The elite field for the 66th Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon on March 06 in Japan has been announced. Eritrean Asmerom Yared, who finished the Lake Biwa Marathon second behind Mubarak Hassan Shami of Qatar in 2008, is listed as one of the favourites for the race.

The field includes world-class Kenyan athete Wilson Kipsang, who run for victory in 2:04:57 in last fall’s Frankfurt Marathon .

Some of the other top men include Merga Deriba of Ethiopia, El Hachimi Mohamed of Marokko, Musinschi Laroslav of Moldavia and Kangogo Moses of Kenya.

The first Mainichi Marathon was held in 1946 and was organized by the Mainichi Newspapers and the Japan Association of Athletics Federation.

Since then the race has been held annually and has constantly served as a qualifying event for major championships such as the Olympic Games, World Championships in Athletics, the World University Games, and Asian Games.

TOKYO — Ethiopian long distance legend Haile Gebrselassie will lead a strong field at the Tokyo marathon next month as he makes his first major appearance since his cancelled retirement.

The 37-year-old world, who announced his retirement in November last year only to reverse the decision days later, set the world record for the marathon in Berlin in 2008 with a time of two hours, three minutes 59 seconds.

Organisers said his main rivals will include Felix Limo of Kenya, who set his personal best of 2:06:14 winning the 2004 Rotterdam marathon, and Yemane Tsegay of Ethiopia, whose best is 2:06:30 when he finished fourth in the 2009 Paris marathon.

Gebrselassie said a knee injury and his failure to finish the New York marathon earlier in the month were the reasons for his unexpected — and short-lived — retirement from athletics.

The Tokyo marathon on February 27 will be his first major appearance since then.

Kenya’s Paul Biwott and Salim Kipsang are also expected to pose a threat with their best times of 2:07:02 and 2:07:29, while Ethiopia’s Hailu Mekonnen has a best time of 2:07:37.

Other major athletes will be Tadesse Abraham of Eritrea and last year’s Hokkaido marathon winner Cyrus Gichobi Njui of Kenya, while hosts Japan will send Masakazu Fujiwara, Arata Fujiwara and Satoshi Irifune.

The women’s race will include Nuta Olaru of Romania, Russia’s Tatiana Petrova and 2008 Los Angeles marathon winner Tatiana Aryasova, Asmae Leghzaoui of Morocco and Olena Burkovska of Ukraine with local hopes resting on Yoko Shibui.

AFP

MONACO (AP) — The IAAF has ratified two world records set by Zersenay Tadese. The Eritrean runner broke both the 20K and half marathon records in Lisbon on March 21.

Tadese ran the half marathon in 58 minutes, 23 seconds, breaking Kenyan Samuel Kamau Wanjiru’s mark by 10 seconds. Tadese also completed 20K during the same race in 55:21, which beat the previous mark of 55:48 set by Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie in 2006.

The IAAF also ratified a new world indoor record in the women’s 3,200 relay. A Russian quartet set a time of 8:12.41 in Moscow on Feb. 28.

A Canadian runner born to an Eritrean father and an Ethiopian mother wants to end the Kenyan domination of the Vancouver Sun Run. But realizing that ambitious goal, one of just several who could change the face of Canadian long-distance running, will have to wait for Simon Bairu.

Bairu, 26, from Regina, had a May 1 date in Stanford, Calif., at the Payton Jordan Invitational track meet, where he was attempting to break a nine-year-old Canadian record in the 10,000 metres, one of several Canadian running records that have stood the test of time, much to Bairu’s consternation. His ultimate goal is to evolve into a marathoner, take a run at Jerome Drayton’s hoary Canadian record, which has been on the books since 1975, and become the first Canadian to run under 2:10 in the classic distance race.

While Bairu’s schedule won’t allow him to recover in time for Sunday’s Sun Run, just eight days after his Stanford run farther down the coast, he aches to race in the mass 10K road event, the second largest in North America, probably as early as next year.

“I wish I had an opportunity to run more in Canada,” Bairu admits. “Hopefully, I’ll be up there [Vancouver] in the next couple of years.”

