The Global Telegraph - August 2004

AUGUST 2004 - VOL. 4, N. 8 (N. 37)

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 Inc., Seattle.

---

This month we feature running news from: Congo, Finland, Malta, Norway, Indiana (Usa).  

FEATURED WORLDWIDE RUNNING NEWS

• NORWAY / A marathon in the Arctic
"I would like to combine marathon with something exotic and arctic" thought more the 2200 runners who took part of the fifteenth edition of the "Midnight Sun Marathon". At almost 70° North you can run in broad daylight in the middle of the night. The race is the northenmost Aims certified marathon in the world. Runners from 30 nations participated. They came from nations like England, Australia, United States of America, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Japan, South Africa and many other countries. They could chose between different distances and about 265 runners started at the marathon field. The race stated at 20:30 on Saturday and most of the runners finished past midnight. The last runner passed the line at 3:00 on Sunday morning. The weather was wonderful with a clear blue sky, the midnight sun, light wind and about 9 °C. Swedish half marathon champion from 2003, Said Regragui, had the best time in the field, and he started fast. By halfway, after the first out and back loop of the course on the mainland side, he led by four minutes from Knut Aalien. The course comes back trough the centre of Tromsǿ, on an island, after 2O kilometers before another out and back loop towards Tromsǿ airport. After 3O kilometers, on the exposed north-facing side of Tromsǿ Island, this course tests over-optimistic starters. Regragui proved to be one of them. Aalien ran a very fast second half to overtake Regragui and finish at 2:27:48, three minutes ahead of Regragyu. Gudmund Hǿst also finished strongly to take third place (2:30:56). The race incorporated the Norwegian National Championships and was dominated by domestie runners. Regragui was the only non-Norwegian in the top 10 finishers. Sharon Broadwell, Norway finished first of the womens and was also the Norwegian Championship. She finished at 2:59:55. If you would like to know more about the "Midnight Sun Marathon", visit www.msm.no.

• MALTA / Red Bull Birzebbuga results
These are the results of the sixth edition of the "Red Bull Birzebbuga 10k" held on July 16: (men) 1. Jonathan Balzan (Malta) 33.11 course record; 2. Drew Lang (Great Britain) 34.21; 3. Peter Azzopardi (Malta) 34.35; (women) 1. Angela Sammut (Malta) 40.56; 2. Marylyn Bezzina (Malta) 41.48; 3. Carmen Hili (Malta) 42.47. One thing of note is that Lyn Hughes, who held the World Record for the 40 miles on the track, took part along with his brother Eric who is the Welsh Over 65 champion in the 5k. Source: www.arrs.net

• FINLAND / Tampere Games results
At the July 7th Tampere Games in Finland, Silas Sang (Kenya) tried to pace several Scandinavians to a 13:45 over 5000m. Sang passed 3K (8:15) on pace but no one could stay with him. He slowed to a 13:37.07 win, with Henrik Sandstad (Norway) second in 14:05.84, Bjerre Flemming (Denmark) third in 14:05.92, Tuomo Lehtinen fourth in 14:06.35 and European Champs marathon 8th-placer Karl Rasmussen (Norway) ...12th in 14:57.36. Reprinted with permission from "Running Stats" (www.runningstats.com)

• INDIANA (USA) / Nathan named Athlete of the Week
Le Shundra "DeDee" Nathan of the Indianapolis Invaders track club has been named the Usa Track & Field athlete of the week after turning in several spectacular performances at the UsaTF National Club Track & Field Championships held in Bloomington. Nathan was named the female Most Valuable Athlete by scoring the most individual points at the Club Championships tallying 42.5 of the Indiana Invaders women's 167 total points. The Invaders won the men's, women's and combined scoring at the event. The defending Olympic Trials heptathlon champion, Nathan placed first in the 4x100 meter relay in 47.16 seconds, first in the woman's high jump with a jump of 1.72m/5-7.75, second in the 100 meter hurdles in a time of 13.75 seconds, second in the javelin throw in 44.81m/147-0 and third in the shot put with a throw of 13.79m/45-3. Other outstanding performances from the National Club Track & Field Championships included Olympic Trials Qualifiers Hope Sanders and Zack Riley of the Invaders claiming Top Female & Male Performer honors. Sanders defended her national title in the club championships 800m with a record time of 2:05.11, while Riley landed an Olympic Trials qualifying throw of 69.88 meters for a new record in the hammer throw. Now in its fourth year, UsaTF's Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. UsaTF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on the UsaTF website. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week. Source: www.splittimes.com

• CONGO / African Championships in Brazzaville
On July 14-17 in Brazzaville, the African Champs were held. A tactical women's 5000m featured two women more than three minutes up on the field. In the final straight Etalemahu Kidane (Ethiopia) struck gold in 16:25.83, with Prisca Jepleting (Kenya) silver in 16:26.15. The men's 10,000m was thought to improve former world champion Charles Kamathi's (Kenya) chances for Olympic selection as he won in 28:07.83 to Abebe Dinkessa's (Ethiopia) 28:10.49 and Admasu Yebeltal's (Ethiopia) 28:28.69. The women's 10,000m presented a close battle between Eyerusalem Kuma (Ethiopia) and Irene Kwambai (Kenya). Kuma got the win in 31:56.77, with Kwambai second in 31:57.54 and Catherine Kirui (Kenya) third in 32:35.71. The final day's men's 5000m had Zwedo Maregu (Ethiopia) claiming gold in 13:47.77, with Boniface Songok (Kenya) silver in 13:48.06 and Hillary Chenonge (Kenya) bronze in 13:48.44. Reprinted with permission from "Running Stats" (www.runningstats.com)

• UPCOMING NUTRITION AND EXERCISE WORKSHOPS
If you are looking for an intensive workshop on Nutrition for Exercise, here is your chance to learn from two internationally known experts. Sports nutritionist Nancy Clark MS, RD and exercise physiologist William Evans PhD will be offering a one and a half day program that is designed to help coaches, athletic trainers, exercise physiologists, sports nutritionists, sports medicine professionals as well as athletes themselves find answers to their questions about eating for health, enhanced performance and longevity, balancing carbs, protein and sports supplements, managing weight and eating disorders. Save the dates of the United States tour: Chicago August 20-21, Detroit September 10-11, Indianapolis September 17-18, St. Louis November 5-6, Minneapolis December 3-4; 2005: Dallas January 21-22, Houston February 11-12, New Orleans March 4-5. This is the last time in the next four years these experts will be offering this workshop on the central states. Dedicated athletes as well as professionals looking for continueing education credits are welcome to attend. See www.sportsnutritionworkshop.com for more details.