Download pdf - Distance Running magazine

TAIWAN25-26 FEBRUARY 2006:IAU 24HRS WORLDCHALLENGETaiwanSee IAU, page 00.26 FEBRUARY 2006:PHILIPPINE MARATHON FORTHE PASIG RIVERGripping drama characterized this secondmarathon edition in Metro Manila. In the midst ofthe country’s political turmoil, the marathonnevertheless started and ended without a hitch.The top two men are in-house athletes of thePhilippine Army, who, at that time, were under redalert following a Presidential Proclamationplacing the entire country under a “State ofNational Emergency.”On the women’s side, youth triumphed overexperience when Jhoan Banayag, of the Universityof the East Athletics Team, won over a veteranfield which included last year’s winner MariaEstela Mamac-Diaz.This was the first time, including the first fouryears when the road race was known as the PasigRiver Heritage Marathon, that an internationalcalibrerunner was among the 903 starters. RobertNjoroge Wambugu flew in barely four hoursbefore the gun with little more than a pair oftraining shoes. Fellow competitor Cesar Bollecerof Direct Link Running Club, showing the visitorthe unique Filipino brand of hospitality,exchanged running shoes with him on the startline, but the drama did not end there.Njoroge, benefitting from his extensiveinternational exposure, immediately took thelead. But after two of the course’s nine bridges, jetlag, lack of sleep and the warm weather began totell on his legs, allowing the locals to catch upand pull away. Dropping to a 10th-place finish,Wambugu vowed to be back to redeem himself innext year’s edition.The marathon is an advocacy project of the Clean& Green Foundation Incorporated on behalf of thePhilippine Government’s Pasig RiverRehabilitation Commission. It seeks to harnessthe people’s participation in the long-runningPasig River rehabilitation program.The Pasig River is the Philippines’ most historicaland important inland waterway, which runs fromeast to west dividing Metropolitical Manila intonorth and south areas. The country’s history in thelast 400 years is closely intertwined with the river,spanning Spanish, British, American andJapanese colonial occupations, revolutions, worldwars, and local uprisings. Located along its banksare the Filipino’s most historical districts,buildings and sites.MEN:1 Cresciano SABAL PHI 2:26:132 Bernardo DESAMITO PHI 2:30:293 Memerto CORPUZ PHI 2:32:244 Regelio de Leon SARMIENTO PHI 2:35:285 Rodolfo TACADINO PHI 2:36:026 Allan BALLESTER 2:37:007 Jujet DE ASIS PHI 2:37:248 Michael CANILLO PHI 2:38:119 Wilson MANINGKIL PHI 2:39:2610 Robert WAMBUGU KEN 2:40:00WOMEN:1 Jhoan BANAYANG PHI 3:02:372 Flordeliza CARREON-CACHERO PHI 3:09:133 Ailene TOLENTINO PHI 3:09:284 Ma. Estela MAMAC DIAZ PHI 3:09:425 Liza DELFIN PHI 3:24:226 Merlita ARIAS PHI 3:34:177 Mila PAJE PHI 3:37:048 Marychiel MINAS PHI 3:41:189 Joanne MANANGAT PHI 3:43:5810 Genevieve DELA PENA PHI 3:44:3926 FEBRUARY 2006: VERDIMARATHON,ITALYMEN:1 Francesco BENNICI ITA 2:14:542 Giorgio CALCATERRA ITA 2:22:023 Marco ORSI ITA 2:22:044 Marco D’INNOCENTI ITA 2:23:465 Mario ARDEMAGNI ITA 2:27:486 Glauco NEDROTTI ITA 2:30:277 Pasquale CASTALDO ITA 2:31:298 Andrea MARESCA ITA 2:34:009 Valerio BONINCI ITA 2:39:2110 Alessandro RETTINI ITA 2:40:03WOMEN:1 Natalia BRUNIKO