Bairu trains in Portland as part of the Nike Oregon Project, a high-performance camp set up to address the decline of American (and Canadian) achievement in running — middle-distance through marathoning — in an era dominated disproportionately by Olympic champions and world-record holders from Kenya and Ethiopia.

Eric Gillis, of Guelph, Ont., is also part of the leading edge in a revival of Canadian distance running. In January, the 30-year-old from the Speed River Track and Field Club (named for the river that flows through Guelph) ran 2:13:56 in his first attempt at the marathon in a race in Houston. It is believed to be the second-fastest debut marathon time in Canadian history. Athletics Canada set a standard of 2:14 to qualify for the Beijing games. No Canadian was able to make it to the start line.

Gillis trains with Reid Coolsaet, Canada’s top finisher at the 2009 world championships marathon, and he’ll be regarded as the Canadian favourite in the 2010 Sun Run,

which could be a mirror image of the 2010 Victoria Times Colonist 10K on April 25. Kenyans

Kip Kangogo, Willie Kimosop and Kibet Rutto swept the top three placings in that race with Scott Simpson of Victoria finishing fourth.

Despite his third-place result in Victoria, however, Rutto should be the man to beat in the elite division of this year’s Sun Run, which has been won by a runner with a Kenyan passport 13 times in the past 16 years. He ran the Victoria 10K with a slight calf injury, and just days after a 35-hour commute from Africa. Just 23, the runner from Iten, Kenya divides his time between training at altitude back home and his North American base in Waterloo, Ont. Sponsored by The Running Room, Rutto’s aim is to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London in the 10,000, then evolve to the marathon like Bairu and Gillis.

“There are so many Kenyans running fast right now,” Gillis says.

“You don’t always know their names or their histories, but you have to give them respect. Still, you just can’t say, ‘Oh, I’m in a race with a Kenyan, I can’t run with him.’ Even if they have fast track times, that doesn’t mean they’re not beatable on the road.”

Indeed, Gillis held off Kenya’s Josephat Ongeri to win the Harry’s Spring Run-Off 8K race April 3 in Toronto. Matt Loiselle of Toronto, who was third in that race, is also entered in the 2010 Sun Run.

“Having Kenyans in a race is a little bit of motivation,” says the 25-year-old Loiselle. “They dominate the sport, but that’s the reason I’m coming to Vancouver. Good competition helps you to get better.”  (The Vancouver Sun)

A week ago, while Ryan Hall was running around sunny Walden Pond, Meb Keflezighi was back home in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., navigating through a foot of snow.

Last November, when Keflezighi was basking on the podium after winning the New York City Marathon, Hall was frustrated in fourth place.

In 2007, after Hall was high-fiving fans en route to winning the Olympic trials in New York’s Central Park, Keflezighi was sitting on the curb sobbing, worried his career might be over after finishing eighth.

Keflezighi and Hall, the United States’ premier marathon runners, belong to the same team and live 1,000 feet from each other in California. But they have rarely been in step the last three years. Too friendly to be marquee rivals, they are more like good neighbors who pass each other on the trails.

Each has his own coach, style, workout regimen and distinct marathon results. Keflezighi, a gritty, methodical runner, has the medals and finally got his major title; Hall, a gutsy frontrunner, has significantly faster times, but still lacks a big-city victory.

On Monday, they will line up in Hopkinton, Mass., for the 114th Boston Marathon, each hoping to become the first American man to win the race since 1983.

“I respect Ryan, we’re good friends and I wish him nothing but the best,” Keflezighi, 34, said this week from California. “I hope one of us does come first.”

Then, laughing, he said, “Of course, I hope it can be me.”

Hall, 27, was in the hunt last year in Boston before battling headwinds and finishing third.

“There’s this brewing fire in me,” Hall said this week from Boston. “I’ve tasted it. I know I can run even faster.”

Hall is at his best when he can lock into a rhythm early and, as he put it, “just fly.” At London in 2008, Hall ran the second-fastest time ever by an American — 2 hours 6 minutes 17 seconds — in finishing fifth. He has announced that he wants to break the American record (2:05:38, by Khalid Khannouchi) on the flat Chicago course this fall.

