The Global Telegraph - December 2005

DECEMBER 2005 - VOL. 5, N. 12 (N. 53)

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.

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This month we feature running news from: Canada, Cuba, India, New York (Usa), Nigeria.  

FEATURED WORLDWIDE RUNNING NEWS

• NEW YORK (USA) / The 2006 United States National Snowshoe Championship Series
It has been a busy off-season for the United States Snowshoe Association. As preparations for the sixth Annual U.S. National Snowshoe Championships continue at the Bolton Valley Resort in Bolton Valley Vermont next March 24th-26th, 2006, the Association has been busy expanding its calendar of regional snowshoe qualifying events from 8 events in 2005 to 20 events in 2006. Over 200 of the country's finest endurance athletes, representing 20-30 different U.S. States, are expected to converge on Bolton Valley for two days of exciting snowshoe events. Four National Championship titles will be presented in the Junior Boy's and Girl's 5km and Senior Men's and Women's 10km events. A 5km Citizens Race, Kid's Kilo, 4x2.5km Team Relay and 10km Nordic Trek (walk) will also be conducted over the two days of competition. For more information visit www.snowshoeracing.com.

• INDIA / An all-Africa affair at the Pune Marathon
Following the tradition of his predecessors, Josephat N'Deti continues the Kenyan winning-steak at the "Hutch Pune International Marathon" with a season's best of 2:19:35 to win the 20th edition on December 4, 2006. This is the fourth consecutive year a Kenyan wins at Pune as the nation's athletes stood at the top of the podium as much as seven times in the last twenty years of this marathon's history. The 32-year old N'Deti, having a personal best 2:13:37 since 1997, had won the fabulous "Abebe Bikila marathon" this year before coming here. His compatriot Ambrose Nzioka Makau, winner at Pune in 2002 and placed second the next year, made a come back here and did the front running at the initial stages of the race. Ethiopian Gemechu Kebede (having a personal best of 2:10:16) along with Indians Shivdhan Singh and Dattaraya Jaybhay were there to challenge the Kenyans. N'Deti took the lead at Mhatre bridge and never looked back till he reaches the finish line to sweat it out and pocket the prize purse of INR 250,000 (approximately 6,000 U.S. dollars). "Those few last steps were sweet steps" said Milind Wagle, the national TV Doordarshan's commentator. Kebede (2:20:38) and Makau (2:22:26) have finished behind N'Deti to take the next two spots. Nailya Yulamanova ran a splendid race to take the women's title at a moderate 1:15:05 and to breach a Kenyan double which had been the usual scene in the last two editions at Pune. The Pune marathon also has its share to promote charity runs throughout its history. This year there was charity run titled "Race against Aids" have conducted for a 3 kilometers stretch to create awareness among the people of nation. Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss and Mr. Oscar Fernandes, Union Ministers for Health and Sports respectively, Chairman of Pune International Marathon Trust and IAAF Council Member Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, Olympic tennis medalist Leander Paes, Bollywood stars Yukta Mukhi and Amrita Thapar among others were the celebrities present at Pune to inspire the participants in as much as 13 categories whose total number exceeds 30,000. Dattatraya Jaybhay of Services and Madhuri Gurnule of LIC, the first among Indian men and women runners here, were awarded a special prize of INR 100,000 each. Source: www.arrs.net

• CUBA / Rojas sets the National Record in Havana
On November 20th in Havana, the "Marabana International Half Marathon" featured Aguelmis Rojas winning his fifth title and setting a 63:40 national record in the process. The time improved the 63:54 National Record possessed by Angel Rodríguez set in 2001 and broke Rojas' own 64:10 course record set in 2001. The IAAF's Javier Robinson reports that Rojas soloed from 5k (14:58) onward, later injecting a 14:52 5k from 15-20k before finishing 1:30 ahead of second-place Norbert Gutiérrez. Iberoamerican champion Mariela González convincingly earned her ninth "Marabana" title with a 77:33 win. Reprinted with permission from "Running Stats" (www.runningstats.com)

• CANADA / Dixon named Ironman Canada race director
Ironman North America, organizers of eight Ironman events in the United States and Canada, have named Joe Dixon as race director of "Ironman Canada". Held in Penticton, British Columbia, "Ironman Canada" is the oldest Ironman race to be held in continental North America. Held for the 23rd time in 2005, it continues to be regarded as one of the best and most popular Ironman events in the world. A resident of nearby Kelowna, Dixon and his wife Sarah own and operate Outback Events Ltd., and are the producers of three triathlons in the Okanagan Valley: the "Oliver Half Iron", the "Desert Half Iron" and the "Oliver Wine Capital of Canada Sprint Triathlon". "I am excited to take the challenge of being race director of the most popular triathlon in Canada", said Dixon. "The race is known on a worldwide level, and the support that it receives from the local community is almost legendary in triathlon circles". Dixon has a long history of involvement in triathlon, having been the President of the Kelowna Apple Triathlon in 1999 and the Kelowna Tri Club President in 2002 and 2003. Dixon raced "Ironman Canada" in 2002 and has worked on various Ironman North America events in various capacities over the past five years. "We are very happy to have someone of Joe's caliber come on board with us", said Ironman North America President Graham Fraser. "He is a race professional and will be a great addition to the event". For more information log onto www.ironman.ca. Source: www.transitiontimes.com

• NIGERIA / Course record for Fabiano Joseph
On a hot (27 °C) and humid (94%) November 19th in Nigeria, world half marathon champion Fabiano Joseph (Tanzania) set a "Lagos Half Marathon" course record in front of a field of approximately 20,000. Yet it was recent "Nairobi Marathon" titlist Charles Kiama (Kenya) who led five others through 5k and continued at the front until 12k. By that time Kiama had only Joseph and John Cheruiyot Korir (Kenya), the latter racing again after recovering from a hamstring injury, as accompanists. Pat Butcher reports that when Joseph could see at 15k (43:50) that Korir could no longer share the lead, the Tanzanian pushed on, winning easily in a 62:20 course record. Korir equaled the previous course standard with a second-place 63:05, while Yuda's training partner from Arusha, John Yuda (Tanzania) finished third in 64:21 and ahead of others including Kiama, Yonas Kifle (Eritrea) and Cuthbert Nyasango (Zimbabwe). Millicent Doadi (Ghana) ran away to win the women's race by more than 7-1/2 minutes with a 76:31 clocking. Reprinted with permission from "Running Stats" (www.runningstats.com)

• OUTGOING RUNNING ENTHUSIAST NEEDED
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