|
CONTENTS
- Boston Marathon review: what headlines don't tell you
- Records spree in April in U.S., UK, Germany, and France
- Motorist threatens runners, cop outsmarts with car maneuver
- Top marathons bring US$5.2 Billion to host communities
- Humans over humanoids: running robot ruin in Beijing
- 2025 World Road Running Championships cancelled while Copenhagen 2026 stays on schedule
- U.S. Center for Safesport fires CEO
- Los Angeles Grand Prix cancelled
- London Marathon nixes X
- Chuck George retires from NORSI
- Six stars for Paula Radcliffe
| | | |
Support the E-News with Patreon - for as little as $5.00 a month.
Road Race Management screens scores of stories to bring you the most significant running industry news two to three times a month in the E-News. We hope you can help us keep the E-News going by supporting it with Patreon at a very affordable price. To subscribe, click icon on left. Thank you!
| | |
2025 Boston Marathon Review:
What Headlines Don't Tell You
| | In 2024, the first year of the Bank of America's role as presenting sponsor, runners recoiled from the commercialized look of the finisher's medal (left). In response to harsh criticism, the 2025 medal (right) was redesigned to compress the bank's logo into a modest emblem under Spike's neck. The medal compromise exemplified the tension between sponsor and sponsoree when the sponsor's financial priorities weigh against the nonmonetary spirit of the supported activity. | | |
Editor and Publisher of Road Race Management Phil Stewart and staff writer Dave Kayser returned to Boston this year for their annual update on Boston Marathon Weekend, with an emphasis on the second year of the Bank of America's sponsorship. There was a striking contrast between the informal festive atmosphere outside on Newbury Street and the relative gloom in the Expo.
Marathon race day itself was blessed with brilliant sunshine and stellar performances by Sharon Lokedi setting a women's course record and John Korir taking the men's win with a daring solo break at 20 miles.
Topics covered in the review include safety, security, signage, marketing, media coverage, running celebrities (Des Linden and Bill Rodgers in particular), and the notorious fall and recovery of men's winner John Korir.
You don't want to miss the photos of the Clif Bar bar, women's course record setter Sharon Lokedi breaking the tape, sidewalk protests on Boylston Street, wheelchair down on Coolidge Corner, and more.
For the full review of Boston Marathon Weekend, click here.
| | |
Advertise your product or service here, and over 6,000 readers will receive your ad twice a month.
Contact Jeff Darman for rates at jeff@darmangroup.com
| | |
Road runners were on a tear in April of 2025. Although the dawn of the super shoe era is well behind us, records keep falling with barely a pause, especially among women. April of this year saw two pending women-only world records: Tigst Assefa's women-only marathon record in London (2:15:50), and Agnes Ngetich's women-only 10K in Herzogenaurach, GER (29:26; Ngetich also owns the mixed record of 28:46 set in 2024).
Sharon Lokedi scored the Boston Marathon course record in 2:17:22.
A 10 Mile World Best came to American Taylor Roe in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile in Washington, DC., on April 6th. The first woman to break 50 minutes at 10 miles (49:53), the road race newcomer Roe also set U.S. records at 10K (30:56) and 15K (46:24) en route. At the same race, Alex Maier set a U.S. men's record of 45:15. (Maier went on to win the Düsseldorf Marathon in Germany on April 27 with a personal best 2:08:33.)
Notably, while not setting a record, Sebastian Sawe ran the second fastest London Marathon ever in 2:02:27, becoming the 2025 world leader.
It wasn't just individual runners setting records. The TCS London Marathon went into the Guinness Book of World Records with 56,640 finishers.
| |
|
Woman Driving Recklessly Toward Crowd of Runners
Halted by Police Cruiser Braking in Front of Her
| One way to stop an outlaw on wheels: swing around in front and slam on the brakes. | |
Runners were assembling for the Pikes Peek 10K in Montgomery County, MD, on April 27, when a Jeep Wrangler was seen heading toward the crowd at speed. The driver attempted to drive through a closed intersection, refused to obey an officer's direction, threatened to run down another officer, and continued to head toward the runners. An officer succeeded in getting their cruiser in front of the woman and braked hard enough to make the Jeep rear-end them and come to a stop.
Police had to break the driver's side window to remove her from the vehicle. She was charged with first-degree assault and disorderly conduct and held without bail. No officers or bystanders were hurt in the incident.
| | Study Says Top 50 Marathons Bring in US$5.2 Billion
to Host Communities | | |
Brand value consultancy Brand Finance has issued a report--based on "first-of-its-kind" research--that the world’s 50 biggest marathons have an aggregate economic impact of US$5.2 billion, with more than half of this value (US$2.7 billion) coming from the Abbott World Marathon Majors. According to the report, the London Marathon is "the strongest marathon brand," while the New York City Marathon has "the most valuable brand."