But Hall also showed he could steamroll the hills of Central Park. Just as he ran that course before the Olympic trials, Hall came to Boston three weeks early, leaving the 8,000-foot altitude in Mammoth Lakes to gain a different advantage.

Hall wanted to become accustomed to the rolling hills, markers, potholes and winds. Last year, he ran as if burst from a cannon, going 4:28 in the first downhill mile, following a scientific study. He never sustained a rhythm or kept the study. “I threw it out after the race,” he said.

This time, he opted for his own research, with a little help from the four-time Boston winner Bill Rodgers. The two have been exchanging e-mail messages and met one day two weeks ago for a brief run. “When you get familiar with the course, you are more in your element, you can flow out of that,” Hall said.

Keflezighi, meanwhile, feeds off the flow of competition. He proved he was a championship racer by winning the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the first American man to medal since Frank Shorter in 1976. In New York, Keflezighi overtook the leader, Robert Cheruiyot, in the final miles to win his first marathon after seven years of near-misses and severe injuries. Perseverance — Keflezighi came to the United States at age 12 after his family escaped war in Eritrea — is his mantra.

Hall’s and Keflezighi’s opposing styles rekindle the age-old running debate over medals and records — and which determines success.

Rodgers has been dazzled by Hall’s talent since his eye-popping marathon debut in London (2:08:24) in 2007. “He’s one of the most, if not the most successful runners since Frank Shorter, who won and won and won,” Rodgers said, but quickly added, “I would say, though, at this point, Meb has achieved a higher level, and that was really cemented in New York.”

Hall, too, was impressed by Keflezighi’s performance in New York.

“It was just cool to see him win after many people had written him off,” he said. “Seeing his age — not that he’s at the end — but it’s good to see a guy out there hit it and pick up victories.”

Keflezighi turns 35 on May 5. He is the father of three girls, the youngest just turning 3 months. Keflezighi opted to stay in Mammoth Lakes until the last possible moment — for his family, and also to make up for lost time.

In January, he injured his left knee after falling on ice, which curtailed his training in February and contributed to his dropping out of the New York City Half Marathon in March. He is still bothered by slight tendonitis, but said he was encouraged by his 100-mile-plus training weeks the last month.

“Obviously he wouldn’t be running Boston if we didn’t think he could come up with a strong competitive race,” his longtime coach, Bob Larsen, said.

Hall, too, had an injury last winter. He finished second at Phoenix’s half marathon in January, when he was bothered by adhesions in his legs and received treatment in February.

Before their injuries, the two did a few tempo and long runs together, but with Hall wanting to push the pace and Keflezighi more methodical, “that doesn’t always lend itself to training together,” said Terrence Mahon, Hall’s coach, who oversees the dozen elite athletes in Mammoth Lakes.

Keflezighi mentored Hall when he began running marathons, and the two now compare notes. Mahon hopes the team’s bonds, albeit loose, will help them against the Ethiopians, led by the defending champion, Deriba Merga, 29, and the Kenyans, featuring the newcomer Gilbert Yegon, 21, who ran a 2:06:18 in Amsterdam last fall.

No American man has won New York and Boston back-to-back since Alberto Salazar in 1982, when he outdueled Minnesota’s Dick Beardsley in the broiling April heat.

“If an American wins Boston, whether it’s Meb or Ryan, that would just be a huge, huge story,” Rodgers said. “And if Meb gets it after winning New York, that would be quite something.” Source: (The New York Times)

Lisbon, Portugal – Another great field has been assembled for the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon which on Sunday celebrates its 20th anniversary.

The target for organisers of this IAAF Gold Label Road Race is the World record in the Half Marathon, sweetened by a 50,000 EUR World record bonus. As has been done in the previous two editions, the runners will follow a modified record standard course with the start at sea level.

Leading the charge will be Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea, the four-time World Half Marathon champion and 2009 World silver medalist at 10,000m. The 28-year-old has asked organizers to provide pacesetters to target the 58:33 World record set by Samuel Wanjiru in 2007. Tadese has a career bet of 58:59 from 2007.

