third in 3:30:41.
Complete Searchable Results Here!

International Results

BLOM Bank Beirut International Marathon - Nov 30 - Beirut, Lebanon
Alemayehu Shumye, of Ethiopia, won the 2008 Beirut Marathon in a new course record time of 2:12:47. Shumye, who took control of the race at the 28K mark, broke Paul Rugut's time of 2:17:04 which he set at the inaugural race in 2003. Michael Kipkorir, of Kenya, finished second in 2:16:15. Hussen Adem, of Ethiopia, was third in 2:16:44.
Ethiopians swept the top spots in the women's race. Alemtsehay Hailu was the first female to finish in 2:37:20. Tadelech Birra finished second in 2:37:58. Wudnesh Nega was third in 2:39:09.

Firenze (Florence) Marathon - Nov 30 - Florence, Italy
Jackson Kirwa Kiprono, of Kenya, won the 2008 Firenze (Florence) Marathon in 2:12:37. He was followed by fellow Kenyans John Birgen who was the runner-up in 2:12:38 and Paul Kipkemboi Ngeny who was third in 2:13:35.
In the women's field, Giovanna Volpato, of Italy, was the winner in 2:34:13. Alice Braham, of the UK, finished second in 2:35:23. Marcella Mancini, of Italy, was third in 2:36:29.

Marathon de San Sebastian - Nov 30 - San Sebastian, Spain
Abdelkebir Lamachi won the 2008 Marathon de San Sebastian when he crossed the finish line in 2:15:15. Hosea Kogei finished second in 2:16:13. Babeda Tesfey Dirba was third in 2:21:14.
Ana Casares Polo was the first female finisher in 2:37:22. Elena Tikhnonova finished second in 2:45:51. Irina Pankovskaya was third in 2:54:59.

Older News

City of Los Angeles Marathon Moves Date To Memorial Day
Surf City USA Marathon/Half Marathon Surges on News
The City of Los Angeles Marathon has traditionally been held on the first Sunday of March - but when new owners stepped in, the city asked organizers to hold the race on a day other than Sunday and President's Day (Mon 2/16/09) was originally chosen. Organizers have now announced that the race will be moving to a different Monday, May 25th - Memorial Day. Since the change was announced, the Surf City USA Marathon/Half Marathon (2/1/09) in nearby Huntington Beach California has received a surge of registrations as it stands as the only Winter marathon remaining in Southern California. The Surf City USA Marathon - popular for its beachfront course - has typically sold out its marathon by the end of November and race organizers have indicated that it expects both the Marathon and Half Marathon to fill earlier than usual with runners now rushing to register for the event.
Read The Press Release

Wardian Ninth At 100K World Championships in 7:06
One of our favorite marathoners and reigning American 50K, 50 Mile and 100K national champion, Michael Wardian, competed in the 100K World Championships in Tarquinia, Italy. Wardian finished ninth in 7:06, a 6:51 marathon pace.
To put that into marathon perspective, that's like running a sub three hour marathon, then running another sub three hour marathon, and then adding an additional ten miles at a sub three hour marathon pace. Amazing!

NYC Marathon - Live Coverage!
We're onsite at the Press Room at the ING New York City Marathon. Read our live coverage - these ARE exciting races, with records galore!
The Women: Paula Radcliffe - 2:23:56, Ludmila Petrova - 2:25:43, Kara Goucher - 2:25:53. Goucher's time is the best debut marathon ever for an American woman and the fastest American time ever at New York. Radcliffe wins for third time, more times than anyone but Grete Waitz! Petrova sets a new world masters record.
The Men: Marilson Gomes dos Santos - 2:08:43, two time winner!; Abderrahim Goumri - 2:09:07, looked like he would win, but finishes runner-up... again!; Daniel Rono - 2:11:22
The wheelers repeat: Kurt Fearnley - 1:44:50; Edith Hunkeler - 2:06:42
The Women's Race Writeup
How It Happened: Our Real-time writeup of the Race
Race Day Photo Gallery
Coverage Homepage

