Sunday sees this year's London Marathon. Always a big day for thousands of fun and charity runners, it now also forms part of the World Marathon Majors series.
The series brings together the world's 'big five' city marathons: the
Boston Marathon, the London Marathon, the Berlin Marathon, the Chicago Marathon, and the New York City Marathon, but also includes any IAAF World Championships marathons and Olympic Games marathon races held during the period.
There are a men's and a women's series, each running over two-years. The winners of each of these races earn 25 points, with 15 going to second place, 10 to third, five to fourth and one to fifth. To qualify for the prize, runners must complete at least three races over the two years of a series, with a maximum of four scoring races counting towards their points total. They must also finish at least one qualifying race in each year of the series. For which, the top man and woman at the end of a two-year series, not only get to have had the fun of running marathons and the pleasure of being super-fit, they get to split $1 million in prize money. See the leader boards on the official
World Marathon Majors website.
Labels: 2008, London Marathon, marathon, World Marathon Majors
Next week is the London Marathon, 22 April 2007. The race has been described as the World's longest street party with people in fancy dress and outlandish costumes, bands playing on every street corner and crowds lining the streets to cheer the runners on.
Over 30,000 people will be racing from Greenwich Park to The Mall and more than £15 million will be raised for charity but it looks as if the warm, sunny weather that the UK is currently enjoying, will persist, with temperatures remaining at about 24 C, which is twice the seasonal average, so runners will have to take care that they are prepared and that they take on board plenty of fluids during the race. If next week is anything like today, even the spectators will find it warm.
Labels: London, London Marathon, marathon