Joining Tadese will be Jaouad Gharib of Morocco the two-time World champion in the Marathon and reigning Olympic silver medallist over the longer distance. Gharib, who has a 59:59 personal best, is a regular presence at the race and has collected five top-10 finishes including last year’s runner-up showing.

Kenya will of course also be well represented. Leading the way for the east African powerhouse will be Samuel Kosgei (59:35 PB), the 30Km World record holder (1:27.44); Portugal Half Marathon winner in 2008 and 2009, Silas Sang (1:00:20); Emmanuel Mutai (1:00:39), the 2009 World championships Marathon silver medalist; adn Gideon Ngatuny (59:50), winner of Nagoya Half Marathon in 2008 and 2009. Other Kenyans expected in the mix include Matthew Kisorio (10,000m pb: 27:15.44), who was sixth at the 2009 Cross Country Championships; Sammy Kitwara (58:59); Nicholas Korir (15Km PB 42:59); John Kariuki (60:10); Ernest Kebenei (1:01:39); Peter Kiplagat Sitienei (1:01:25); and Kiplimo Kimutai (59:44).

Ethiopian Melese Asfaw (1:02:35), winner of 2008 and 2009 Shanghai Marathon, could be a factor as well, along with his compatriot Ibrahim Jeilan, a former World Youth and Junior medallist who is still just 20.

Leading Europeans in the field include Spaniard “Chema” Martinez, the 2002 European champion in the 10,000m and runner-up at the continental championships in 2006; Russian Yuri Abramov (1:02:50), who was third at last year’s Houston Marathon.

Leading the domestic charge will be Luís Feiteira (1:03:43), who was fifth at the 2009 Prague Marathon; Helder Ornelas (1:02:57), the runner-up last year in the Saint Denis Half Marathon; and José Ramos (1:03:23), who was ninth in this race last year.

Dita vs. Ndereba in the women’s race

In the women’s field, the focus will be on Romanian Constantina Dita, the 2008 Olympic Marathon champion who has a 1:08:07 PB, and Catherine Ndereba (1:07:53) of Kenya, the two-time Olympic silver medallist in the Marathon.

Others to watch include Kenyans Magdeline Chemjor (1:09:39) and Peninah Arusei (1:08:20), the winner of this year’s Koyang Half Marathon, and Ethiopian Askale Tafa (1:09:37), who was fifth at the 2008 Boston Marathon.

Local eyes will focus on former Olympic, World and European champion Fernanda Ribeiro (1:08:23), and Monica Rosa (1:13:09) who will be looking to improve from her sixth place finish here last year.

The women’s field is not as deep as the men’s but the weather forecast promises good conditions for everyone. Temperatures of 15 C maximum (12 C min) are expected, with light winds and a 30 percent chance of rain.

This race, which boasts a total of 35,000 runners (6000 in the Half Marathon), crosses the Tagus River over the popular 25th of April Bridge.

António Manuel Fernandes for the IAAF

Reigning champions Sammy Wanjiru and Irina Mikitenko will return to defend their London Marathon titles next April against two of the strongest fields ever assembled in the 29-year history of the race.

Wanjiru smashed the course record last April when he added the London crown to his Beijing Olympic gold, while Mikitenko will be chasing a rare triple after she retained her title in superb style in 2009. The German is aiming to become only the second woman ever to win three London marathons in a row following fellow-German Katrin Dorre’s trio of victories from 1992 to 1994.

Yet both champions face stern tests if they are to repeat their triumphs on Sunday 25 April next year.

Despite his brilliant win in a personal best of 2 hours 5 minutes 10 seconds this year, Wanjiru will be only the third quickest in the 2010 men’s field.

The line-up includes no fewer than six men who have run faster than 2:05:30, including reigning World champion Abel Kirui and three-times London winner Martin Lel, both of Kenya, plus world and Olympic bronze medallist Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia, who was second in London last year, and former double-world champion Jaouad Gharib of Morocco, who was third.

