The Global Telegraph - May 2005

MAY 2005 - VOL. 5, N. 5 (N. 46)

Publisher:Run The Planet., Seattle (Usa/Washington). Editor: Indro Neri. Associate editor: Jennifer Walker. All correspondence and suggestions are welcome. Unsolicited articles will be considered. To advertise on "The Global Telegraph", contribute to or reproduce its content please contact us via e-mail at info@runtheplanet.com. "The Global Telegraph" is published 12 times a year. The next issue will close the last day of this month. © by Run The Planet., Seattle.

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This month we feature running news from: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Philippines, Virginia (Usa).

FEATURED WORLDWIDE RUNNING NEWS

• FRANCE / A Marathon Grand Slam with a prize to match
The organisers of the world's biggest marathons want to offer the richest prize in athletics. Meetings have been held in France between the race directors of the London, New York, Boston, Chicago and Berlin marathons. And they want to introduce a Marathon Grand Slam with a prize to match. There is a growing frustration among race directors that their interests are being overlooked by the world governing body, and the directors are considering breaking away from the track-orientated International Association of Athletics Federations. One race director said: "It is no good us standing on the sidelines whinging. Between us, we organise the biggest events in international athletics and we need to move ahead and do what is in our own best interests". New York has begun to re-emerge as a force, not least because of the backing of new sponsors ING - and the bank's financial clout is believed to be behind the idea of a million-dollar prize. In marathon running, a Grand Slam of four races in a year would be impossible. So race directors are considering offering the million-dollar prize for a career Slam. Source: www.arrs.net

• GERMANY / Julius Rop debuts at the Leipzig marathon
On a windy April 17th in Germany, at the "Leipzig Marathon", Julius Rop (Kenya) made his marathon debut auspicious with a 2:16:22 win. Artur Blasinki (Poland) finished a distant second in 2:19:24, Wilson Kipngetich (Kenya) third in 2:19:36, and Benedict Ako (Tanzania) fourth in 2:21:21. Winning by more than 10 minutes, Judy Kiplimo (Kenya) claimed the women's title in 2:46:06. Reprinted with permission from "Running Stats" (www.runningstats.com)

•  VIRGINIA (USA) / The return of the Southern Track Classic
The King's Fork High School Athletic Department and the University of Richmond Track & Field Program are pleased to announce that after a one year absence "The Southern Track Classic" will be held this year at the Fred Hardy Track on the grounds of the University of Richmond. King's Fork High will be the meet host while the University of Richmond will serve as site host. King's Fork Principal and STC founder Dan Ward will serve as meet director and head up operations. Richmond head men's coach Steve Taylor will direct all facility issues. Taylor stated "The University of Richmond is very excited about bringing The Classic to our campus. It has historically been one of the finest scholastic track & field meets in the United States and we anticipate no less here at the University of Richmond. We know that meet management always secures great athletes and officials. It should be an outstanding show!". From 1999 through 2003 "The Southern Track Classic" produced more top 100 performances than all other regular season meets in Virginia combined. Multiple high school national champions and All-Americans have competed at the meet. An indication of the strength of the competition was in a comment made by former L.C. Bird Coach, Bob Reed: "We set five school records today and didn't win a medal!". Field events are scheduled to commence at 5:00 pm, May 13th with the running events to follow at 6:40. For entry information contact Dan Ward at danielward@spsk12.net.

• ITALY / Second Golden Shoe for Lebid
On Saturday, April 9th in Vigevano, five-time European Cross Country champion Sergey Lebid (Ukraine) earned his second "Golden Shoe 8K" title. Lebid used the final 300 meters of a seven-lap course to kick away from cross country and track specialist John Cheruiyot Korir (Kenya). Lebid, who prepared under new coach Igor Lyscinski in the Kislovotz winter near the Caucasian mountains, picked up his second win in 23:19, with Korir, fifth the previous weekend at "Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10M", second in 23:24, David Chelule (Kenya) third in 23:47, Ruggero Pertile fourth in 23:53 and Alan Masai Ndiwa (Kenya) fifth in 23:55. Reprinted with permission from "Running Stats" (www.runningstats.com)

• CANADA / Yukon Arctic Ultra 2006 now open for registrations
The "Yukon Arctic Ultra" 2006 is now open for registrations. Next year's edition of the world's toughest and coldest ultramarathon will see a spectacular addition. The organizers will now offer a distance that goes all the way from Whitehorse, the Yukon capital, to Dawson City! That is 470 miles of pure adventure in the Arctic. The time limit to reach Dawson is 13 days. And the last 150 miles will be extremely remote. No road access. Only experienced athletes will be able to participate. The first registration has just reached the organization from ultra veteran René Nuesch from Switzerland. Apart from the race to Dawson, the "Yukon Arctic Ultra" course will again offer a marathon, 100 and 300 mile distance. Race start will be on February 11, 2006. The official training course is on February 9 and 10 and it is mandatory for all ultramarathon participants without prior cold weather experience. The pre-race meeting will be held on February 10 in Whitehorse. More details at www.arcticultra.de.

• NORWAY / Welcome to the land of the attacking Vikings
The "Adventure Provider Viking Raids" are multisports non stop adventure races without assistance. One of the two events (June 16-22) is open to professional teams and well trained sport teams of any kind; the other (June 10-12) is for non professional teams, student or not, amateur who like challenges or people who just like the fun of it. The adventure consists in one day of preparation followed by 6 days of non-stop race. Teams (four to five participants) must manage their time according to their needs to rest, eat and cover the itinerary. The itinerary will be given on the preparation day, to every team's captains. Only three raiders of the same team can race together at a time, the other two can replace them on any check point. The number of permutation is limited to 10 for the entire race. The rules are simple: there is one start and one finish line, there is only one class for teams (whether teams are mixed or not) and only one ranking. The Viking Raid disciplines can include all or part of: mountaineering, orienteering, glacier walking, canyoning, rope sections, sea kayaking, river boarding, skiing or snowboarding, rafting, mountain biking, in-line skating. If you are looking for a new race in one of the most beautiful location on this planet in the middle of the fjords, mountains, waterfalls, natural parks, glaciers, and lakes this race is for you. More details can be found at www.adventureprovider.com.

• PHILIPPINES / Rafols and Pilapil dominate Cagayan-North Aquathlon
National triathlon swimming coach Loi Rafols and Josephine Pilapil dominated the field to claim top honors in the "Cagayan-North Aquathlon" on March 20 at the San Vicente Naval Operating Base in the town. Rafols, a Philippine Navy enlisted man, took command in the 1-kilometer swim, held his ground in the 2-K beach run before breaking away in the 5-K run to take the overall championship with a time of 58:57 minutes. John Omar Paredes, the swimming coach of University of the Philippines-Los Baños, checked in second with a time of 1:00:11, more than two minutes ahead of the third-placed Jerimiah Tambok (1:02:31). The 17-year-old Pilapil, the 2003 national champion, checked in with a time of 1:02:28 (beaten only by Rafols and Paredes) to win the women's title pulling away. "I built my lead in the swim, especially the grind back where the waves were enormous", said Rafols in Filipino. "It provided me the cushion for the run". The event was supposed to be held at the Anguib beach in Santa Ana town, but bad weather forced the organizers to move the venue to the San Vicente Naval Operating Base. Organizers led by Cagayan Gov. Edgar Lara and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority CEO Jose Mari Ponce thanked Commodore Salvador Padua, San Vicente Naval Operating Base commanding officer, for hosting the races. Scores of participants, including members of the national triathlon and kayaking teams, took part in the event sponsored by the provincial government of Cagayan. Source: www.transitiontimes.com

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