A Race Like No Other
Launched to coincide with the running of the New York City Marathon comes A Race Like No Other a FANTASTIC book which captures the spirit and essence of the New York City Marathon as well as the spirit of marathoning in general. In 26.2 chapters, Liz Robbins examines the course, elite athletes, recreational runners and volunteers - seamlessly moving from one topic to another by weaving stories tied to a point on the course. Whoa - that doesn't nearly do any justice to describing what is written in this book, or how beautifully it is done. If you've run the New York City Marathon, this book will show you parts of it you've never seen before. If you've never run the New York City Marathon, this book will provide an insight into the neighborhoods and people that make up one of the most diverse and interesting races in the world. Buy it.
Our Review of A Race Like No Other

New York City Marathon/Fred Lebow Movie
Run For Your Life - now in (one) theater and on DVD
This movie is great and it is the real deal (we don't say things like this often). "Run For Your Life" is about a man, a marathon and running... It tells the story of Fred Lebow, the man who was primarily responsible for the New York City Marathon and the growth of the New York Road Runners Club and, some would argue, the start of the movement that brought running to the masses!

Great archival footage shows running the way it used to be: who wouldn't be amused to see Kathrine Switzer running with some Playboy Bunnies on the bridal path in Central Park in a promotion for the first New York Mini; footage of Rosie Ruiz on TV claiming she didn't cheat at the NYC Marathon (pre- her most famous cheating at Boston); and who - in the over 40 crowd - wouldn't reminisce about the old days when watching men running a multi-lap race around Yankee Stadium in shorts in the snow - not to mention the first NYC Marathons, of course. A great soundtrack covers a compelling story that also provides insight into the running boom and the men and women who made it all happen. Great interviews with Grete Waitz, Kathrine Switzer, Allan Steinfeld, Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, Alberto Salazar and more tell the story of Fred and the Marathon. You'll actually want to watch this movie more than once and share it with your running (and even non-running) friends.

If you're in New York City for the 2008 Marathon, you can watch the movie on the Big Screen at Village Cinemas East (2nd Ave. & 12th St. at 2/4/6/8/10 from 10/29 to 11/6 - mention MarathonGuide.com at the Box Office when paying and save $3.50 per ticket!), otherwise, buy the DVD online at www.FredLebowMovie.com and enter "MGuide" as a coupon code and receive 20% off (or buy on Amazon.com if you prefer that, whatever...), or don't and miss out...
Our Review of Run For Your Life
[Editor's note: see the great review by A.O. Scott in Oct. 29 New York Times (sports section)]

Some MarathonGuide.com Stats - (as of 11/2/08)
We're proud that since our launch in March 2000 we've been able to continue as the number one source for marathon information - and we're always trying to do better. If it's about marathoning, you'll find it here:
Here are the latest counts of what you'll find on this website (mostly thanks to you)... If you haven't seen all of this - explore and enjoy. If you know MarathonGuide.com, the sheer volume of information found here might still surprise you...

• Current Marathons Listed: 1,150 (anyone know some more? - plus inactive/archived information...)
  
• Marathon Reviews/Comments: 34,569 comments (about 880 different marathons: next to each race's information - browse or search)
  
• Marathon Results: Complete results of virtually every marathon in the English-speaking world since 2000. That includes nearly 445,000 results for 394 marathons so far in 2008, and over 3.8 million results for 3,260 marathons since 2000 - all sorted and completely searchable
  
• Marathon News: 12,957 news articles indexed since 2000 (with something written about 637 different marathons)
  
• Marathon Press Releases: 1,649 press releases from 206 marathons. When a race has something to say, they let us know and we let you know.
  
