Posted: March 23, 2007

Athletics: Race Results Weekly Newsbriefs

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com 30,000 Expected For Shamrock Shuffle Organizers expect 30,000 participants for the 28th annual LaSalle Bank Shamrock Shuffle 8-K Race and 5-K Walk in Chicago on Sunday. The event will be staged at Grant Park, the same venue as the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. This will be the largest edition of the Shamrock Shuffle, ever. Organizers raised the entry cap from 25,000 last year to 30,000 this year and still sold out more than a month in advance of the race. Last year's race had 20,407 official finishers. Johnson To Face Masai At Berlin Half-Marathon The Vattenfall Berliner Halbmarathon, scheduled for Sunday, April 1, will feature a clash between defending champion and course record holder, Edith Masai of Kenya, and multiple national record holder, Benita Johnson of Australia. Masai clocked 1:07:16 at last year's race, the fastest half-marathon run in the world last year by a woman. Johnson's personal best is 1:07:55 which she set when she won the Great North Run in 2004. The top German women will be Irina Mikitenko, Luminita Zaituc, Claudia Dreher and Susanne Hahn. On the men's side Kenyans Patrick Makau (59:13 PB), Evans Cheruiyot (59:29), Wilfred Taragon (1:00:46) and Francis Kibiwott (1:00:08) are all scheduled to take part. The flat, one-loop course in Berlin is AIMS certified for distance and is suitable for setting world and national records. Race director Mark Milde expects about 20,000 runners to take part in all events in Berlin that day. Last year's race had 13,370 finishers Biggest-Ever Prague Half-Marathon Has Top Athletes Race organizers of the Hervis Prague International Half-Marathon, scheduled for Saturday in the Czech capital, will host their largest event ever, with some 6,000 entrants, a 22% increase over last year. "This is both a blessing and a curse," said race director Carlo Capalbo. "We're delighted that so many runners want to participate. This is a great race. The course has been smoothed out, shortening the time that runners spend on the old cobblestone pavement by about two kilometres. We're drawing an elite field that is very competitive. In fact, if the weather cooperates, we could be looking at a world record performance." A purse of 80,000 Euros (USD 106,000) is on offer, including time bonuses. Two of the men entered, Patrick Ivuti of Kenya and Faustin Baha of Tanzania, have cracked the one-hour barrier over the distance, while another four --William Todoo, Martin Sulle, Enoch Mitei and Johnn Cheruiyot Korir-- have broken 61 minutes. There is also considerable depth on the women's side, including Kenyan Caroline Kwambi (1:09:47 PB), Hungarian Beata Rakonczai (1:09:40), Kenyan Beatrice Jepkorir Rutto (1:10:52) and Ethiopian Leila Aman (1:11:10).