ITA 2:49:572 Antonella BENATTI ITA 2:56:033 Annamaria CASO ITA 3:01:224 Alessandra PREZZI ITA 3:02:085 Giovanna CAVALLI ITA 3:02:176 Aurora PASQUINO ITA 3:08:337 Elena SIMSIG ITA 3:09:218 Lara MUSTAT ITA 3:11:069 Ma Luisa COSTETTI ITA 3:16:3610 Paola RAMPONI ITA 3:17:2826 FEBRUARY 2006:MARATON DE LA CUIDAD DESEVILLA, SPAINThere were a record 2934 entries in this XXIIedition, of which 2444 started and 2416 finished.The streets were full of people wanting toencourage them. Foreign participation wasstrong: 287 runners from 34 different countries,including 44 from Britain, 39 from Portugal, 29from Italy and France, 21 from Sweden and 18from Germany.In the men’s race a group of four stayed togetheruntil past halfway before breaking up. Among thewomen it was a very much more clear-cut raceafter Maria Abel dropped out just past the halfwaypoint, leaving Tina Maria Ramos to take acomfortable winMEN:1 Christoph KIPKOECH KEN 2:19:122 Leonard KIPYEGO KEN 2:20:473 Fikadu BEKELE ETH 2:21:424 Alexander BOLKHOVITIN RUS 2:23:325 Juan GARCIA ESP 2:26:496 Francisco RAMIREZ ESP 2:28:387 Moumou EL HADI MAR 2:31:098 Ricard BERRAR ESP 2:31:149 Javier CASTANO ESP 2:32:4610 Jaume GARCIA ESP 2:35:23WOMEN:1 Tina Maria RAMOS ESP 2:40:202 Michaela MCCULLUM GBR 2:42:443 Katalin FARKAS HUN 2:44:514 Oxana KHOKHOLOVA RUS 2:48:185 Rosa Ma ESCOBAR ESP 3:15:526 Blanca HINOJOSA ESP 3:18:437 Dolores JIMENEZ ESP 3:18:588 Araceli FERNANDEZ ESP 3:19:319 Stefanie WALTER-SPIRGI GER 3:21:4110 Natividad ZAPLANA ESP 3:26:3526 FEBRUARY 2006:4TH KILIMANJAROMARATHON, TANZANIAThis fourth edition of the race attracted largenumbers of entrants from around the world andthe region. The marathon had 297 runners, thehalf 475, and the fun run 715 - a total of 1487.Conditions were near-perfect, although it got hotlater in the day. Kilimanjaro was in view for mostof the morning, covered with fresh snow. Localchildren and adults alike got into the swing ofthings - clapping both the fast and slower runners,often jogging along beside runners, chatting andoffering encouragement.There were 99 women in the half marathon andfuly 119 runners were over 40. Joram Mollel, a 70-year old Tanzanian came in at 2:13.Many top Tanzanians used the race as a trainingrun for the Commonweath Games Marathon inMarch. But on the social running side, a lot ofpeople came in in the last hour, who had beenhaving fun on the route, running with the kids,stopping to chat and take pictures of Kilimanjaro,and even having a beer. Many of these socialrunners remained in Tanzania, on safari, climbingKilimanjaro or relaxing on Zanzibar - good fortourism.At the finish acrobats, traditional dancers and aband entertained the crowd..MEN:1 Daniel ROTICH KEN 2:18:322 Musa KANDA KEN 2:19:183 John TUBEI KEN 2:19:204 Oswald KAHURUZI TAN 2:20:315 Jonathan CHERONO TAN 2:21:026 Samuel LIMO KEN 2:21:267 Alex SANKA TAN 2:22:228 Robert KOMEN KEN 2:22:259 Joseph RUTTO KEN 2:22:4410 Paulo SUMAYE TAN 2:23:27WOMEN:1 Margreth KIPLAGAT KEN 2:58:372 Farida GUSS TAN 2:59:263 Emily CHEPTUIYA KEN 3:00:374 Seoflesina SUMAWE TAN 3:06:445 Naomi MWIHAKI KEN 3:19:106 Thea MUSHY TAN 3:35:397 Magdalena DIBWA TAN 3:41:188 Aisha CHULLO TAN 3:47:329 Vanda AMOS RSA 3:54:5310 Chris WALTER TAN 4:01:3050 DISTANCE RUNNING April – June 2006