• Average Unique Daily Visitors to MarathonGuide.com: 24,000+
  
• MarathonGuide.com registered members: 46,381
  
• Members using Marathoner.com, Live2Run.com, MarathonRunner.com email addresses: 6,059
  
• Running Log Users 570 members have up-to-date running logs and 6,856 members have tried the logs (it's tough to be organized to keep a running log - but it really helps!)
• Not to mention, cool tools/calculators, the USA marathon map/locator,
• and Much More (so go explore)

Dreaming of California? New California Dreamin' Marathon/Half-Marathon Series...
Three top California Marathons/Half-Marathons have joined forces to create a running series and to share some marketing. The San Francisco Marathon/Half-Marathon, Surf City USA Marathon/Half-Marathon and Long Beach International City Marathon/Half-Marathon have created the California Dreamin' Racing Series. Runners who complete the three marathons/half-marathons in the group in a two-year period will receive a special commemorative medal and jacket for their achievement. Not to mention an opportunity to "conquer the bridge and cruise the beach..."
Read the Press Release

Branson/Virgin Sign a £17M (=$33M USD) Five Year Deal as London Marathon Title Sponsor
The London Marathon has announced that beginning in 2010, Virgin - and specifically Virgin Money, the financial services division of Virgin Group - will be the new title sponsor of the London Marathon through 2014. The five-year deal, valued at £17Million - which is the equivalent of over $33Million at current exchange rates - is a record for the industry. Flora, the current sponsor, had chosen not to renew its sponsorship after its latest five year arrangement comes to an end in 2009. At the same time, Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson has stated that he plans to run in the 2010 Virgin London Marathon. In what confuses us and must be a slap in the face to current sponsor Flora, the London Marathon has already supported the creation of a website for the new sponsor and press-releases and the current website encourage visitors to surf to www.VirginLondonMarathon.com for more information. We would normally expect an event to honor the final year of its sponsorship agreement by supporting that sponsor and not promoting other arrangements. While the new arrangement is certainly beneficial for the London Marathon - Virgin is an amazing company and the funds are substantial - we are disappointed that the London Marathon is, in our estimation, not standing up to what would be a commonly expected standard of treatment for an existing title sponsor.
Read the Press Release

New Feature: Best/Biggest Boston Marathon Qualifying Races
This IS NOT a list of the fastest marathons - but at some level it could be interpreted to be an approximation of that list. We're always asked which are the best Boston qualifying marathons - and while different runners will have varying degrees of success on various courses, there are some courses that just seem to do better than others (and/or do they just attract faster runners?). Here, for the first time is a year-by-year list of the marathons that provide the highest percentage of Boston Marathon qualifying times and those that create the most Boston Marathon qualifying times. Statistics are interesing as always...
The Best/Biggest Boston Qualifying Races

2007 USA Marathoning - Growth Across the Sport, Despite the Weather
The Numbers are Here!
Highlights:
- The weather is the big story of the year...
- Total USA marathoning grows by 2.3% to nearly 407,000 finishers from over 397,000 in 2006.
- Percentage of women participants declines again. This is turning into a trend.
- Average Age of male participants decreases, meaning more young men are entering the sport.
Read it all: 2007 USA Marathon Annual Report

Other Items

Our Favorite Running Products
From time to time, people ask us for recommendations on products or books, so we've gathered together some of our favorites in a new section. Everything from The Stick (which will make your muscles feel great) to a Watch/Speedometer to measure your speed and distance to lotion and scrub for your skin to books galore.
Check out our favorites in MarathonGuide.com's Recommended Products

Great Magazine:
Special Subscription Offer From Marathon & Beyond Magazine
Note: This is not an ad (paid or otherwise) - it's a special offer from our friends to our friends...
Marathon & Beyond is truly one of our favorite magazines. The only running magazine targeted specifically to Marathoners and Ultra-Marathoners - it is a must-have or a must-give - really! Each bimonthly issue is set out in a format that looks more like a book than a magazine - so it can sit on your shelf and be read and re-read - and is filled with articles, profiles, training - everything for the distance runner (experienced or novice). We started to write a description of the magazine, but decided that they describe it best themselves on their website - so, if you don't know Marathon & Beyond, check them out. Then, if you like what you see, use the link below for special subscription pricing starting at $32.95 for one year.

Because we (MarathonGuide.com) and they (M&B) share a common vision and because they're friends, we've convinced them to offer the lowest subscription rates that they've ever offered to the public (this is true!) - so if you aren't yet a subscriber, there's no better time - and this deal is only available through the link below.
- Click here for the secure order form and special pricing.