Running USA wire 23-03-13

Issue 23-03-13 March 17, 2013


Upcoming Events
Atlanta Women's 5K, Atlanta, GA, March 23
Rock 'n' Roll Dallas Half-Marathon, Dallas, TX, March 23
Big Sur's Mud Run, Seaside, CA, March 23
The Tyler Azalea 10K, Tyler, TX, March 23
XTERRA Fort Steilacoom Trail Run, Lakewood, WA, March 23
Zimmerman Kiser Sutcliffe Winter Park Road Race 10K and 2 mile, Winter Park, FL, March 23
XTERRA Black Canyon Trail Run, Rock Springs, AZ, March 24
The Arizona Distance Classic Half-Marathon & 5K, Tucson, AZ, March 24
XTERRA Trout Creek Trail Runs, Tampa, FL, March 24
IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Bydgoszcz, Poland, March 24
XTERRA Black Mountain Trail Run, Rancho Penasquito, CA, March 24
Oakland Running Festival, Oakland, CA, March 24
NC Half-Marathon and 5K, Charlotte, NC, March 24
For more upcoming events for 2013, visit the Running USA Website event calendar.




Kipsang, Rotich Claim NYC Half Titles Over Competitive Fields

NEW YORK - When the New York Road Runners, after four years of dealing with heat, humidity and the occasional thunderstorm, moved the date of the NYC Half from late summer to March, they did so in the hope of finding cooler temperatures more conducive to fast times.
This year, that hope was overdelivered, as runners were greeted with sub-freezing temperatures as some 14,500 of them gathered in the pre-dawn in Central Park before the start of the Sunday, March 17 race.

"It was definitely hard to get warm the first part of the race," said Kenya's Wilson Kipsang, the 2012 Olympic marathon bronze medalist and the pre-race favorite. "When I saw how slow we were at 10k I hoped we could push a bit more the second half."
Kipsang, appearing almost effortless in what had to be a confidence-building tuneup for his Virgin London Marathon title defense next month, continued to pull away, crossing the finish line on Water and Wall Streets in 1:01:02. Ritzenhein, meanwhile, had been caught in the Battery Park Underpass by Italian Daniele Meucci, who eventually took second by four seconds in a personal best 1:01:06.
If the men's race proved to be a gradual war of attrition the women's contest featured much more back and forth action. New Zealand's Kim Smith, bidding to improve on her second place from last year, was typically aggressive from the gun, opening with a 5:11 mile with only 2011 champ Caroline Rotich and Colombia's Yolanda Caballero for company. Smith, bothered by the cold which precipitated a quadriceps cramp that would eventually cause her to drop out before halfway, began to fade, leaving Rotich alone in front.
Find the full report at RunningUSA.org

Campbell, Horst Win 2013 Publix Georgia Marathon
ATLANTA - A field of more than 16,000 registered participants hit the streets of Atlanta for the Publix Georgia Marathon & Half Marathon on Sunday, March 17.

Malcolm Campbell, of Marietta, Ga., won first place in the marathon with a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, 11 seconds. James Maunga, of Marietta, Ga., took second place in 2:30:32, while Mitch Vanbruggen from Durham, N.C., earned third place with a time of 2:31:54.

Jill Horst, of Rome, Ga., claimed her second consecutive crown in the female division, finishing in 2:58:24.

Claiming the half-marathon title was Andrew Heath, of Atlanta, Ga., with a time of 1:09:55. Placing second was Nathaniel Haskins from Atlanta, Ga., with a time of 1:11:11, and John Minen of Atlanta, Ga., took third in 1:11:56. The top female finisher was Justyna Mudy of Rome, Ga., in 1:18:50.

Read the rest of the story at RunningUSA.org
Smyth, Dobson Capture 38th Canyonlands Half Marathon


MOAB, Utah - An overcast spring morning perfect for running played a large part in making the 38th edition
Canyonlands Half Marathon and Five Mile Run an enjoyable experience for runners and spectators alike. A field of 3,189 runners completed the half-marathon with an additional 824 finishers completing the five mile run.
The overall winner of the half-marathon was 26-year-old Patrick Smyth, a Westminster College track coach. Patrick finished ahead of the pack with a time of 1 hour, 9 minutes, 55 seconds, several minutes shy of the course record time 1:05:33 set in 1997.

The women's results were close again this year. Kim Dobson, 28, of Grand Junction, Colo., won the women's half-marathon with a time of 1:20:32. Kim finished just 20 seconds ahead of Autumn Ray, the 2012 Thelma & Louise Half-Marathon champion from Tucson, Ariz. . Jana Peale, a 19-year-old student from Westminster College, took first in the Five Mile Run with a time of 34:07.

Read the rest of the story at RunningUSA.org

3,600+ Runners Enjoy 8th First Watch Sarasota Half Marathon & Relay
SARASOTA, Fla. - More than 3,600 runners and walkers took part in the 8th First Watch Sarasota Half Marathon & Relay, a 20 percent increase over record participation levels recorded in 2012.
Evan Dehart, a 27-year-old from Jupiter, Fla., took a commanding lead from the start, winning the men's title in 1 hour, 10 minutes, 24 seconds, 42 seconds shy of last year's course record. Sara Petrick, 26, of Tampa, took the women's title in a course record 1:19:34, besting her previously set record of 1:20:00 from 2012.

Local runner Heather Butcher, Venice, Fla., took the masters title in 1:24:19 and finished 4th overall in the women's division and Jeff Lessie of Tampa, Fla., the men's masters title in 1:19:50, and 7th place in the men's division.

Read the rest of the story at RunningUSA.org





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Running USA Annual Marathon Report

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - (March 13, 2013) - Is the bloom gone from the marathon? A question asked after modest U.S. marathon finisher growth in 2011 compared to previous years. For the first time since 2001, according to
Running USA, the estimated number of U.S. marathon finishers declined from a record 518,000 in 2011 to 487,000 in 2012 (a 6% decrease), but like 2001, most of the decline can be attributed to a unique situation; in 2001, it was post-9/11 travel impacting fall marathons, and in 2012, the cancellation of the ING New York City Marathon, the world's largest marathon with more than 47,000 finishers or 9% of the 2011 overall finisher total.


If the sold-out NYC Marathon had been held, there is no doubt that the 2012 overall marathon finisher total would have exceeded the 2011 record of 518,000. In addition, overall, there was a 1.6% increase in finishers from the same 388 U.S. marathons for 2011 and 2012 (464,122 vs. 471,595); a slight percent increase (1%) from the same 367 marathons in 2010 and 2011 (495,135 vs. 500,206).


Over the past 15 years, U.S. marathons collectively have averaged just under 2.5% finisher growth per year so although 2012's growth rate of 1.6% for the same marathons for both years was below the annual average, it was not a significant decline. In short, it is premature, at this time, to say that U.S. marathon growth has lost its bloom, and also, some of the marathon's smaller overall finisher percent growth over the past two years can be attributed to the popularity of the half-marathon, the fastest growing road race distance in America since 2003 (and 2012 was another record finisher year for the 13.1 mile).


Find the full report at RunningUSA.org












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