Results tagged “jelenaprokopcuka”

Photograph the 2006 New York City Marathon finish line by CraigsPage on flickr Marathon fans, your time is here because this weekend, there are two 26.2 mile races in the city. In addition to the New York City Marathon on Sunday, Saturday is the USA Olympic Trials for the 2008 Olympic Men's Marathon. Saturday's Olympic Trials will feature the country's best long distance runners as they contend for the first spots on the 2008...

- While he was at USC, Reggie Bush paid homage to his hometown by writing "619" on his eyeblack. Now those that live in New York City can show off their area code pride with "212" sneakers from Nike. We doubt the sneakers will be be quite as coveted as an actual 212 phone number (limitless availability and ugliness of sneaker). And while we're all for representing New York, what about 347, 646, and 718? 718's gotta have more street-cred than 212. Then again, those that actually have street-cred wouldn't be caught dead in these shoes. They're for the people that say...street-cred.

For the first time since Tegla Laroupe in 1994 and 1995, the New York City Marathon has a repeat winner. Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia repeated her victory last year with a time of 2:25:05. Prokopcuka was so far ahead of 2nd place women's finisher Tatiana Hladyr that she was blowing kisses to the throngs of spectators as she approached the finish line in Central Park. Prokopcuka finished a full minute ahead of Hladyr. Deena Kastor, who was trying to become the first American winner since 1977 and was one of the pre-race favorites, finished 6th.

Jelena Prokopcuka won her second ING NYC Marathon in a row, finishing at 2:25:05, while Marilson Gomes Dos Santos of Brazil won the men's race with a time of 2:09:58.

It's nothing like what the weather will be like in November, but it's never too early to train for the NYC Marathon. Deena Kastor, who won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics for the marathon and who happens to hold the American record for the women's marathon - 2:19.36 - after running this year's London Marathon, is in New York to train. And even in this gross weather, she's out running and talking to the NY Times about strategies, like breaking up the marathon into eight parts because there are eight water stations and just knowing as much about the course as possible. Kastor finished sixth in 2001 and dropped out at mile 16 in 2004, but she's training hard for this year's race. And in case you were wondering, people running on November 5's race should have started training already (Runner's World has a 16 week plan), although P. Diddy only trained for 8 weeks before the 2003 race and finished in under 4 hours.

Last year's New York City Marathon saw the closest women's race in history, this year's marathon saw the closest race in NYC Marathon history for men or women. Paul Tergat, the world record holder for the marathon, finished .32 seconds ahead of 2004 winner Hendrick Ramaala who collapsed just as he reached the finish line. Tergat's win came on his first attempt at the NYC Marathon. As we watached the men's lead pack run in Central Park, we couldn't help but marvel at the trio of runners involved. Tergat, Ramaala and Meb Keflezighi, the best runner in the US and last year's runner-up, all running side to side. That picture was only bested by the finish.