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CONTENTS
- Women's world record for Assefa in Berlin Marathon; Kipchoge wins fifth title
- Climate activists disrupt start of Berlin Marathon
- Dublin Half woos female runners with deferments, lottery preferences
- Diamond League's packed 2024 schedule
- 2024 U.S. Olympic Team T&F Trials back in Eugene
- Misplaced course marker robs Ngetich of two world road records
- Train delays runners at Quad Cities; runners' times adjusted with timing mat records to compensate for delay
- RunSignup: registrations trending back up to 2019 levels
- Bickering over legitimacy of Assefa's WR in LetsRun
- Opinion by George Perry: non-binary category hurts female athletes
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Tigst Assefa crushes women's world marathon record in Berlin. //Photo: Jean-Marc Wiesner for SCC Events; used with permission.// | |
Last year's women's winner in Berlin, Ethiopian Tigst Assefa blasted off to a first half in this year's edition in 1:06:20, solidly under the women's world record pace. But Assefa had greater things in mind as she hammered through the second half in 1:05:33 en route to a world record 2:11:53--demolishing Brigid Kosgei's previous record of 2:14:04, set in Chicago in 2019.
Assefa may have owed her sensational time in part to $500 Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 shoes--designed for one-time use--but some detractors had other explanations (see under IN OTHER RUNNING NEWS below). Alison Wade noted in Fast Women that Assefa had male pacers until near the finish--nothing new in women's record attempts, but an additional factor in Assefa's unprecedented performance.
Meanwhile, Eliud Kipchoge was back to his old ways, recovering from a disappointing 6th place in Boston last April to win a record 5th Berlin Marathon. Kipchoge escaped upstart fellow Kenyan Vincent Kipkemoi (in his marathon debut!) by 31 seconds, 2:02:42 to 2:03:13.
A record nine men ran under 2:05.
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Members of climate activist group "Last Generation" attempted to block the start of the Berlin Marathon, wearing orange vests and spray-painting the street orange. (Warning: before you click on the video above, you might want to turn the volume down.) | |
Just prior to the race in which Tigst Assefa set the women's world marathon record, "Last Generation" climate activists painted the street in front of the start of the Berlin Marathon and blocked the road with their bodies. The group, known for similar stunts in the past, had been forewarned by authorities that their protest was disallowed. Police quickly hauled away the protestors with Germanic efficiency, and the race proceeded normally with 45,000 runners.
In May, German law enforcement cracked down on Last Generation with raids on properties linked to them, but no arrests were made. A Last Generation spokesperson said they would continue its activities.
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With female participation below 40%, organizers of the Irish Life Dublin Half Marathon sought to boost the numbers by allowing pregnant or postpartum women in 2023 to defer their entry to 2024, 2024, or 2026. Also, women running in this year's half marathon would be given preferential treatment for next year's race, being able to enter before the opening of the 2024 lottery.
Organizers said the offers contributed to a 5% increase in female participation in this year's half marathon.
Dublin Marathon organizers also opened a non-binary category in this year's race, enabling men already entered in the men's category to switch to the non-binary category, with prize money for the top three. Four entrants then changed to non-binary.
The non-binary category will be available from the start of the entry process in 2024.
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Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group signed a 10-year title sponsorship of the Diamond League beginning in 2020. | The 2024 Diamond League schedule is packed with 15 meets, 10 of them slated before the Paris Olympics. The Prefontaine Classic moves back to its traditional May date after serving as the series final in September of this year. | |
Hayward Field, reconstructed in 2020, hosted the U.S. Team Trials for the Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 World Athletics Championships, the 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships, and as the traditional Prefontaine Classic served as the final meet of the 2023 Diamond League series. | |
USA Track & Field and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced that Eugene, Oregon has been awarded the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track & Field, for the Paris Olympics. The 2024 event will be the eighth U.S. Olympic Team Trials to be held at Hayward Field since 1972. | |
What might have been: Agnes Ngetich was thought to have set both the 10K and 5K women's world road records in the Brasov Running Festival 10K. //Photo: Brasov Running Festival.// | Misplacement of a course marker cost Agnes Ngetich two world road records she was believed to have set in a 10K in Brasov, Romania, in mid-September. A remeasurement discovered the error which had made the course 25 meters short of 10K. Ngetich's pace was fast enough that she would probably have beaten the previous 10K record--which she had eclipsed by 36 seconds--if she had run the full 10K distance. But because of the misplaced marker her record could not be ratified--nor could the 5K record time she ran en route. | |
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Despite the Quad Cities Marathon having notified Canadian Pacific Railway of the timing of the race on September 24, 400 out of 4,000 runners were delayed mid-race by a train. Race Director Joe Moreno explained that the railroad is notified about the race every year, but this year the railroad apparently "didn't get the memo."
It was only the second time in the marathon's 26-year history, held in Davenport, IA, that the train had blocked the race course.
Technology saved the day for runners delayed by the train, as a timing mat record enabled adjustment of the times of those affected. The mat had been placed at the railroad crossing in case of such an incident.
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Related: Another Train Interrupting Race in Davenport | |
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Prior to a train interrupting the Quad Cities Marathon in Davenport, IA, on September 24, delay of another race by a train occurred in July, also in Davenport, as part of the Quad City Times Bix 7 Weekend.
The scene was the start of the "Brady Street Sprints," the weekend's opening event, three days before the Bix 7 Mile main event. The start line is within spitting distance of a railroad overpass (above). As runners were assembling, a freight train rumbled overhead.
The starter intended to set the runners off with a starter's pistol, but concerned that the sound of freight cars might mask the sound of the pistol, he opted to hold off until the train had passed.
Anyone who has ever waited for the passage of a slow-moving freight train can appreciate how time dragged on before the starter's pistol fired.
Road Race Management owner Phil Stewart was on hand to snap the photo above.
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IN OTHER RUNNING (AND SPORTS) NEWS
RunSignup's September report indicates registrations approaching 2019 numbers. The company that claims about half the USA race registration market share finds that in the first three quarters of 2023 registrations were up 6% overall from 2022 among races held in both years.
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LetsRun thread on Tigst Assefa's world marathon record: "Assefa is clean; no she's not; yes she is; no she's not; yes she is; no she's not. . . ." Get the idea? Check out the disputation in LetsRun here. | |
In The American Spectator: Non-binary category hurts female athletes. George M.J. Perry argues the non-binary category is "just men competing against women." | |
Correction: two photographs we ran in the September 20 issue of the E-News--of Gudaf Tsegay in the 5000m and Yared Nuguse in the 1500m at the Prefontaine Classic--were mistakenly attributed to Jane Monti of Race Results Weekly. The credit should have been: "Photos by Matthew Quine for Diamond League AG; used with permission." We regret the error. | |
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/ | |
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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, will now allow 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.
Emails for updating listings for 2022 were sent out around December 20. If you did not receive yours, please email longestservingrd@rrm.com. Emails for 2023 director listings will go out in December 2023.
Many of the updates have now been submitted through midyear of 2022. Click here to see the current rankings.
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