Quickest of the lot, however, is Kenyan record holder Duncan Kibet, the second fastest marathon runner of all time thanks to his 2:04:27 victory in Rotterdam this year. Like Kirui, Kibet will be making his London Marathon debut.

“I am delighted to be returning to London again,” said Wanjiru, the 23-year-old Kenyan who was crowned World Marathon Majors champion in November. “I will be doing my best to defend my title after I worked so hard to win it last year. London always has the world’s best athletes but with opponents such as Duncan, Abel and Martin it will be even tougher this time.”

There are many other likely challengers among the 16-strong elite field, including sub-2:07 World silver medallist Emmanuel Mutai of Kenya, plus two-times New York Marathon champion Marilson Dos Santos of Brazil.

Two Eritreans – Yonas Kifle, and the triple World Half Marathon champion Zersenay Tadese – will also be in the hunt for medals, while the Asian challenge comes from a trio of Japanese runners – the Matsumiya twins, Yuko and Takayuki, and Yusei Nakao.

Britain’s hopes of a decent showing rest with Dan Robinson, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist, and Andrew Lemoncello, a former steeplchaser making his debut over 26 miles 385 yards.

Competition in the women’s race will be equally fierce. While Mikitenko heads the field with her German record of 2:19:19, the World Marathon Majors champion faces stiff opposition from Romania’s Olympic title holder Constantina Dita, all three medallists from the Berlin World Championships, and Britain’s Mara Yamauchi who produced a brilliant performance in 2009 to finish second just a minute behind the German in a personal best of 2:23:12.

“My goal is to win a third London Marathon and equal Katrin’s record,” said the 37-year-old Mikitenko. “I love running in London and I am determined to be fit and ready for the challenge, although I know it will be difficult against such strong opponents.”

In all, six athletes in the 19-strong field have broken 2:22 while 12 have run faster than 2:25. Athens Olympic medallist Deena Kastor is the second fastest in the field, and the American will be keen to repeat her 2006 London victory when she set a US record of 2:19:36.

New York silver medallist Lyudmila Petrova has the third quickest time. She is one of five strong Russians, including fellow veteran Svetlana Zakharova, three-times a silver medallist in London, Liliya Shobukhova, the 2009 Chicago champion and third here last year, and Inga Abitova, winner of the recent Yokohama marathon.

There’s also a phalanx of fast Ethiopians, including the Berlin champion, Atsede Habtamu, the 2009 Dubai champion, Bezunesh Bekele, the World Championships bronze medallist, Mergia Aselefech, and former Paris champion Magarsa Assale Tafa.

World champion Bai Xue of China leads the Asian threat, along with World silver medallist Yoshimi Ozaki and her Japanese teammate Yukiko Akaba. Two New Zealanders, Kim Smith and Fiona Docherty, and South African Tanith Maxwell make up the field.

Virgin London Marathon race director David Bedford said: “We are delighted to welcome our two champions back to head such high quality races. These elite fields are as good as any we’ve had in the previous 29 London Marathons, and I am sure they will produce two superb contests for the London crowds.” Source: (Virgin London Marathon)

Keith McLeod of the Dailyrecord reports about  three Eritrean runners scooping to the top prizes in a road race – despite running a kilometre more than all the other competitors.

A stewarding error meant that runners Tsegezeah Woldemichael, Tewoldcebrhan Mengisteab and Tsegai Tewelde continued straight on instead of taking a turn in Carluke, Lanarkshire.

But, incredibly, all three athletes recovered after being redirected on to the correct route. And they finished a full two minutes ahead of the fourth-placed runner. Read the full story

Tadesse Abraham

Abraham Tadesse the new comer from Eritrea made his first Marathon and finished the first place at the Zurich competition. The 27 year old Eritrean runs for the team LC Ulster. The second place went to Oleg Kulkow from Russia and Tesfaye Eticha from Ethiopia achieved the third rank. Read more:

Amman, Jordan: Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese makes third place at the IAAF World Cross Country Championship in Amman. The last time Tadese won the championship was in 2007. read more: