Women’s
World Marathon Majors Series Champions’ Race
Will Come Down to Last Race of the Season
Wami,
Ndereba and Mikitenko still in the running for the $500,000 champion’s purse;
Martin Lel clinches men’s crown
For the second consecutive year, the World Marathon Majors
Series womenÛªs champions race will come down to the final race of the
season at the ING New York City Marathon on Sunday November 2, with three women
still in contention for the $500,000 championÛªs purse.
Reigning
WMM Series champion Gete Wami of Ethiopia (65 points), Irina Mikitenko
of Germany (65 pts) and Catherine Ndereba of Kenya
(41 points) are all in the hunt for the womenÛªs title. Both Wami and
Ndereba will be fighting it out on the New York
streets while Mikitenko, who won the real-Berlin Marathon
last month, will be watching ÛÒ literally ÛÒ from the sidelines and
hoping that things work out her way.
Martin Lel of Kenya (76 points) clinched the
menÛªs crown and $500,000 prize with victories at the 2007 and 2008 Flora
London Marathon and last yearÛªs ING New York City Marathon. Only last
yearÛªs WMM Series champion, LelÛªs compatriot Robert K Cheruiyot (55
points) had a chance of overtaking Lel but a nagging leg injury forced him to
sit out the fall season.
Lel and the womenÛªs champion will be honored at a
special luncheon in New York City
on Monday, November 3, the day after the ING New York City Marathon.
The 2007-2008 womenÛªs WMM Series
champion will be won by Wami, Ndereba or Mikitenko.
Wami holds her own destiny in
her hands and can wrap up the championship for the second consecutive
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year, regardless of what Ndereba does, by finishing first or second in New York. Wami has
already scored in the maximum four events so only by finishing first or
second can she add to her point total. Wami finished second at New York last year in a tight duel with Paula
Radcliffe of Great
Britain, who is returning to defend her
title.
Ndereba can only win the Series
crown by placing first in the ING New York City Marathon, and then hoping
that Wami does not finish in second place. If that
happens, Ndereba would have 66 points and would beat Wami by a single
point. A victory by Ndereba in NYC would be her first ING New York City
Marathon title.
Mikitenko can only win if Wami
does not finish in first or second place in the ING New York City Marathon
and Ndereba also does not win the race. That would
leave a tie between Mikitenko and Wami each with 65 points. The first
tiebreaker is head to head and that is knotted at 1-1. Wami beat Mikitenko
in Berlin 2007 and Mikitenko beat Wami in London 2008. The next and
ultimate tiebreaker is a vote by the WMM race directors, which ÛÒ if
necessary ÛÒ would be conducted immediately after the conclusion of
the New York
race.
Complete WMM Series leaderboards can be found at http://www.worldmarathonmajors.com/