International Marathonscene | marathonscene.com - Part 3

Irina Mikitenko will run Great Australian Run 15K

Two-time London Marathon champion Irina Mikitenko (GER) has confirmed her participation in the 2009 edition of the Great Australian Run. The 15K-race will take place in Melbourne on 29th of November and will also feature the past two Olympic Champions in the marathon on the mens side (Stefano Baldini/ITA and Sammy Wanjiru/KEN).

Mikitenko will compete against American Marathon Record holder Deena Castor and Australian World Cross-Country Champion 2004, Benita Willis (formerly Benita Johnson). For Mikitenko it will be the second competition “Down Under” after placing fifth in the 5.000m of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. She stated that she is not thinking about times so much but rather wants to concentrate on providing an exciting competition with the other women.


Helsinki will host the European Athletics Championships 2012

The 21st edition of the European Athletics Championships will take place in Helsinki/Finland from June 27 to July 1 (dates still need to be approved). Helsinki is the only candidate for the Championships, that will not include marathon and race walking events because of a new biennial cycle. It will be the first time that the European Championships will switch to a 2-year cycle, which is the reason for the absence of marathon and race walking in the event program. The Championships in Helsinki will take place only one month before the 2012 Olympic Games in London.


ING New York City Marathon 2009 live coverage via TV and online stream

On Sunday it’s time for the 40th edition of the NYC-Marathon. The action will be broadcasted by several media.

UniversalSports.com will cover the race online for 5 and after the race will be available on demand. If UniversalSports does not work, check this page.

TV viewers in Europe can watch the race on Eurosport.

The race will start with the elite womens race at 9.10AM, and the main race including the elite men will go off at 9.40 local time (UTC -4hours).


Loaded fields in New York City Marathon – even if Martin Lel withdraws

The 40th NYC-Marathon will once again host a bunch of the best marathon runners in the world. On the mens side 15 runners have a sub-2:10 PB and in the womens race eight runners already ran sub-2:30.

In the mens race defending champ Marilson Gomes dos Santos (BRA) will compete against the second fastest marathon runner in history, Kenyan James Kwambai (2:04:27, Rotterdam 09). Fellow Kenyans Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot and Patrick Makau also have a sub-2:07PB. Double World Marathon Champion Jaouad Gharib (2:05:27, London 09) is always one of the favorites. US-hopes are on Ryan Hall (2:06:17, 08).

In the womens race Paula Radcliffe wants to make it 4 victories in 4 starts after winning in 2004, 2007 and 2008. Russian 41-year old national record holder Lyudmila Petrova (2:21:29h) will do her best to cross the plans. Fellow Russian Tatyana Petrova was a World Championships Silver Medalist in the steeple and completed her first two marathons this year with times under 2:26h. With french record holder Christelle Daunay (2:25:43 h), Japanese Yuri Kano (2:24:27 h), Salina Kosgei from Kenya (2:23:22 h) and Ethiopian Derartu Tulu (2:23:30 h) the race for the first spots should be widely open.


Irina Mikitenko misses Chicago victory as Sammy Wanjiru sets a new Corse Record

In last Sundays Chicago marathon Irina Mikitenko took second place in her first marathon outside of Europe. The 37-year old German was beaten only by Russian Liliya Shobukhova (2:25:56 h), clocking a time of 2:26:31 h. The mens race was won by reigning Olympic Champion Sammy Wanjiru (KEN) with a new course record of 2:05:41 h.

With temperatures around the freezing point, the womens field went out rather slow. The first 5K were covered in 18:22min by the favourites. The race then got faster step-by-step but none of the pre-race favourites could build a gap on the opponents until very late in the race. Halfway was reached in 1:15:05 h – almost jogging tempo for some of the women. In the second half a quartet was build, that consisted of Irina Mikitenko, Lidiya Grigoryeva, Liliya Shobukhova (both Rus) and Teyba Erkesso (Eth). Only 3K before the finish a definitive increase in pace was established by the 31-year old Russian Liliya Shobukhova. A women with great track speed (5.000m PB 14:23,70), the Russian built a gap on her closest competitors pretty easy and finished her second marathon with an impressive negative split (1:15:05 + 1:10:51 h). After her third place finish in London 2009 behind Irina Mikitenko and Mara Yamauchi it was her first big victory. Irina Mikitenko had to settle with second place but nevertheless had a smile on her face and waved to the crowds on the last meters of the 42,195 kilometers. Defending Champion Lidiya Grigoryeva took 3rd place, 12 seconds behind Mikitenko.

In the mens race the pre-race favourite Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya took his 4th victory in his 5th marathon. Unlike the womens race, the men went out with a blistering pace, even being below world record splits for the first kilometers. After a 1:02:01 first half, the pace slowed down considerably but when Wanjiru threw in a surge just after 35K his opponents were left in the dust. With a time of 2:05:41, the 22-year old improved the Chicago marathon course record (Khalid Khannouchi, 2:05:41 h) by 1 second. Moroccan Abderrahim Goumri had a strong second half and collected runner-by-runner, eventually finishing second in 2:06:04 h. Third place went to Kenyan Vincent Kipruto (2:06:08 h).


Chicago Marathon 2009 live coverage via online stream

The 33th Bank of America Chicago marathon will be broadcasted by international and US media.

The marathon race will start on Sunday at 7.30AM local time in Chicago (i.e.12.30 UTC). Short marathonscene.com preview here.

The free internet stream will be available worldwide at UniversalSports via this link. Furthermore NBC 5 Chicago will broadcast from 6.30AM to 11.00AM (local time) via the US television network.


World Half Marathon Championships 2009 live stream

The IAAF World Half Marathon Championships that are going to be held on this Sunday (October, 12th) in Birmingham will be broadcasted live on the internet. Universal Sports will start the stream at 9.00 AM UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) via this link.

The online coverage will include both the womens (start 9.00AM) and mens race (start 9.30AM).


Haile Gebrselassie will run in Trier/GER on New Years Eve 2009

Long distance legend Haile Gebrselassie will crown the 20th edition of the New Year Eve Run in Trier. On the 1km-loop through the old town Haile wants to break the 12-year old course record for the 8km race that is held by Kenyan Isaac Kariuki (22:21min).

The race in Trier will most probably be his first serious race after the Berlin marathon 2009. The 36-year old wants to use the race as a build-up for the Dubai marathon, that will take place three weeks after Trier. Haile stated that “the race in Trier has a good reputation in the running scene – especially because of the great atmosphere”.

This year 2.000 runners and more than 20.000 spectators are expected for the 20th anniversary of the “German Sao Paolo”.


Berlin Marathon 2009 live coverage via TV and online stream

The 36th real Berlin Marathon will be broadcasted by German and international media.

The marathon race that will be started at 9.00 AM (German time) will be shown on TV by television channel RBB. For users with internet access a live online stream should be available via this link.

International visitors can also try the streaming from UniversalSports.


Austrian distance runners Andrea Mayr and Günther Weidlinger will miss 2009 IAAF World Championships

The top two distance runners of Austria, Andrea Mayr and Günther Weidlinger announced that they will not compete in this years World Championships in Berlin (15th-23th of August) because of health related issues.

Andrea Mayr stated that the preparation time for a marathon would be too short after a tendon operation that was undertaken in April this year. Nevertheless, Mayr recently took 3rd place in the European Mountain Running Championship.

Günther Weidlinger suffered several injuries in the last week and currently has to take a break because of am inflammation in his pelvis. Weidlinger will most probably run in the Frankfurt Marathon this year and is going to attack the Austrian Record after just missing the mark in his debut run in Vienna.


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