The report, called "Marathons 50," was launched by Brand Finance in partnership
Tata Consultancy Service (TCS). TCS is the title sponsor for both the London and New York City Marathons.
| | Humans Trounce Humanoids in Beijing | | The video above suggests that stride length is not a bipedal robot's forte--just staying upright for 13.1 miles is a major achievement. | |
China counts on competition between companies to further their march toward world supremacy in robotics engineering--and what could be better than challenging humanoid robots to a half-marathon race in Beijing? So it befell on April 19, when 21 bipedal machines set out alongside 12,000 flesh-and-blood humans in a unique test of automated endurance: to complete 13.1 miles "afoot" without collapsing.
In the end, only six robots made it to the finish line, with the fastest barely beating the cutoff time for a human participation award. The robotic winner was Tiangong Ultra, built by UBTech and the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center. Tiangong U. made it to the finish in 2:40:42, after one fall and three battery changes. Many other robot competitors overheated and one tipped, spun and crashed comically into a barrier (not shown in video above).
Actually, the event was not a test of speed for the robots so much as a test of toughness, according to Alan Fern, a robotics professor at Oregon State University. It was a big deal that six of the 21 machines completed the course at all.
| |
|
IN OTHER RUNNING (AND SPORTS) NEWS
2025 World Athletics Road Running Championships cancelled. After plans for this year's Championships to be held in San Diego fell through, alternative hosts were sought, but the World Athletics Council determined there was insufficient time to prepare an event that catered to both elite and mass participation. The Council's focus has switched to next year's road championships to be held in Copenhagen on September 19-20.
U.S. runners who had qualified for this year's event but denied the opportunity to compete were, in half marathon, Alex Maier, Shadrack Kipchirchir, and Hillary Bor for the men, and Taylor Roe, Emma Grace Hurley, and Weini Kelati for the women. In the 1 mile, they were Vince Ciattei, Sam Ellis, and Craig Engels for the men, and Krissy Gear, Karissa Schweizer, and Gracie Morris for the women. The 5K U.S. Team Qualifier had not been held when the World event was cancelled on April 25.
| | Bad hire precipitates leadership shakeup at SafeSport. The U.S. Center for Safesport fired its CEO Ju'Riese Colon on April 22nd. The action came after disclosure that an investigator hired in 2021 had been arrested twice: once for misappropriation of money seized in a drug operation, and again on multiple charges including rape and sex trafficking. The Center, trying to handle more than 150 reports a week with a team of around 30 investigators, has a backlog of hundreds of cases. | | Third edition of Los Angeles Grand Prix, scheduled for June 7-8, has been cancelled. USATF's two-year experiment with a high-profile, nationally televised meet is over. The meets in 2023 and 2024 had modest attendance, but poor ticket sales, as reported in The Sports Examiner. | | London Marathon exits X. London Marathon race director Hugh Brasher announced that the London Marathon will no longer post to the social media platform X owned by Elon Musk. Of the decision, Brasher said, "There are some social media channels that are particularly vitriolic and are descending into a gutter." | | Chuck George retires from NORSI. A wearer of many hats in the running community, Chuck George will end his leadership of the New Orleans Running Systems Road Race Management (NORSI) as of June 1st, directing the "Run/Walk Through History" event in New Orleans for the last time. Throughout his 43-year career, George has directed more than 1100 events, directed the 2005 RRCA National Convention, served on the RRCA Board of Directors, and is past recipient of the Browning Ross "Spirit of the RRCA national award. For more on Chuck, click here. | | Paula Radcliffe collects Abbott World Marathon Majors sixth star. Now 51, Radcliffe held the women's world marathon record (2:15:25) from 2003 to 2019. Radcliffe joins an exclusive club of six women who have competed in the marathon in a World Championships and Olympics in addition to running all six of the WMM. | | For the latest-breaking news on road, track, and trail every day, check out Road Race Management's home page at https://www.rrm.com/ | | |
In conjunction with the celebration of 40 years of publishing Road Race Management Newsletter, the company launched a newly-reconfigured version of its Longest Serving Race Director Rankings. The listing, which debuted in 2019, allows any race director who has directed the same race for five years or more to be included by completing this easy-to-use form. The listings are searchable by a number of different criteria including race distance, country, state, and gender. Biographical data and photos of the directors will be listed if supplied.
If you were previously listed but have not received a new request for the 2024 calendar year, please email longestservingrd@rrm.com.
| | |
Rate what you've been reading!
To tell us what you think of the E-News,
take a one question survey you'll find here.
And help to support it with a Patreon Donation today
| |
Please do not respond to this email. This email address is not monitored. All inquiries should be directed to pstewart@rrm.com.
| | | | |
